What do you do for a child with severe food allergies?
I am falling apart as a mother. This has been an ongoing
battle for almost two years. I am blogging about it because I need a place to
document everything but mostly to vent. It’s hard to chart in notebooks and
shift through everything at doctor visits. I feel like my brain can’t hold much
more. I also feel like they think I am making this up like I want my child to
be sick or like I am not trying hard enough.
My child is allergic to everything. I say that and
adults give me the flat mouthed stare and comment about they too are “gluten
free”. Thank you for your sympathy, but I only wish we were gluten free. My
child is not intolerant to gluten he has extreme food allergies.
My two year old is allergic to the top foods that others may
understand:Wheat, Dairy (includes milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt), Coconut,
Soy, Nuts (peanuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts, macadamia, pine nuts), Seeds
(sesame, pumpkin, flax) Corn, but is also allergic to Tomatoes, Pineapple, Strawberries,
Raspberries, Cherries, Lemon, Lime, Oranges, Citric Acid, Sweet Potatoes, Beans
(black beans, pinto beans, lentils), oregano, cinnamon and non-food items: dogs,
polyester, carpet, petroleum (Vaseline includes most lotions, and ointments), mold,
disposable diapers, and red and blue dye (which is in almost all kids
antibiotics).
These are only the items we know about. We have not tried
any fish which why would we with this many allergies. Still my child breaks out
in massive hives every day. A small patch on the bottom of his lip is always
red, angry and inflamed. His arms are speckled with hives. His back has massive
patches that look like road rash.
The skin doctor called it eczema. Only everything you
use to treat eczema makes it progressively worse including steroid creams. We've
moved beyond skin doctors. However to most doctors it has turned into a
guessing game as to what he can eat. Can he really be allergic to so many
things?
This week we have omitted apples from our diet. I know
another item on our long list of food we cannot eat. I have tried different
types of apples from Gala, Fuji, Honey Crisp, etc. This week apples are on our
do not eat list.
I already know that conventional items do not work due to
the chemicals infused in the food, but also they coat the food with either soy
wax or bees wax, either way it’s toxic to my child. This week I had bought Organic
Honey Crisp apples from Whole Foods originally from Washington. I prefer fruits
from Washington because it is one of three states that banned the use of the pesticides
commonly used on strawberries. [President Bush (2002) pushed to legalize a
specific pesticide used on strawberries pushing it high up on the dirty dozen
list].
Organic apples are something we thought he could eat, but
his belly is still enlarged with fluid from something he is eating so apples
are on our do not eat list this week.
Omitted: Organic Apples and Organic Apple Sauce
Omitted: Organic Apples and Organic Apple Sauce
This week we are replacing apples with pears to see if this has an effect on his outbreaks.
We were eating a lot of organic apple sauce, but this week
we are omitting apples so I had to come up with something for him to eat.
For the complete recipe I used see my Homemade Pear Sauce Recipe
For the complete recipe I used see my Homemade Pear Sauce Recipe
