Allergy Litmus Test
I was quite ill today, with the whole chills, fever, body ache, headache, cough thing that has been going around here. I'm the last in the family to get it.
At least my husband was able to work from home today and take care of the kids and meals while I curled into a ball in bed for most of the day. He even made spaghetti and broccoli for dinner.
Thankfully I seem to be feeling a bit better tonight. Hopefully if I rest as much as I can this weekend, I can be well enough to manage without DH by Monday.
Now that we have Baby E off the nystatin and she doesn't have a constant red eczema-like rash on her cheeks, it's becoming our litmus test for allergens.
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The rash on her cheeks is a clear, very visible, but not dangerous reaction. That's so helpful for testing things that are "supposed" to be safe, but we haven't yet confirmed that she can eat repeatedly with no issues.
We make a mental note of what her cheeks look like before testing an "iffy" food. Then we give her a tiny amount of the food and check her cheeks a few minutes later. Her cheeks will flare up almost immediately with a problematic food, and will fade again within a few hours if it was just a trace amount of an allergen.
I gave her two Lay's Naturals potato chips (a supposedly safe brand for her allergies) this afternoon. A little while later we noticed that her cheeks had flared up.
We hadn't noticed whether they flared before or after the chips, so we waited a few hours until the redness lessened. Then I gave her two more chips.
Wa-la, her cheeks got red again. I guess we know those chips are off-limits now.
I'm wondering if it's corn or soy cross-contamination, or if she has an issue with sulfites (except that these say they have no preservatives or additives), or what. With so many allergies it's hard to pinpoint exactly which is causing a reaction.
It's sure nice to have a sort of barometer to easily tell whether she's having a mild reaction to something or not, though. I wouldn't do it on a food we though she was likely to have a bad reaction from, of course, or continue giving her a food once we verified even a mild reaction.
But for the extremely trace amounts that don't make her sick immediately but would build up to a reaction over time, it's wonderful to have a clear indication of a problem before it actually makes her significantly ill.
Purple_Kangaroo, allergic to coconut, avocado, milk, blackberry leaves, latex, many environmentals (mold, dust mites, pollen, cats, etc.) and most antibiotics
. . . Mom to 3 girls, including Baby E who is allergic to corn, soy, oats, kidney beans, apples, banana, mushrooms, mold and ???
At least my husband was able to work from home today and take care of the kids and meals while I curled into a ball in bed for most of the day. He even made spaghetti and broccoli for dinner.
Thankfully I seem to be feeling a bit better tonight. Hopefully if I rest as much as I can this weekend, I can be well enough to manage without DH by Monday.
Now that we have Baby E off the nystatin and she doesn't have a constant red eczema-like rash on her cheeks, it's becoming our litmus test for allergens.
###############
The rash on her cheeks is a clear, very visible, but not dangerous reaction. That's so helpful for testing things that are "supposed" to be safe, but we haven't yet confirmed that she can eat repeatedly with no issues.
We make a mental note of what her cheeks look like before testing an "iffy" food. Then we give her a tiny amount of the food and check her cheeks a few minutes later. Her cheeks will flare up almost immediately with a problematic food, and will fade again within a few hours if it was just a trace amount of an allergen.
I gave her two Lay's Naturals potato chips (a supposedly safe brand for her allergies) this afternoon. A little while later we noticed that her cheeks had flared up.
We hadn't noticed whether they flared before or after the chips, so we waited a few hours until the redness lessened. Then I gave her two more chips.
Wa-la, her cheeks got red again. I guess we know those chips are off-limits now.
I'm wondering if it's corn or soy cross-contamination, or if she has an issue with sulfites (except that these say they have no preservatives or additives), or what. With so many allergies it's hard to pinpoint exactly which is causing a reaction.
It's sure nice to have a sort of barometer to easily tell whether she's having a mild reaction to something or not, though. I wouldn't do it on a food we though she was likely to have a bad reaction from, of course, or continue giving her a food once we verified even a mild reaction.
But for the extremely trace amounts that don't make her sick immediately but would build up to a reaction over time, it's wonderful to have a clear indication of a problem before it actually makes her significantly ill.
Purple_Kangaroo, allergic to coconut, avocado, milk, blackberry leaves, latex, many environmentals (mold, dust mites, pollen, cats, etc.) and most antibiotics
. . . Mom to 3 girls, including Baby E who is allergic to corn, soy, oats, kidney beans, apples, banana, mushrooms, mold and ???
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 11:37 PM[Permanent link]
3 Comments:
I'm glad she's got such a clear indicator without going directly to the danger zone.
Hmm, I keep saying that I think the redness on Dorothy's cheeks is a food sensitivity. Along with the spitting up (sometimes projectile). It has lessened since we are doing 2/3 formula(gradually stopping the pumping). But her cheeks will be fine one second and then all of a sudden they will be bright red and dry/scaly. It will last for a few hours, sometimes a day or so and then be gone. I have just not been able to pinpoint the problem foods. That along with arching her back and crying, sometimes refusing bottles. Not that she's anywhere near as bad as baby E but I think you're right on about the cheeks. I know that's what it has to be with Dorothy.
Perhaps you could take a photo of baby E before you give her new foods..that way you had a reference photo to compare her cheeks before and after. Would using photo documentation also help the drs diagnose her allergies?
Hope you feel better soon!
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