So. I took Miriam to a pediatric allergist a month ago to get her tested. It was time. We knew soy was bothering her, and we thought dairy might be too, but we wanted to have an official diagnosis (if for no other reason than to be able to say, "No, you are not allergic to your vegetables. Now eat them."). :) (Actually, she loves vegetables.) She didn't have the arm full of needles that Mr. Pickles had, thankfully -- for kids it's much more merciful. They just painted common allergens on little plastic bristles and pressed them against her arms. Then she had to sit for 15 minutes and get itchy and not be able to scratch.
And boy, did she itch! Some poke marks swelled up almost immediately. The grass and tree pollen we already knew about. The soy poke swelled into a serious hive and even grew little feet. It was pretty impressive (from the point of view of the one observing, not the one who was swelling and itching). Thankfully at the end of it all they gave her an antihistamine which stopped the swelling and itching after a few minutes. I wish I'd gotten a picture of her arms first, though.
Anyway, here's the official tally:
grass
trees
ragweed
oak trees (guess what grows all over our neighborhood)
timothy grass (guess what we feed our rabbit)
soy (just like Daddy)
corn (ditto)
almonds
peanuts (!)
broccoli (!)
green beans (!)
About the only suspected things she didn't react to were dust, wheat (thank heaven), dairy, and rabbits (they didn't have a test for gerbils). They tested her for oatmeal too, and my memory is that she reacted a little, but it wasn't marked on the result chart the allergist gave us. I'm grateful she tested okay for dairy. We realized that each time she ate something with dairy in it and had an adverse reaction, the food also contained either almonds or corn in some form (Mr. Pickles' gluten-free baking mix has almond meal, and shredded cheese often has corn starch). The interesting thing is that she had been eating peanut butter, broccoli, and green beans with no reaction whatsoever. The allergist admitted that food allergies are trickier to diagnose accurately than environmental allergens. Sometimes you get false positives or negatives, and sometimes a person can eat the food in one form but not another. For example, Miriam had been eating peanut butter, for which the peanuts were always roasted. And the broccoli and green beans were always cooked.
Even so, we avoided all possible allergens for a few days, just to flush them out of her system, and re-introduced them one at a time. Dairy was first, to make sure she could enjoy pulla at Christmas (which is chock full of butter and milk), although we had to skip the icing because all powdered sugar is mixed with cornstarch, sigh. Peanut butter and cooked green beans are also okay, thankfully. (Have yet to test broccoli.) Man does not live on vitamin supplements alone. (many of which have corn in them anyway) And without peanuts or cheese, what is one supposed to feed a kid on Friday???
Oh. And Joseph says that carrot sticks and sugar snap peas make his mouth itchy.
And Mr. Pickles might be growing sensitive to dairy.
So. We've become one of THOSE families. So who wants to invite us over for dinner?
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It's not all abstinence and deprivation, however. After the initial shock -- to our psyches and the grocery budget -- the food restrictions have been good in many ways. For one thing, I've been cooking everything from scratch -- very few pre-packaged foods are safe. This has made us realize that corn and soy are in just about everything -- that can't be good for a population. And I keep hearing things about genetically-modified foods, particularly corn and soy, that could explain why my family is suffering these reactions. It seems that modern farming techniques are altering plants to a degree that some sensitive bodies can no longer recognize them as foods, but instead see them as toxic invaders. My hope is that after a period of time, we can re-introduce the offending foods into our diet, but in an organic and non-GM form. This means we might also need to change the kind of meat and dairy we buy, too. Local farms, organic produce, grass-fed beef, free-range chickens and hogs... I can see the dollar signs floating out of my fingers as I type. :) But you know what? One thing this episode has taught us is how much better REAL food tastes. I've mentioned free-range eggs here before. It's just a pity that you have to pay through the nose these days to get the kinds of things our great-grandparents were all raised on.
But yes, real food and cooking from scratch. It's gotten to the point where we don't enjoy eating out any more, unless we go to a really, really nice restaurant where the waiter sweeps the crumbs from our tablecloth in between courses. (see those dollar signs again?) But at other ordinary places, whatever we get, our consensus is usually, "Meh, we could have had better at home. And for cheaper!" I don't think I'm a great cook, I just happen to like yummy, flavorful meals so I try to cook things that I like. Home cookin' is always better. (and less salty) If you come visit I'll fix you some fennel-encrusted pork loin roasted with potatoes and pears and I think you'll agree. :)
Another bonus is finding things that still make life worth living. Sadly, Mr. Pickles can't have beer (even the gluten-free ones often have corn syrup), but he has found a few hard ciders that taste
Mr. Pickles has also discovered the most awesome recipe for lava cake. Did you know it only takes 15 minutes to make? Like, from start to finish? Actually, the fact that he discovered this recipe is kind of dangerous, at least to our waistlines.... I also found a vegan gingerbread recipe that is awesome. At least, it was the first time I made it. The second time I tried to make it, it would have made a worthy entry in the "most spectacular baking disaster" category. (I was too mad to take a picture. Sorry.) Not quite sure what happened....
So we are still able to eat, and eat well. But it's like navigating a maze sometimes. And it's hard this time of year, with all the soy- and corn-syrup-filled Christmas candy, let alone the box FULL of forbidden Christmas cookies which a well-meaning but uninformed family member sent us. We've discovered NaturalCandyStore.com, however, which has made Christmas just a little sweeter than it would have been otherwise. (Their candy canes were delish!)
My older daughter Abby was diagnosed with a carrot allergy last summer. Her complaints were an itchy mouth every time she ate raw carrots. Cooked didn't seem to bother her. The itchy mouth became an itchy throat and then a swollen/stuck feeling in her throat.Nobody believes her when she says she's allergic to carrots! Now I can tell her that I know someone else who is allergic to her vegetables. (Although Abby always loved carrots and was very upset when she couldn't eat them any more.)She also has a lot of environmental allergies, but those are much easier to deal with. I hope the reintroduction goes well.
ReplyDeleteGood post from the beautiful Mrs. P. I am Mr. P, and I approve her message. :)
ReplyDeleteTo put the post in a nutshell: food allergies are annoying but not a huge deal for us. We don't need to carry around an epipen like some people I know. I think the hardest part is feeling really ill and not having any idea as to the reason why. It has forced us to make more foods and be creative, and I've had some fun experiments with Miriam. Now that we've made peanut butter cups, I won't ever miss Reese's again!
I think it could be a bigger burden if we were already in financial difficulty and THEN encountered food allergies. The internet fortunately provides a great market for finding cheaper natural foods and a great resource for recipes.