I remove crumbs in a single swipe.
I stop cross contamination with the wipe of a sponge.
I decipher ingredient labels with my finely tuned eyes.
I am…
(dramatic pause)
Allergy Mom!
(Sort of.)
Lorelai’s allergy skin test was this morning and it was a good news/bad news kind of day. The good news is she tested negative for everything. The bad news is we still don’t know why she is reacting to certain foods. The doctor said she most likely has very sensitive skin, which explains the rash reaction to high acidic foods (like strawberries). She turned red with every skin prick, even the negative control, so the fair skin concept holds up well. The other dietary reactions she has experienced the doctor called food intolerance, though not a true allergy.
The good news with that is she will probably outgrow most of it, and we shouldn’t have to worry about anaphylaxis or anything severe. The bad news is it brings us back to the original celiac disease concern. The only way to confirm that diagnosis is with a biopsy, and she has to go back on wheat first. We’re declining that for now, but may consider a challenge when she’s 4 or 5. I see no reason to put something back in her diet that causes any sort of reaction, even if she isn’t officially allergic.
Right now we’re going with the theory that reaction trumps results. If she reacts to food, I don’t care what the test results say. The doctor recommended keeping her off wheat, corn, beef, and chicken. We’ve been avoiding dairy since she was 2 months old, but now that her stomach is healing from the wheat damage we may try reintroducing milk. It would be much cheaper and so much easier to have 1 type of milk in the fridge. I plan to try it after her pediactric appointment in a couple weeks.
My youngest has the same problems, sort of. If she eats/drinks anything, even the tiniest amount, that is acidic based (i.e. oranges, strawberries, pineapples, etc) she breaks out in the most horrendous rash on her bottom and down her legs. It doesn’t matter if she is wearing a pull-up or using the toilet and wearing regular panties. The rash happens every single time. It takes forever for it to go away unless we use a very specific butt-cream on it. All the others won’t work and only make it worse. It’s called Flanders Butt Cream – you can get it at any Pharmacy (literally at the Pharmacy window) and it’s over-the-counter so you don’t need a prescription. It doesn’t “burn” or aggravate the rash at all. We put that on and the rash is gone or mostly gone within two hours max. And I’m telling you, her rashes are so bad that it bleeds – literally bubbles and bleeds. So now we are extremely careful with what fruits she eats. She can a small amount of bananas and grapes and pears. Anything else and it’s rash hell. When it’s rash hell then it’s cleaning hell cause laying her down to wipe her bottom and clean her legs when she has a rash just causes the most tremendous screaming episodes. She cries and tries to move away as fast as she can. Sometimes it takes two people to make sure she is cleaned up. (BTW, she doesn’t pee down her legs or anything; the rash just spreads on it’s own.)
Every pediatrician we have taken her to said the same thing: she will outgrow it by the time she is 2 years old. Well, she’s four years old now. She still has the same problem and it has not ebbed off at all. Now we are thinking about having her allergy test yet again to make sure she is not truly allergic to fruits. Thank goodness vegetables don’t do this to her – she adores vegetables of all kinds! She actually prefers it over chocolate!!!
I do hope and pray that the doctors soon pinpoint what is going on with your daughter. It’s so heartbreaking to know there is something wrong with your child but not know exactly what it is and how to fix it. Good luck with everything; keeping the prayers coming!