Food Allergies/Asthma Advice

HI,
I have asthma and allergys also. I did try singular and it gave me really bad earaches. I do have Advair for an inhauler and it is working for me. My promblem is if I get allerys I need to really watch out for over the counter meds. Hope this helps

I had 72 food allergies at one point and only ate my 14 ok foods on a daily basis, alternated my less severe other 20 foods and avoided the others. For 6 mos. I noticed only that my sore throat disappeared, but I know that is from drinking too much milk. So, I went back to just avoiding the milk.

Oh, and pineapple didn't show up as an allergy but it made my tongue tingle and swell so I avoided that.

Hi A. - I read your question and wanted to let you know about an online wholesaler I started shopping with last year. They have tremendous success in helping people get rid of their allergies and asthma, and all you do is switch stores. It's 1 dollar to join until the end of the month, 29 to join after that. The woman who introduced me to the company was able to come off her nebulizer and steroid medication within weeks of making the switch. You don't have to buy in bulk in order to get the wholesale prices, and you get 100 dollars worth of free products just for checking out the company. Let me know if you'd like more info. K.

I agree with getting the blood test. My daughter had her first major reaction at 12 months and has had the skin test every 12 months since then and she is now four. Two months ago she had her 3rd anaphlaxis reaction to something cross contaminated with nuts and was hospitalized.

Her allergist finally sent us to get the blood test instead of the skin test and it showed us just how high her IGE-E levels are and now we can be even more careful.

I wish we had gone that route before.

I have a food intollerance to wheat. It took me a while to learn that. My symptoms show up a few hours later with stomach cramps and diarrhea. It's my understanding that it's not an allergy because it's not an immediate acute reaction but it certainly happens.

Once I cut wheat from my diet I also got rid of migraine heacaches and some other minor issues. Sometimes is a pain but I feel better so I do it.

For your little one I'd look into Micro-Dermal Testing or Meridian Stress Testing. It's not traditional but with my experiance it works and it's non-invasive (no blood, no needles, no scratches).

I just went to a cooking class led by Lisa, who cooks allergy free. She's a good place to start for resources. She also did the same type of testing for food through a doctor. Or try Tap into Balance for testing if that's the method you want to take. Good luck!

http://lisacooksallergenfree.com/
http://www.tapintobalance.com/

-J.

Hi A.,

I'm sorry you have to walk the road of food allergies & asthma, it certainly is no fun. I do recommend you take your sweet girl to be tested; it will give you answers you need (what to avoid, and how to handle it when you can't), and peace of mind knowing how to best provide for your daughter. The testing is not super-fun, but the actual tests are over rather quickly (I think they schedule you for 3-4 hours, but the actual pokes & resulting hives took us only about 20-30 min.).

Please feel free to message me if you have any questions. And, best of luck to you!

My son is allergic to milk, cheese, egg whites, seasome, and slighty allergic to soy. Signs and symtoms vary with everyone but he was almost 2 when we got the results. As a baby he had diaper rashes, excema, cold like symtoms, and asthma like symtoms. It seemed like he was sick with a cold all the time but come to find out he was having an allergic reaction. He is highly allergic to ranch dressing that's what got our attention. It caused hives all over his face and everytime he was touched immideate hives for two weeks to the date his reaction would last. We got him tested and I educated myself on signs and symptoms of milk allergy. Then everything made since, why he was having all those colds and why his diaper rash would not go away. I hope this helps and you can contact me if you would like. I am young but I've been dealing with this for a while.

Oh yea I give my son zyrtec daily for his allergies. It seems to work for us.

H.

We found out my son had an allergy to wheat, egg, milk, barley, peanuts, and tree nuts when he was about 12 months old. We finally had him tested because of many reactions (hives, vomiting) he was having when we were trying to introduce foods. He had eczema in different spots as a child, but once we eliminated all the allergens, that cleared up and he has no problem with that at all now. He was hospitalized at 13 months for wheezing. He has wheezing now from certain reactions to his food allergies. Also, when the weather turns cool and damp. We use Pulmicort daily for the preventative, and Albuterol when he has the wheezing.

So our sympotoms were really the eczema, hives, red skin, wheezing, and sometimes vomiting. The skin test is often false positive, so I recommend having the blood (RAST) test for more accuracy. We have that done each year and compare the numbers to see if they are going down.

I hear you - Food allergies can be confusing and overwhelming at times - especially those that are a life sentance like tree nuts. As I have been told siblings are more likely to share allergies vs. a parent. My husband and I do not have allergies but our kids do. As I am sure you have read allergic reactions can range from rash to hives to difficulty breathing. Trust your gut and push for answers when you feel you are not getting any. (ER physician told us our son probably had a virus vs. an anaphalxis reaction to cashews. We didn't know that he was allergic at the time. But I was like this does not feel like a virus to me.) Our two olders have excema, asthma and allergies. So we are having our youngest tested at age two. I would rather know sooner than later if there is anything we need to know. Good luck.

you are what you eat. If you eat things that your body cant handle of digest you will have a symptom. Depending on the severity and the immune system depends if it is an allergic reaction or just a sensitivity. Most health problems stem from your diet so it is great you are looking into that. If you immune system is working at full capacity it can keep allergens at bay, but if it is busy with other things then it cant handle all the allergens and you have a reaction. Any reason your childs immune system would be being affected? Did you notice symptoms worsened after a virus or live virus vaccine? Good luck and hope you are able to control things without medication ASAP!

I agree with Mom E about having the blood test. It is quick and painless(for my son it was).You will find out if he is allergic to the most common allergens . Peanuts,treenuts,wheat,milk,egg,shrimp,etc. I don't remember them all;( The test will tell you the severity of the allergy also which is really important. My son is severely allergic to peanuts and he can't have tree nuts either because of cross contamination(they are all usually processed in the same plant.
He also has seasonal allergies and is allergic to plant mold. He takes Zyrtec once a day at bedtime.It works for him.

If your child does have an allergy I recommend the FAAN website for more info.
If you have any questions you can send me a personal message. It can be very overwhelming trying to get a handle on it. Good luck:)

The best way to determine if a food is the culprit is to eliminate on food item at a time for a week to see if the problem goes away. If you do this read all labels for hidden ingredients, and make sure to watch what others are feeding your children. Make sure you only eliminate 1 food at a time or you may end up not finding the problem food. You might check with your pediatrician for help on the problem he may have some literature on which foods are the most likely to cause a problem. Also some foods are related, such as potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant all come from related plants. you can check on gardening websites for this kind of information

My daughter is 5 months old and she has been having diarhea for the past week or so and they so it could be a food allergy to rice cereal. They told me food allergies normally have blood in they're stools along with pus and mucus. Also probably fever. Thats what I was told a couple days ago at children's mercy. Hope your little one gets better! :)

For our little guy, the clues to a food allergy were tiny hives around the mouth (look like mosquito bites), red rash on his cheeks and in the web-space of his hands (between the thumb and first finger.) The rash did not respond to lotions and after two weeks of applying hydrocortizone with no improvement long-term, I stopped that! The rash would quiet for a day or two, then burst back in force. The doc said "Oh you must be bringing him out into the cold too much." I said, "No, I think it is something from within." Once, after getting a hold of his sister's peanut butter cup, he swelled up, was covered head to toe in warm, red hives, and looked miserable.

That was when we had him formally tested by Dr. Mary C. Tobin at Rush University Medical Center. She has been a wonderful doctor for us and we can't say enough good things about her. Scheduling is sometimes a hassle, but I really love her. Good luck with your little girl!!!

PS: Our bc/bs covered 100% of the cost of the testing and MD visits, once we hit our deductible. We have our blood draws at Childrens Memorial Hospital's Westchester location because Ms. Georgina (who does the draws) there is the best with the little ones. She is patient, quick and accurate every time with that needle stick!

OOPS, just read that you are not in the Chicago area, so those recommendations won't be helpful!

A., my son who is now 7 did the whole inhalers, and machines etc and then we found he had allergy induces asthma like I do when he was about 3 1/2 and that is when his Dr put him on Singular.....it worked wonders for him. He took 4mg chewables for about 2 or 3 yrs and then basically grew out of it. It helped him so much. He did have a back up inhaler just in case but only used it maybe 2 or 3 times that whole time.I would recommend it....Talk to your, but I think your child has to be at least 2 to be on it. But talk to your dr...good luck...

The symptoms can be different for every child and elusive at best. If allergeries are contributing to your son's asthma he could have multiple allergies layering up the stress on his poor little immune system. And, wow, is there a lot of snake oil for sale to desperate parents looking to help their children!

We finally unlocked our child's major allergies that were causing eczema and possible cold enduced asthma through results from a blood test (ask for a copy of the detailed results and question everything) and working *extremely* diligently with a dietician on an elimination diet.

Our experience with doctors is that they focus on treating and controlling symptoms, but don't seem as interested in uncovering the causes. I don't blame them...they are looking for an undetermined number of needles in a haystack and then depending on parents to remove them from the child's diet or environment.

It was literally a full time job to figure out our son's allergies. I was glad I no longer worked, because if he was under someone else's watch during that time, we would certainly still be struggling to keep his eczema under control.

The most difficult change we made was finding our dog a new home and replacing our furniture. Multiple ouches. Our son has dog a allergy and it wasn't enough to keep the house clean and the dog out of his room. We know people who refuse to say goodbye to their dog and their son is suffering. They are crazy. After seeing the dramatic change in our son, I feel very strongly that no pet is worth sacrificing your child's heath. A child's home needs to be a safe place where is allergies aren't constantly on overload. If it can't be his house, at least his bedroom so he can sleep in relative peace.

Best of luck to you and your little one. Asthma is frightening and I hope you are able to get it under control.

Absolutely have him tested. Singulair didn't work for my son but it doesn't mean it won't work for your. When he was around the same age as yours he seemed to be sick all the time. We knew he was allergic to nuts but we weren't sure about anything else. We took him to an asthma/allergy specialist and all his tests came out positive with the exception of one. He was also diagnosed with asthma. We started him on the claritin/xoponex/nasonex/pulmicort routine and the dr suggested we get rid of the carpet. I looked at him like he was crazy because we just moved into a new house. But in the end we did replace our floors with hardwood (starting in the playroom, his bedroom n family room). That, covering his bedding with allergen covers and switching to 'green' cleaning products made a huge difference. We used to have to give him nebulizer treatments twice daily. Now he's 9 and everything seems to be under control. He takes pulmicort daily and zyrtec n nasonex only in the spring n late summer/fall.

Also, my sister's daughter has a severe mold allergy. She was constantly getting sinus n ear infections. They changed her diet to avoid foods with high mold counts--wheat, peanuts n cow dairy and she has shown a huge improvement.

Good luck!

My son has allergies and asthma. We've been battling it since he was 15 months old. He'll be 3 in January.

We do Pulmicort twice a day, xopanex as needed, Singulair (which has helped), and during his rough times Claritan in the morning and Benadryl in the evening.

We've done allergy testing but under age 5 they usually come back with a false negative. Not sure about food allergies.

Good luck! I hope your son outgrows it. Asthma and allergies are awful and asthma is so scary. It's an ongoing battle for us.