Allergy explosion!

[dis-happy]

I think I need help! Up to now I was able to handle my ds' allergies pretty well. We found out through experience that he is anaphylactic to nuts, sesame and egg (although smaller amts of egg in baked food is ok). However, a new blood panel was just run and came up heavily positive for wheat, corn and soy as well, plus environmental things. Dairy is also on the new list, but barely there, so I'm ignoring that for now.

Any hints on how to shop and prepare food for this poor kid? He's only 4 and tomorrow is the Val. Day party at preschool. I'm finding the GF products as a starting place but so many of them sub in corn or add soy oil. Not a single breakfast cereal at TJ's is safe. Ugh.

Anyone have a decent recipe for bread? Saw rave reviews for C4C alternative flour but it has corn. Found some bagels that work, brand Udi's, but want to be able to bake goodies too.

Pulling my hair out here. TIA

 

[3prettyprincesses]

I think I need help! Up to now I was able to handle my ds' allergies pretty well. We found out through experience that he is anaphylactic to nuts, sesame and egg (although smaller amts of egg in baked food is ok). However, a new blood panel was just run and came up heavily positive for wheat, corn and soy as well, plus environmental things. Dairy is also on the new list, but barely there, so I'm ignoring that for now.

Any hints on how to shop and prepare food for this poor kid? He's only 4 and tomorrow is the Val. Day party at preschool. I'm finding the GF products as a starting place but so many of them sub in corn or add soy oil. Not a single breakfast cereal at TJ's is safe. Ugh.

Anyone have a decent recipe for bread? Saw rave reviews for C4C alternative flour but it has corn. Found some bagels that work, brand Udi's, but want to be able to bake goodies too.

Pulling my hair out here. TIA

Oh, your poor little guy! That's so hard to have so many differing allergies.

Firstly, Namaste makes excellent gluten, soy, corn and potatoe free mixes (bread, pancakes, muffins, cakes, brownies, pizza crust). Though I'm only gluten free, I love their stuff and it tastes delicious. I've fooled many a dinner guest by serving them these things and they had no clue it was gluten free.

Also, Enjoy Life has some good products too. Their stuff is free of the top 8 allergens (which would include egg, soy, dairy and gluten for your son). They have some of the best chocolate bars I've tasted too!

Bread wise, we really like the Udi's products. I think they have corn in them though, like corn starch and corn syrup. The Rudi's breads I believe I are corn free, but don't quote me on that!

Bob's Red Mill has some stuff but we don't really care for the taste of most of it. They use various bean flours and it has a strange after taste.

I wish you and your son luck!

 

[mistysue]

We are non dairy, egg, soy, peanut, walnut, and fish. DS has a mild wheat allergy and just reacted to pistachios yesterday actually.
I would start looking for "allergy cookbooks." Ones written for kid recipes often will be top 8 free and most don't include corn either. Usually the corn is just in oil and you can use a different oil.

We've been working through this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Allergy-Proof...=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329184599&sr=1-3

and we have liked everything we've made from this book, which includes some flour mixes (they mix different combo's, which you could sub for flour) which would be worth trying out for bread flour. Watch out for xanthan gum- it can be made two ways... corn or soy. it's usually not labeled where it comes from, and you might not be able to use it at all. (it is a gluten substitute, gluten being part of why bread rises)
http://www.amazon.com/Allergy-Free-...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329184648&sr=1-2

I've been finding that searching for soy free vegan recipes is the easiest way to find good food. You can make a vegan recipe and add meat to it with no trouble. I like this lady:
http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Happ...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329184820&sr=1-2

 

[Strawberry's mom&dad]

Go to drmcdougall.com. Look around. He has an elimination diet that will help determine what your son trully has allergies to.
There is lots of useful info there.
This I how I found out I was allergic to dairy. Not wheat, corn or soy.
I now follow a whole food plant based starch centered diet. I have never felt better.
Good luck in your search

 

[dis-happy]

Oh you guys are great!!! Thank you so much for the references and information.

3prettyprincesses you were right! The Udi's does have corn. Your post made me go back and check and I had missed it. It's one of the last ingredients, a sub ingredient under mold inhibitor. Will have to check out the other brands you mentioned or make my own.

mistysue: interested to see your walnut allergy. He was super high on walnuts too, but we've been avoiding all nuts ever since the anaphylactic peanut episode. Thought it was interesting to see someone with such a similar profile. Amazon is my best friend, will buy the books you recommended. Didn't KNOW ABOUT the xanthan gum, thank you. This is one where the GF steers the wrong direction for us.

Strawberry's mom&dad: I've heard a friend of mine go through the elimination diet. But I thought that measuring IgE levels was definitive for allergies. Is this right? I really need to get into the allergist next. We know my ds has problems still with food (eczema, growth issues, and bad overall bloodwork counts). He's also always, always, always very constipated, which is why I asked the ped to check on dairy while we were doing b/w anyway. Didn't realize I'd get a whole panel of things, and he was allergic to every single one except for cod. As an example, if normal is 0.0-.10, his counts to known (anaphylactic allergens) were in the 1.5 to 3.0 range (except for egg, which was lower at .25, so maybe he is outgrowing that). The new ones came up in the 1.5 to 4.7 range, cats and dogs were 7.0 and 22.0 respectively, and dust mites were greater than 100! They scaled things 1-6 and said anything 3 and over were definite sensitivities (if I am reading the report correctly) and all the new stuff was at least a 3 on that scale. Oh, he's also allergic to latex according to this test, so we'll have to be careful there too.

One thing I have noticed: his big 'ole extended stomach has greatly reduced in size after only 2 days of withdrawing wheat/soy/corn. I wonder now (and feel bad about it) if he has only known digestive discomfort because he's always lived with it. Not sure if we did start elimination if he would be cognizant enough to tell if something hurts or not because of this. He's due for more b/w in a couple of months so for now I'll stick with what we know may be a problem and see if it clears up the other things. In the meantime, off to the allergist we go....was told what we had was a limited test and he needs to run the full gamut; there may still be other allergen things (don't even want to think about that now).

 

[mara61]

Aside from foods he may ingest, you need to take a look at the hygiene items you are using. My oldest has a wheat/gluten sensitivity and some of his symptoms are canker sores, scalp weeping and frequent urination. I have him using a gluten free shampoo/body wash and gluten free and sodium lauryl sulfate free toothpaste. It took a couple of weeks but his symptoms have essentially disappeared (still has a tender scalp where the worst of the weeping would occur).

My boys this shampoo/body wash

California Baby Super Sensitive Shampoo and Body wash (reading the ingredients I see there could be issues with coconut for you...hmm. I'm also seeing that they changed an ingredient on me, sigh.

and this toothpaste

Tom's Of Maine Simple and Clean

 

[KB'sMom]

We aren't wheat/gluten/soy/corn/dairy free due to allergy diagnosis, but rather by choice.

Honestly, we just stick to a pretty whole foods diet at home. Meat, veggies and fruit. Coconut flour can be used for baking, but generally a lot of eggs are used and that may not work for you.

Wheat/gluten can be horrible on the digestive tract - the gluten punches tiny holes in the lining of the intestines which allow proteins to leak out and leads to allergies. It may be that by eliminating all gluten from his diet/life, that in time the other allergies become less severe.

 

[mistysue]

Blood tests are not very accurate. Neither are skin tests really. The levels are basically telling you how likely it is that you would have an allergy response...
ALL of my DS's blood results were levels 1 or 2- but he has strong reactions. His skin test positives were in the 2-4 range.
If we went by blood test alone, I could expect DS to bathe in eggs and be fine, but if he eats them you see it immediately. If he eats any of the things on his list he gets hives all over, patches of his skin get really rough for days to the point of cracking and bleeding and he will have the runs a couple hours later. Yet based on blood tests alone, I had a receptionist try to tell me that really we could just ignore them because he isn't *that* allergic. The allergist was annoyed that we got that advice.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Blood tests are not very accurate. Neither are skin tests really. The levels are basically telling you how likely it is that you would have an allergy response...
ALL of my DS's blood results were levels 1 or 2- but he has strong reactions. His skin test positives were in the 2-4 range.
If we went by blood test alone, I could expect DS to bathe in eggs and be fine, but if he eats them you see it immediately. If he eats any of the things on his list he gets hives all over, patches of his skin get really rough for days to the point of cracking and bleeding and he will have the runs a couple hours later. Yet based on blood tests alone, I had a receptionist try to tell me that really we could just ignore them because he isn't *that* allergic. The allergist was annoyed that we got that advice.

This is so true! I have had a severe allergy to watermelon since I was a young girl. Last year I was tested for several allergens including watermelon. The skin test turned positive, I had trouble swallowing and I ended up covered in hives later that day. Yet the blood test turned up as barely registering an allergy. I'll go by what my body tells me, lol. Luckily my allergist agreed and said to always go by symptoms in that case.

 

[BusyMom2Three]

Honestly, we just stick to a pretty whole foods diet at home. Meat, veggies and fruit. Coconut flour can be used for baking, but generally a lot of eggs are used and that may not work for you.

I agree. We have to avoid gluten and dairy for various members of our fam, plus we're all vegetarian. I usually make a dinner everyone can eat, so it is usually gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian. If you cook from scratch using whole foods, it is easy to leave out or sub ingredients--and much less expensive than store bought allergy-friendly products! I do a lot of one-pot dishes that contain all the food groups. Makes cooking easier!

Bob's Red Mill makes a creamy buckwheat cereal (comes raw in a bag). Buckwheat is actually a fruit, but when you add water and cook it, it is like oatmeal. I add a drizzle of real maple syrup and berries to mine for breakfast.

You mentioned baked goods. You can sub applesauce for eggs. A friend of mine got me into baking these brownies: http://happyherbivore.com/recipe/vegan-blackbean-brownies/ They are free of eggs, gluten, dairy, and refined sugar. I used a mix of real maple syrup and honey insead of agave (b/c I never have agave). I also subbed 1/2 cup applesauce for 1 of the bananas b/c hers tasted too much like bananas. I didn't use oats b/c DD is doing a gf trial, and some people who are gf have difficulty w/ even gf certified oats, and I want to be careful during this trial period (afterwards, I plan to try them). If you avoid oats, you can use ground flax seed meal if your son can have that, or buckwheat processed in the food processor to grind it up smaller.

 

[ls15]

Hi there!

I am a cookbook author of allergy-free baking. My books are not corn-free (they use xanthan gum and sometimes baking powder), but can be modified.

You obviously have had a load of great advice so far, but I can definitely help with any other questions you might have regarding baking!

 

[kkandaj]

Please see a pediatric allergist for correct diagnosis, as blood test and skin prick tests can be inaccurate. The only true way to know if someone is allergic is by challenging them with the food (elimination diets are extremely helpful). Numbers on the RAST can be very scary--and false on both end of the spectrum. Number can be high when the child isn't really allergic or numbers could be low and the child have an anaphylactic reaction.

DS is soy, egg, dairy and nut free due to life threatening food allergies. I have learned to cook from scratch, otherwise you will spend a fortune on specialty foods. The non-profit organization "Kids With Food Allergies" (www.kidswithfoodallergies.org) has literally been a sanity saver for me and lifesaver for DS. There is help there with 504 plans, foods, recipes, etc. I can't speak highly enough about them.

Good luck to you!

 

[dis-happy]

Hmmm. I understand what is being said about the RAST test, but it was the pediatric allergist who originally tested his blood IgE for the 3 items we found he was anaphyactic to (the reactions happened at home: nuts, egg, sesame). Maybe it was just a baseline reading to a known allergen??? At the time they didn't do/offer the skin test on him but he was pretty little and I thought I had read that they have to be over a certain age (3?) to do the skin testing.

Either way, I'll be following up again with the allergist. In the meantime, I honestly hope we can just eliminate the new items that came up when we tested for dairy last week, then re-run his CBC and actually get normal counts. He's never had a normal count and the last test that was run was "off" again even more in certain areas so I was told to go back to one his specialists. This has been an ongoing concern; he's never had a normal CBC. He was originally tested at a few months of age when we noticed growth issues and we have run the gamut of different specialists and blood tests since then. Something is wrong but no one has been able to put all the pieces together yet. If it's just a matter of eliminating certain foods in the end, I will be an ecstatic camper. Hopefully it will be definitive in a few weeks when they re-test. (I made an appt. at the top medical facility in the region to get another opinion on the b/w so they should be running more tests then).

Thanks again for all the info!!!

 

[shinysparklybubbles]

Also check out foodallergy.org

 

[kkandaj]

Hmmm. I understand what is being said about the RAST test, but it was the pediatric allergist who originally tested his blood IgE for the 3 items we found he was anaphyactic to (the reactions happened at home: nuts, egg, sesame). Maybe it was just a baseline reading to a known allergen??? At the time they didn't do/offer the skin test on him but he was pretty little and I thought I had read that they have to be over a certain age (3?) to do the skin testing.

Of course, reactions are always proof of a true allergy. I didn't mean to imply he wasn't really allergic to those foods. I was only speaking of the results for the new foods, though you sound like you have a very allergenic little boy. I know some allergists will perform skin prick tests at a young age, but some won't. DS has never eaten peanut or any tree nut--his RAST is in the high 20's for peanut--and because his other RAST numbers are so high--ranging from the 30's to over 100 with true ana reactions to those allergens--they will not skin prick test him for peanut, because of the risk of ana just from the skin prick test. I would assume your allergist is very careful with your DS because of how sensitive his little system is.

I hope the elimination diet helps and that there are no other issues effecting his CBC.