Thursday, May 13, 2010

Allergies

Many of you know that we found out that Landon was allergic to eggs and peanuts as a baby.  Yes, that is awfully young to find out about allergies, but he broke out in hives one day.  I rushed him to our doctor on base. I had no clue what was going on.  He woke up from his nap covered in hives.  She informed us that he was having an allergic reaction and got him into an allergy doctor the next day.  Since Landon was so young, they did blood tests for the 5 Most Common Allergies:  Milk, Eggs, Wheat, Peanuts, and Soy.  His Doctor called back a week later and said he was highly allergic to Eggs and Peanuts and mildly allergic to milk.  His formula was changed and we were given an EpiPen, just in case.

At that time, the eggs and peanuts were not a huge deal.  He wasn't eating table foods yet and he had no clue all the delicious food that he was missing out on.  After he turned one, the real troubles began.  He was constantly breaking out in hives and his eczema was uncontrollable.  We were truly realizing that eggs are in everything!!!  We were VERY CAREFUL and CAUTIOUS and read all labels on foods.  However, Landon was still breaking out in HIVES!

Landon turned 3 in January and his Doctor decided to do skin tests.  He was still breaking out at random times and we noticed it a lot more when we were at my parents house.  They basically live on a farm and have lots of dogs.  On one visit, one of the dogs licked him and he broke out in hives.  At this visit, we learned that he is still HIGHLY allergic to eggs, Peanuts were not as high as before, and he is allergic to pet dander, and ragweed.  We still let poor Landon pet dogs.  The poor boy LOVES dogs, but we wash his hands and face really good and he is given a bath as soon as we get home.

Over the past few days, the news is reporting about how 50% of people have a false positive to skin and blood tests.  Landon has 2 allergy doctors, and they have both said this.  But they do know that Landon is truly allergic, we have seen the HIVES!  At his age, it is dangerous to give him oral challenges to peanuts.  They are planning challenging him before he starts kindergarten.

My fear is that people who are not educated on allergies will see these reports and now downplay the seriousness of food allergies.  These allergies can be VERY LIFE THREATENING for many children.  Please, do not downplay how serious allergies can be.  I will give MAJOR PROPS to GMA!!  In their report, they stated how serious these allergies can be and demonstrated how to use an EpiPen.  Thank you, GMA for being thorough in your reporting.

For some reason, food allergies can bring out the ugly in people who believe it is over diagnosed. I am sure they do not have a child who is suffers from allergies and cries when other children are eating cornbread with their soup and he gets crackers!  So please, if you have a rude comment, do not post it here!  This post is about my experience with food allergies.

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4 comments:

  1. Will they be able to give him shots at least for the danger etc? My brother had terrible allergies went threw yrs of shots and can be around anything. I started shot for 3 yrs thought they didn't do any gd and stopped but realize now that they really did benefit me I can be in a room w a cat and not break out

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  2. Amen! My son was diagnosed with food allergies at 6 months when he broke out into hives after eating rice cereal. He's grown out of most of his food allergies, but it still allergic to milk. We have to avoid peanuts and tree nuts as well since he had an anaphylactic reaction to peas as an infant. They will challenge him when he's 7. He also has serious drug allergies to penicillin and prednisone. It's been a rough road, and we still have family that gives us problems, but it's not the end of the world, either! Check out my food blog for some yummy recipes! None contain peanuts or dairy, but some do contain eggs, so watch for that!

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  3. No kidding. People are so insensitive when it comes to allergies. My sister is allergic to citrus, my brother to pretty much everything environmental, and my dad to everything else. But we have had my cousins insist for years that it was all psychological that we were allergic to their dogs.

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  4. I worked at a summer camp the last year I was in college and there was a kid who came to camp and she was so allergic to nuts that if she even smelled them her throat would start to close up! It was awful!

    I'm sorry that he's having to deal with food allergies.

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