Soror Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Help my brain think here. I'm fairly certain my 19 m.o. has some issue with certain foods. When she was a baby she spit up non-stop, copiously. She finally stopped spitting up but when she still did I noticed it would get better or worse at times depending on what I ate it seemed. She still gets the horrible diaper rashes with open blisters that will bleed. Her sleep is TERRIBLE. Her bm have always been off, not quite like bf baby poop. I *think* she has an issue with eggs and milk and possibly corn. I mentioned it to the dr but he just said don't feed her those foods, very helpful huh. So, I'm looking at going to a specialist on my own I guess. What avenue would you explore? I need to know for sure because sometimes I think we've been avoiding and then we have what seems to be a reaction. I'm not certain however it is a "real" allergy or intolerance. I've only ever done allergy testing and I've been a bit leary of intolerance testing as it seems it always shows up that everyone is intolerant to 50 different foods. I want something with a scientific basis. I know I could do elimination and trail at this point but at her age that is really hard as she is always getting into everything around here. I'm also ready for some answers now. Whatever results are we'll likely eliminate from the whole house or at least greatly reduce it, especially until she is older and stays out of stuff better. I was thinking of setting up an allergy test first and then perhaps intolerances, if those all show up negative. I know some order tests from some on-line labs if there are any out there that are good and reliable I'll do that. I know any dr. I would have to see would cost a lot and I'm well familiar with avoiding many different foods I just need help figuring out which ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Unfortunately an elimination diet is really the only way to be sure. With ds, if I had milk and he nursed, he'd immediately have blood in his stool. Keep a food diary and you might start with eliminating milk, although it's a tough one since its in so much. Check FARE for info www.foodallergy.com Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 I should say that right now I'm free of all major allergens, no nuts, seeds, dairy, eggs, soy, grains so my breastmilk is safe- I try to keep her that way but the kids have it some and I always catch her stealing this and that. We were at the beach the other day and some corn chips were left out, coincidence or not her but is broke out again and it was finally clearing up. I was actually planning on banning eggs, milk and corn from the house once I use up what we have. The eggs will be the hardest though as I bake them gf pizza and cinnamon rolls which both have eggs in them, I never use regular milk. We were all strictly dairy free for 3 years so I have good experience with that and we still don't use much, egg free is much newer though so I'm still learning here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 If memory serves me correctly, testing at that age is very inaccurate. I don't think I would do it. An elimination diet is really the only thing that would give you answers, and that is extremely hard to do. Sometimes very odd things are allergens. Things you wouldn't consider eliminating. My dd is allergic to almost every food. However, she can eat the more common allergens. Some things she tests as a negative to, she is definitely allergic to (eggs for example). While others she tests positive for and isn't (squash). The testing (she was much older when these came up. We had her tested at 4 yo, and she showed no food allergies. She sounded similar to your dd. Then, tested again at 16 when she was starting to have anaphylactic reactions. At that point, she was positive to virtually everything.) did allow us to cut out enough foods that her symptoms were abated. She basically went down to chicken, rice, and potatoes at this point. Once her body had a chance to k now what okay actually felt like, adding back a food to test it made things pretty obvious. Some foods give her an instant reaction; others take a week or so of exposure to produce problems. We backed that far off after testing because I was certain she had reactions to a couple of foods she was allowed. I wasn't so sure about others, like oatmeal. Turns out the oatmeal was correct, instant stomach pain and nausea. Coconut, which was a favorite of hers, was another super strong allergy. She cannot even touch a food with it in it. Or, a nonfood, which is a problem because it is in a lot of stuff! Like soap. Milk she reacts to, but as more of an intolerance. Anyway, long story you probably didn't need to read. But, allergy testing on a little one often is not accurate enough to justify the expense and pain involved. Elimination diet is really hard because you basically have to start from scratch on eating foods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftymama Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 I would go the elimination route and take it out of the house. If that's really what it takes to know, then do it. Even after we did the testing there was uncertainty that only elimination could answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 I was really hoping you ladies had some more info about testing that was reliable :( I'm just going to eliminate these things for now and then we will see how she improves. She was doing really good for awhile but it has just been really terrible lately. I should of addressed this sooner but I was having such trouble with my own health that I couldn't devote the attention I needed to do it fully. I so wish I could just test :( My own diet is pretty restricted I don't want to have to restrict it anymore unless it is unavoidable. I'm glad to read you guys don't think it is crazy to just ban it from the house without positive proof. I've tried to keep her from it but it just isn't well, she climbs everywhere and is fast and I have 4 kids. Maybe if I was more on top of it but I've tried and it just isn't working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J'etudie Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 We've been able to get our older kids to help protect youngest dd. Every food in the house is known as either "dd-safe" or "not dd-safe." They will holler out if she grabs something that isn't "dd-safe" and they've learned not to let her eat off their plates. It was difficult for the first few months because they were used to sharing anything and everything with her. (She was 2.5 when we had to take her off milk and soy.) We also made a place where we kept dd-safe snack food. The older kids weren't allowed to eat from there without permission, and dd liked knowing where her special foods were. I'm sure it will be harder with a 19 month old, but dd, who is 3.5 now, will ask if things are safe for her or not so there's light at the end of the tunnel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J'etudie Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 By the way, check the medicine and the vitamins. I had one allergic to red dye 40....it was in the infant vitamin drops. Yes, there was whey in some Vitamin C tablets we had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertBlossom Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 My oldest had similar symptoms, including blistering rashes the entire time he was in diapers. I finally got crazy serious about figuring out what was wrong with him when he lost 1.5 pounds between his 4th and 5th birthdays, instead of growing. By that time his main symptoms were chronic, explosive diarrhea. All.the.time. They ran every test possible, including an endoscopy to check for celiac disease. By sheer luck I found some information about fructose malabsorbtion (sp?) or fructose intolerance and it seemed to match his symptoms. The test included drinking a cup of straight fructose and then measuring some sort of gas from his breath every 15 minutes. (Which I guess is very similar to the test for lactose intolerance) They said it could take up to 2 hours to see results. He failed the breath test in the first 15 minutes! Thankfully it was a relatively easy fix-- we had to cut out foods high in fructose (basically all fruits) and then check all labels for HFCS (which is EVERYWHERE!). After that he was a new kid and quickly put on a few pounds. After he'd been fructose free for a while, when he did get fructose he would complain of a stomach ache. Apparently before then he had stomach ache all the time and didn't realize it wasn't normal. I was really grateful to the Ped GI who acknowledged that it was my insistence and google sleuthing that figured it out because she had done everything else she could think of. Anyway, I don't know how rare fructose intolerance is, but if you get to the end of your list of possible food sensitivities and still haven't found the culprit, try that one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MistiDelaney Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Another thing to be aware of - if she is sensitive to corn, as I am, that could explain the what the heck has she been into now?" experience. Corn is in almost everything. Table salt? Yep. (the flow agent is often corn based) Tap water? Sure is. (the carrier fr both chlorine and flouride are both often based on corn) grilling charcoal brickets? Yep. Vegetables? You bet. It's in the wax coating on some and the basis of the preservative sprayed on others. Meat is also often dunked in a corn based preservative - and of course, most animals are fed corn. Check the ingredients on anything, no matter how basic the food seems. If you don't know offhand exactly what something is, it may well be derived from corn. Here is a list of some of the names it hides under. I hope she isn't as sensitive to corn as I am - it's a real PITB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 I have started looking at supplements but need to do it more closely. I hadn't considered fructose but I'll keep that in mind. Misti- I have a good friend that is very, very sensitive to corn so I'm aware of how ubiquitous it can be. We are on well well water and don't use regular salt. I know that there are a lot of different ways it hides, I'm hoping that eliminating the most obvious things works well. It seems the sensitivity level varies. I guess today and tomorrow I'll be going through the cabinets to see what I've missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 Yes, milk and soy are closely linked we don't eat either. I know I had to go off of both with dd1 as she was sensitive to them. I don't use any milk in my eggs or milk products, they are cooked in coconut oil or lard. I do eat cinnamon, actually had some today, if it helps all the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 Yes, we're pretty limited already with gluten free but we have done corn chex sometimes. I need to look at we do use to see if it is safe. I guess I need to just back to no processed food period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Is she on reflux meds? Have you switched diaper brands or tried cloth? The bleeding rash sores could be a reaction to the diaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 If you are cooking eggs in coconut oil, the coconut could be the issue rather than the eggs. You could try cooking the eggs in bacon grease or something else instead. We eliminated dairy and wheat at the beginning of this month, wondering if they were a problem for DS. I saw no change until Monday, when he had had coconut products 3 days in a row (as replacements for dairy products), and it was a problem. So now I am allowing (some) dairy and ditching coconut. (We already don't do HFCS but allow other corn, and don't allow food coloring because he seems to have an intolerance to tartrazine.) Whoever comes up with an accurate blood test is going to be a gazillionaire, because this is an utter PITA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 re: coconut- I use coconut multiple times daily, so it doesn't seem to fit with it coming and going. re: diapers- I use cloth diapers and have since she has been born, along with cloth wipes, sometimes I do have sensitive baby wipes. I use hypoallergenic detergent. I've always used the cloth yet the rash comes and goes. re: reflux meds- She wasn't/isn't although she probably should have been. Sigh, I know I'm flying a bit blind as she could be allergic/intolerant to anything. I don't know if my instincts and inclinations are right or not but I guess I've got to start somewhere. I'm not up for a full on elimination diet at this point, although I wouldn't mind the weight loss that would accompany it:) I'm already fairly restricted at this point. I guess we'll look at a month for now as I know it takes a good while for milk in particular to get out of the diet. That seems doable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 What kind of diapers? A friend's DD had horrible reactions to fleece. It could be a contact reaction rather than something internal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomatHWTK Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Take her to see a real allergist, most pediatricians I have encountered are very uninformed about allergies. This recipe may help in the meantime: http://www.jeffersandmann.com/diaper-rash.php Test a clear spot of skin first to make sure she's not allergic to anything in the paste. Also, avoid any detergents that aren't "free and clear" if you are using cloth. Know that if you decide to switch to disposable the issue may still arise. A few of my kids could only handle Huggies and got a rash from anything else. But what you are describing sounds more to me like the food ingested is still triggering reactions on the way out. :( We went through this. It took one pediatrician and two allergist to narrow it all down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 I agree that an elimination diet/careful food tracking (add back one new thing at a time, keep just that one new thing 2 weeks) is the best. This is particularly true when you're talking about GI issues and possible intolerances vs. ige mediated hive or similar type allergy responses. I would not do any intolerance testing. The science just isn't there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Help my brain think here. I'm fairly certain my 19 m.o. has some issue with certain foods. When she was a baby she spit up non-stop, copiously. She finally stopped spitting up but when she still did I noticed it would get better or worse at times depending on what I ate it seemed. She still gets the horrible diaper rashes with open blisters that will bleed. Her sleep is TERRIBLE. Her bm have always been off, not quite like bf baby poop. I *think* she has an issue with eggs and milk and possibly corn. I mentioned it to the dr but he just said don't feed her those foods, very helpful huh. So, I'm looking at going to a specialist on my own I guess. What avenue would you explore? I need to know for sure because sometimes I think we've been avoiding and then we have what seems to be a reaction. I'm not certain however it is a "real" allergy or intolerance. I've only ever done allergy testing and I've been a bit leary of intolerance testing as it seems it always shows up that everyone is intolerant to 50 different foods. I want something with a scientific basis. I know I could do elimination and trail at this point but at her age that is really hard as she is always getting into everything around here. I'm also ready for some answers now. Whatever results are we'll likely eliminate from the whole house or at least greatly reduce it, especially until she is older and stays out of stuff better. I was thinking of setting up an allergy test first and then perhaps intolerances, if those all show up negative. I know some order tests from some on-line labs if there are any out there that are good and reliable I'll do that. I know any dr. I would have to see would cost a lot and I'm well familiar with avoiding many different foods I just need help figuring out which ones. That's exactly how my breastfed babies reacted to the dairy *I* was eating. Older dd weaned at 10 mos., then proceeded to have terrible diaper rashes until she was almost 2yo, when I read a book called "New Wives Tales;" one of the chapters was about dairy and all the problems it can cause, and what the symptoms are--spitting up and diaper rashes were right there at the top of the list. So the first thing I'd do is eliminate dairy from her diet. I'd go more for dairy that looks like dairy--cheese, yogurt, straight cow's milk. I believe that a true *allergy* would require you to eliminate every form of dairy, such as whey in baked goods. This is not a true allergy. Maybe it's lactose intolerance...IDK, because that wasn't a term that anyone talked about when my dds were babies in the 70s. And FTR, it can take up to *a month* for all dairy to be completely out of her system. I forget why that is, but it is so. :-) Also, there's something in orange juice that is also in cow's milk, and I have forgotten what it is ::smacks forehead:: but at any rate, children who are probably not going to tolerate o.j., either. Thirty percent of people who allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy. Even though this isn't an *allergy* per se, you might want to avoid soy milk or soy cheese as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 re: diapers- I use only cotton pre-folds and free and clear detergent. As I said though she has other reactions indicating internal issues. sbgrace- I was afraid that the intolerance testing wasn't very accurate. I know a lot of people have done it but from what I've read I'm not very confident in the results. I was thinking perhaps that her reaction indicates a likely intolerance and not an allergy but I thought it would be good to rule out at least and I know others with diagnosed allergies with similar symptoms. At what age would allergy testing be accurate? This is also my really small kid. I'm trying to get this figured out and keep up my own health and energy. I'd prefer not to wean her although if I cannot get her to sleep I might have to. Thinking more I should be able to keep her off of eggs, dairy, soy and corn pretty easy. She loves pb but we haven't had any in the house in awhile. UGH! I loathe the thought of restricting food too much but I'm desperate to figure this out. It is hard when the lack of sleep robs my energy to cook. She keeps getting better and then worse. I've got to figure out something to keep both dh and I from becoming zombies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 So the first thing I'd do is eliminate dairy from her diet. I'd go more for dairy that looks like dairy--cheese, yogurt, straight cow's milk. I believe that a true *allergy* would require you to eliminate every form of dairy, such as whey in baked goods. This is not a true allergy. . My son wasn't able to tolerate straight milk in my diet (clearly saw this after I ate gravy from a restaurant and then nursed him - immediate blood in stool). We didn't see issues with baked milk. He recently failed the allergy challenge to baked goods with milk - head to toe hives a couple hours after ingestion of about 1 Tablespoon's worth of cooked milk. So just a heads-up to be careful... "true allergies" can present in multiple ways. Our first allergist gave us info that may have caused some additional problems. But the research on food allergies is changing rapidly at this point as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 I know a friend's kid was diagnosed with allergies out of the blue with none of the traditional symptoms and her kid was very similar to mine when small. I so wish I would have kept a diary a long time ago. She went through a really good spell and I thought we were figuring this out. Her bm were even starting to get normal for the first time in her life. I don't know what changed. eta- When I say I eliminated milk I mean ALL milk products and derivatives, not just the big sources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomatHWTK Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Ds initially manifested with reflux type symptoms- no sleep, burn like diaper rash, FTT... He now has more traditional reactions- hives, coughing, rash, etc. After 1 year of age, most allergist will do testing. But our first allergist was only interested in the "easy" stuff like clear reactions to peanut and treenut on the skin test. He said the small reaction to dairy wasn't an allergy. Once we did blood tests, the dairy numbers turned out to be one of DS' worst allergies. So... be polite and let the doctor do his/her job, but also educate yourself in advance so you know if the doctor is really doing the job. :glare: KidsWithFoodAllergies.org is/was my best resource for information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melbotoast Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 I just wanted to chime in and comiserate (sp?) with everyone. All of my kids have been somewhat sensitive to milk/soy, but DD has been having more pronounced symptoms ( wheezing, hives, diarrhea/diaper rash) so I thought for sure it would show up on the blood test. She tested negative for everything :( It took 3 times to get her blood drawn and we still didn't learn anything. So frustrating! The allergist offered to do skin-prick testing but we're not going to bother at this point. GI doctor was also a bust. ETA: If you do want to consult someone, I'd start with an allergist. I appreciated being able to talk it over with someone who didn't think I was overreacting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkermamaof4 Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 We had an IgG instead of an IgE done for my son and it was very helpful. The comments about cinnamon are interesting because it is one of the things ds is sensitive to! My friend has a child that is anaphylactic to many things and said the Great Plains Labs IgG caught all of the ones they already knew. I think that is a pretty good indicator of its effectiveness! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splash Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 My daughter at that age was allergic to corn, eggs, rice, milk, soy, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, cashews, wheat, paprika, red pepper, and oranges. Her skin tests showed all but the red pepper and paprika, they said they didn't test for those but if you fed her anything with paprika in it you'd know right away. We had a great allergist who said intolerance was just as important to avoid as allergens. Also the theory was if we avoided these thing long enough for some healing we'd find which allergens were the main problem and she probably would be able to add some of the foods back later. At 12 she avoids eggs, wheat, corn, peanuts and tree nuts. So much smaller list. We also try to keep paprika(which is in soooo many prepared foods) way down. We did end up having to keep a food log/diary to discover the last few things. We've never done the blood tests because when she was little and we tried to draw blood we just couldn't get enough for the testing so just did a few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 When my son was a baby, he spit up like crazy all the time. He also had severe stomach cramps growing up. I didn't know about food allergies really; it didn't occur to me that something like that was going on. On his own, he started eliminating both gluten and dairy from his diet in his early 20's and it makes all the difference. He can't believe how good he feels now. He finds he is able to tolerate some cheese, but he really stays away from wheat. He has never been tested for anything, but he knows how good he feels so doesn't feel that he needs a test to prove it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 Well, I've been working on clearing out the house and her butt is clearing up. Here's hoping that it is something I'm eliminating and it stays that way or at least it will be obviously something I missed. I'm aiming for 30 days and then some re-introduction trials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Possible middle ground suggestion...go on an elimination diet, allergy test, and then add stuff back in. Why? My SIL tested allergic to everything on the planet all the time to the point that nothing was meaningful. Then they tried testing for one allergy at a time for a while--results were a bit better. Finally, she decided to stop eating gluten, and now she has trouble only with gluten and tomatoes (she can do green or processed tomatoes). I think she didn't bother with any other testing because the changes helped so much (probably not the case with your DD). So, if you eliminate a bunch of stuff for maybe three or four weeks before testing, maybe that will bring down inflammation and general reactions to the point that a test would be more likely to be meaningful. It might make the whole process more accurate in the long run to have both sets of results to ponder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 That is the way ds was, I thought he was allergic to everything until I completely elimnated gluten and all the traces. So, I mistakenly hoped that since we're already gf it would be a breeze well it was with dd2 but I was also militantly milk and soy free. I added it back in before I got pregnant this time and tried to go off it since she was born but I didn't get near militant enough until lately. I'm hoping now that it is entirely out of the house and I can stop all exposure we will see massive improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plateau Mama Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 sbgrace- I was afraid that the intolerance testing wasn't very accurate. I know a lot of people have done it but from what I've read I'm not very confident in the results. I was thinking perhaps that her reaction indicates a likely intolerance and not an allergy but I thought it would be good to rule out at least and I know others with diagnosed allergies with similar symptoms. At what age would allergy testing be accurate? . I've done intolerance testing with two of my kids and it been a lifesaver. I did allergy testing with one kid who was breaking out in hives, big, baseball size, hives. No allergies, their answer, take Zyrtec every day, forever. Nope not acceptable to me for a 10 yo. Intolerence testing showed 5 things. Interesting thing is 4/5 things caused her a problem, but they were different issues. Two foods caused hives, one bloody noses, one headaches. One nothing so we added it back. Slowly (years) she's been able to add things back. Child two showed intolerances and allergies (done by same test) to 12 different things. 4 were a false positive (these were allergy not intolerances) everyone we've challenged has been met with horrible results (vomiting, migraines). It's been a year and we are now able to add in eggs and we are trying cheddar cheese with success so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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