Welcome to my blog!

This blog is a journal of our struggles with food allergies and eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases (EGIDs). ("DD" stands for "dear daughter", so whenever you see it in the blog it is referring to my daughter and our personal experience.) My hope is for this blog to be a source of information and support to others who might be trying to investigate, diagnose, treat, or live with, food allergies and EGIDs. Feel free to leave comments with suggestions or requests of what you would like to see on this blog. This is a work in progress. :)




Beware the bulk aisle!! (and NAET update)

We have an allergist appointment coming up this week, and I wanted to test some alternative grains (quinoa, millet, amaranth.) The allergist of course doesn't have any of those grains in their skin prick kits, so I have to bring some in myself. Thus, the trip down the bulk aisle (where we don't normally venture!) to get a few tablespoons of each grain.

DD really wanted to help, but I explained that there were a lot of things that she was allergic to in this aisle, so she shouldn't touch anything. (HAHA- because (almost)3-year-olds always listen to those instructions.) As I was bagging one of the grains, I looked down and saw that she had opened a bin and picked up the scoop (by the handle) that was on the outside of the container. The bin happened to contain soy protein powder, one of her major allergens. I quickly pulled her away, not even thinking that she might have gotten trace amounts of it on her hands (it had been a pretty rough day, we were both pretty flustered by this point.) But really, she's never had soy contact directly, and I haven't had any since she was about 3 months old, so I was really sure how severe an allergy it was. (Had she touched a bin with nuts in it, I surely would have found soap and water immediately!!) I guess she must have rubbed her eye on the way home, because about 5 minutes after getting home I looked at her and saw this:
She wasn't bothered by it in the least, but I was pretty freaked out. Tried alternating homeopathic apis and histaminum (both work great for hives), and they did nothing. Dosed her with Benadryl, nothing. Two hours later, and the swelling wasn't even starting to go down. I finally remembered vitamin C. High doses are known to help with allergic reactions, and it has always helped her reactions in the past. I mixed some sodium ascorbate and pascalite clay (kind of acts like activated charcoal to bind the "toxins") in some honey for her to eat, and almost immediately the swelling started to subside. It didn't go away fully for probably 16 hours, after 3 doses of vitamin C. Poor kid.

So that's your allergy lesson of the day- DO NOT take an allergic toddler into a bulk aisle unless they are strapped securely in a cart or on your back!


In other news... we are seeing a new NAET provider. The first guy kept flaking out on us; out of 4 scheduled appointments, we actually saw him ONCE. Sounded like he was having a string of bad luck, but after driving across town in rush hour traffic only to find no one there, it was hard to be sympathetic. So we're seeing a new acupuncturist, really close to our home, and who is willing to work with us on payments. So far, so good... nothing really exciting to report though. :( DD is sleeping better since starting the treatments, so I guess that's one thing. But she's still not passing the egg mix, even though she's now been treated for it 3 times (once with the first guy, twice with the new lady). Fingers crossed that she passes this week and we can move on to the next treatment!

5 comments:

Jacqueline said...

Aww, poor girl! Poor mama!

Eczema Mom said...

Wow, that's so scary. Glad the reaction subsided. My son is doing NAET, I think we're on treatment 33 now. Two thing come to mind 1) After the egg treatment my kid's stomach that was coated in hives & rashes constantly for 2 1/2 years turned to smooth, clear skin the very next morning. That was 8 months ago and it hasn't returned. 2) It took him 4 times to clear yeast, What eventually worked was treating it with an emotion using me as the surrogate. Very strange, I know but it got us through it. I had to hold the vial to my forehead while thinking about what I thought was the traumatic connection (his DTaP vaccine when he was 2 which caused 12 days of reactions.) After that he cleared. Good luck to you.

Jessica said...

Interesting- thanks for sharing that! I know there has to be SOME reason why she's not clearing the egg, and the vaccine connection just gave me a major DUH moment. She had one round of vaccines at 2 months old (and I'm almost positive that at least one of them contained egg), and that very day her food allergies started. I wonder if we can clear the specific vaccines first to get more success, or do the emotions connected with them like you did?

I will talk it over with the NAET practitioner next week!!

Eczema Mom said...

How's your daughter doing, and how's NAET going?

Jessica said...

Things are about the same here. Nothing spectacular to report on the NAET front yet. She did finally pass egg after the 3rd time, so we're finally moving on. I hope to trial some egg (just on her skin) after we get her through the first 5 treatments, which should be in a couple weeks.