Question for those with allegies

[Queasy]

My son has a laundry list of food he is allergic too - soybeans, peanuts, wheat, etc.

Neither I nor anyone in my immediate family had allergies growing up so I'm wondering how you dealt with them growing up in school and any problems you had. Also would like to hear from anyone that's a parent cause I'm totally clueless about allergies.

Thanks

 

[NogginBoink]

It depends on what his reaction is.

According to a skin test, I'm allergic to walnuts. I eat walnuts all I want and have never noticed any symptoms.

OTOH, my seasonal allergies make me downright miserable come spring and I rely on lots of antihistamines.

 

[bigalt]

My little sister had some pretty serious allergies that prevented her from doing a lot of stuff. She had to quit horseback riding lessons, we had to get rid of our guineau pig, and she couldn't participate in our traditional family dinners because of various allergies.

They really bugged her for a while, but it just becomes a fact of life after a while. Make sure he/you learn to check what's in the food when eating at restaurants and cafeterias. Other kids are pretty understanding, and it was really pretty sweet to see some of her friends check for her if there was anything wrong.

Of course it's bound to be slightly different for a boy who's supposed to be tough, but you needn't look to paul from the wonder years for an image of the future.

 

[ggavinmoss]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
It depends on what his reaction is.

According to a skin test, I'm allergic to walnuts. I eat walnuts all I want and have never noticed any symptoms.

OTOH, my seasonal allergies make me downright miserable come spring and I rely on lots of antihistamines.

I'm in the same boat. I ate through all of my food "reactions." My skin test indcated allergic reactions to all tested foods except cocoa and salad dressing stabilizer but I never changed my eating habits. Animals on the other hand... kill me now.

Check with your docotor definitely, peanut allergies can be quite dangerous.

-geoff

 

[preCRT]

Sorry about your son's food allergies, they can be quite a PITA.

You might want to check out:


the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology's food allergy page

the Food Allergy Network


The Jaffe Food Allergy Institute Hugh A. Sampson is THE leading researcher into food allergies.



Food allergies can kill, learn as much as you can, and keep in contact with an allergist.

Keep an epi-pen in case, and read all food labels.

The safest, but most difficult, is to prepare all food from scratch.

 

[caitlion]

are you sure hes actually noticably allergic to them? i recently went and got an allergy test to try and figure out my stomach pain.. apparently im allergic to EVERYTHING i eat.

 

[Queasy]

Yeah, he is definitely allergic to certain foods. Most noticeably soybean and peanuts or any kind of nuts.

Example: My mother-in-law is not used to having a child with around with a lot of allergies and gave him a peanut butter rice krispie treat. The peanut butter was in the core of the rice krispie treat and he took a small bite of just the rice krispie. He didn't reach the peanut butter. My wife saw what he had and took the rice krispie treat away and gave him a dose of Zyrtec. About two hours later, when I was giving him a bath, I started noticing all these red spots on his leg. Within 30 minutes he was covered in red spots. We gave him another dose of Zyrtec and he was better around midnight.

He doesn't seem to be badly allergic to wheat or to our cat (which he tested positive for both).

Thanks for the links preCRT. We've been reading all food labels before we give him anything to eat. Good thing is, my son eats better than me. Not even 2 years old and he eats all sorts of veggies and fruits along with breads and meats. So we mostly have to worry about what we cook the food with and what food he may get from others.

The getting food from others is what worries me the most. When he starts going to school he'll be outside our realm of supervision so he could end up with anything if teachers aren't on the ball.

 

[badmouse]

I have a 14-year-old with allergies.

Allergy doctors are mostly crazy. I found them to be generally unhelpful and downright nasty when we followed their instructions and things didn't get better, as if it were OUR fault that somehow their expertise didn't work.

Non-traditional doctors were much better. Also, the people we met thru the doctors turned out to be our lifesavers - other patients who had dealt with the same things. Our best source is a nutritionist, but there are a lot of wacky nutritionists out there too.

Allergies often turn out to be connected. That is, once we dealt with my son's dust allergy not only could he breathe better, but the food allergies became less intense. But it took many years of experimenting and trial-and-error before we got there. He didn't even test positive for dust allergies in the beginning.

Also, mold issues can affect food allergies, and there are a LOT of molds around.

The soy is a real nuisance to be allergic to because it's in almost everything. I think I remember that rice krispies have some soy in them? It's been a long time, I could be wrong.

Wheat, ironically, is a really easy allergy to deal with: you can't eat ANYTHING except special foods. So you don't have the problem of accidentally eating something, because it's a blanket rule: NO! (It wasn't easy from the point of view of trying to feed the kid, but for him it was easy )

In the long run your kid's friends will be people with their own allergies, because they have a lot in common and they can make inside jokes. My son occasionally goes out for pizza with his gang: he can't eat cheese (milk), his friend can't have wheat, his other friend can't have nightshades - tomatoes. They basically take the pizza apart and play with it and make fun of the other people there. Well, they're 14 and obnoxious. And they all can drink soda, not that I want them to.

Schools are horrible places (and filled with molds, too). Just assume from the beginning that the school is NOT following your instructions and get a lawyer and a doctor on their case, and be prepared for multiple trips to the emergency room until the legal kicks in. It helps if your kid has obvious and horrible symptoms. I know he's only 2, but be prepared for public school. It's the worst thing so far, except for well-meaning relatives.

Welcome. Don't feel bad, all kids do things to try and mess up your life. It goes with the territory.

 

[Azraele]

Both of my brothers had nasty food allergies. Wheat, corn, corn starch, corn syrup, sugar, eggs, milk, etc. They had to be put on a strict diet, and both got allergy shots, which eventually allowed them to eat normal foods again (after about a year). My parents tried to make it fun as far as meals went. They experimented with foods they could eat to see which ones they liked. Halloween was usually a bad time for them since they couldn't have candy, so they go a goody bag of toys instead.