We had allergy testing done today on the 4 youngest children. We got a lot of information. The short of it is that Superman is essentially allergy free, JJ needs to be older before more formal testing but we need to keep him away from proteins for as long as possible (eggs, milk, meat) and keep him on Claritin daily, Faith will be on allergy shots for the next several years at least, and Grace...well...Grace is allergic to lots and lots of food....
The long of it (if you care to keep reading)... I hesitate to write this but in my love for reading others' blogs I have learned that when people share information about unusual things I usually benefit from learning something I did not know before. So, in the hopes to help someone else out there in "e" land, I'll share (because I'm sure you don't really want to know this much about my family lol!!!)
We chose to go see Dr. William Sandy in Holdredge, NE. He is an Internist who is in a Family Practice there who specializes in allergies. He is a Christian and we, after asking many people about him, believed that he would hear us and not just brush away our concerns as being crazy parents:) He was excellent - we spent FOUR HOURS in consultation and testing.
I'll start with the easy one. We had Superman tested in hopes to rule out (or in) something that may be causing his difficulty with learning. What we learned is that he is very allergic to chocolate. So, a food that he gets maybe once a month is off the menu. Chocolate, however, is pretty easy to eliminate from a diet.
JJ was a bit harder. Dr. Sandy did not believe that he was old enough at this point to test for inhalant allergens. His thought was if we find out he is allergic to them he is too young for the allergy shots so why put him through it at this point. As for the food allergies, he thought that since I am nursing Jonathan and he is not being exposed to many foods yet he is would likely test non-allergic to the foods and it would not give us an accurate reading. So, we can test him in about a year. In the mean time, we are to keep him away from proteins (given his bio family history) so no eggs, dairy milk, or meat - and keep him on the Claritin or Zrtec for the congestion.
Faith was yet harder but easy to treat. She is allergic to all of the common inhalant allergens and will be on weekly shots for 16 weeks and retested for a blood level of something or another. She'll likely be on allergy shots for years. We have to check the house for mold (any idea how to do this???) and possibly, if there is water damage in her bedroom, have to recarpet and re-drywall her room. But, that is much easier than....
Grace. When Graces's food allergy results came in I was overwhelmed. I had anticipated she was allergic to milk. MILK! I thought, how will I eliminate all milk?? But then...Whew... The first thing I wondered is, "what CAN this child eat???!!!???" The second thing I thought was, "I have been feeding this child food that is causing her discomfort and most likely many of her ADHD behaviors." The third thought I had was, I'll admit, one of a bit of vengeance. I thought, "well, there you go all of you people who think that her behavior was just bad parenting!!!!!" But, I digress...
Grace is VERY allergic to...
Bananas
Soy
Oranges
Peanuts
Peaches
Strawberries
Tomatoes
and Yeast
Then we add corn, milk, eggs, pork, oats, wheat, tuna, and beef.
Dairy, Soy and Yeast - Dairy, Soy and Yeast - Dairy, Soy and Yeast --- that encompasses about everything!
In fact, the only food that did not react with her at all was white potatoes and pears. I have read the research that ADHD is often coupled with yeast overgrowth and dairy allergy - which is what precipitated us wanting to get her food allergy tested in the first place. So, the citrus fruits and the yeast did not surprise me once my brain stopped spinning (the citrus fruits because that is what we always had to look for in inmate's rooms - hot fruit and bread ferments to make hooch -- YUCK!!!).
So, I think that plain meat and plain vegetables are about what is safe. She hates meat and most vegetables. JJ CAN'T have meat. Buddy WON'T eat most of anything. My husband has a family history of diabetes and shouldn't have carbs. Yeah...just a bit overwhelmed here.
She also had a blood draw to see if she has a gluten problem - I'm not sure what to do if she can't have gluten on top of everything else.
But, I do know that God is big. He knew this from the foundations of the earth. He is Grace's creator and loves her very much. He is not surprised about this. He will faithfully show us the path. And in the mean time, maybe He will use Grace's situation to help someone else's life.
So, there you have it. The short and the very long of the latest adventure of the Elgin family:) If you have any suggestions on foods - PLEASE help me:) And if you just feel led to pray, we covet that too:)
If any of you have read this far - WOW lol!!!!!
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