June has baby acne right now. Has anyone ever been so happy to see baby acne on their child as I am?
It might mean nothing. She might end up with eczema and food allergies, who knows. But when Georgia was around June's age, she had what we thought was baby acne. (At least that's what the pediatrician said.) Except it kept getting bigger. And worse. Most of her face was red and raw, poor thing. It was bad enough once that I remember going to the grocery store and wondering if the other shoppers were noticing and questioning what was wrong with my daughter's face.
Anyway, turns out it was eczema. So the fact that June instead has what appears to be totally normal looking baby acne? Well, it excites me. Because nothing on her looks like eczema yet.
(Fingers crossed that it stays that way and that I haven't just jinxed it all by discussing it here!)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Momversation
I usually love the website Momversation.com. It's a fun break in my day to see what their panelists are discussing.
Today they tackled food allergies. I was nervous as I hit play. Would this be just another uninformed bash of kids with food allergies and their cuh-razy parents?
All in all, it wasn't bad, but I really wish they would've included a panelist or guest panelist that is the parent of an allergic child.
I think that some of the panelists came off looking a little glib, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that that might just be the result of the way these little clips are edited.
At least this episode wasn't filled with the hateful, misguided opinions on food allergies and nut bans that I've seen in so many articles, though, which is why I've gone ahead and linked to the video here. It will be interesting to see what the Momversation viewership has to say in the comments section, though. Fingers crossed that the meanies keep their thoughts to themselves.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Allergies? What Allergies?
We welcomed our second child into the world on August 18th.
Amazing how this has managed to take my mind off of anything related to food allergies.
It has been a nice reprieve.
Maybe I was starting to let the annoyance and worry overtake my mind too much? I won't go so far as to use the word "obsessed," but maybe I was borderline??? Hope not.
Anyway, point is that life marches on, allergies or not. Which is great.
They're just one thing on the list. But now I must attend to a higher priority on the list: sleep.
Amazing how this has managed to take my mind off of anything related to food allergies.
It has been a nice reprieve.
Maybe I was starting to let the annoyance and worry overtake my mind too much? I won't go so far as to use the word "obsessed," but maybe I was borderline??? Hope not.
Anyway, point is that life marches on, allergies or not. Which is great.
They're just one thing on the list. But now I must attend to a higher priority on the list: sleep.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Happy Birthday (Cake)!
For Christmas, we received a wonderful cookbook full of allergen-free recipes from my sister in law. As excited as I was to receive and pore over this thoughtful gift, I must admit that I've been delinquent in actually putting it to use. I think this has much to do with the fact that, lucky for us, Georgia was young enough this year not to be aware of, or begging for, any of the yummy foods that she was missing out on due to allergies. And, of course, the reality is that she can still eat the vast majority of what we normally eat without any recipe adjustments. But when her birthday rolled around, I figured it was time to break out the book and get to cooking her an eggless cake. Somehow even very young children living an otherwise cake-free life know that on birthdays there had better be a cake, candles, and ice cream! So, here goes nothing....
Barefoot, pregnant, and doing Martha proud. That's the picture of what the cake is supposed to turn out like.
The finished product. Note: the guitars are not part of the allergen-free recipe, but rather a fulfillment of our toddler's cake decorating wishes, (as inspired by another mom's creative avoidance of overly-complicated icing requests).
But did it taste okay?
Survey says: YES!
Here is the book I used:
Note that although the cover says "no eggs, no dairy, no nuts, no gluten," each recipe can be tweaked to take out as many of those offending ingredients as you need to. I did not make the dairy and gluten free version of this cake, but that can be done.
REVIEW:
Quality of cookbook: Excellent. Useful info, great pictures, and easy to follow recipes.
Quality of cake: Very good. No one was turning it down, but I'm not gonna lie; in a side by side comparison with Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines, it would probably not fare well. The cake was quite tasty and I would make it again, but compared to other cakes I've had, it was a bit on the drier and denser side. (I wonder if I cooked it a few minutes too long?)
Quality of icing: Excellent. But I wish there had been more. If I make this again, I will double the icing recipe, so that there's no struggle in icing each layer, plus the top and sides.
Barefoot, pregnant, and doing Martha proud. That's the picture of what the cake is supposed to turn out like.
The finished product. Note: the guitars are not part of the allergen-free recipe, but rather a fulfillment of our toddler's cake decorating wishes, (as inspired by another mom's creative avoidance of overly-complicated icing requests).
But did it taste okay?
Survey says: YES!
Here is the book I used:
Note that although the cover says "no eggs, no dairy, no nuts, no gluten," each recipe can be tweaked to take out as many of those offending ingredients as you need to. I did not make the dairy and gluten free version of this cake, but that can be done.
REVIEW:
Quality of cookbook: Excellent. Useful info, great pictures, and easy to follow recipes.
Quality of cake: Very good. No one was turning it down, but I'm not gonna lie; in a side by side comparison with Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines, it would probably not fare well. The cake was quite tasty and I would make it again, but compared to other cakes I've had, it was a bit on the drier and denser side. (I wonder if I cooked it a few minutes too long?)
Quality of icing: Excellent. But I wish there had been more. If I make this again, I will double the icing recipe, so that there's no struggle in icing each layer, plus the top and sides.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Blood Test Results from Food Allergy Study
They told us it would take about 2 months to get back the blood test results from our participation in the food allergy study, and they were true to their word.
This is science-y stuff, so I'm not even going to attempt to summarize or paraphrase. I'm just typing in excerpts of what they mailed us now:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay - me here again. So, my thoughts on what we can take away from any of this:
--One more thing to keep in mind when looking at these results - you can't compare CAP-RAST scores for different allergens and infer that equivalent scores mean equivalent likelihood of being allergic (i.e., true positives). In other words, a 4.0 on peanut may not mean the same thing as a 4.0 on wheat.
--Obviously, we'll have to wait to get in to see the doc this fall for further testing and discussion, but Georgia's egg test result confirms my suspicion that she may have outgrown this allergy. I don't really know how to judge it, but that number looks low to me! I believe it's lower than her score from 2008, which is great news.
--Definitely true what they say about false positives, because I eat shrimp with no problems, and Georgia consumes milk, wheat and soy with no problems as far as we can tell.
--Based on what little I know of Peanut CAP-RAST scores, I am pleased with Georgia's score on that one. It's definitely well below the 95% certainty threshhold. It may indicate that even if she's allergic now that she's among the 20% of people who have a decent chance of outgrowing a peanut allergy.
--Bummer about the codfish score for Georgia. Her reactions to fish started around February or March, which was so weird, because she had been eating salmon with no problem and loving it for about 6 months prior to that. I wonder if or when we can find out which fish she's allergic to? We'll have to ask the doctor about that. I hope she doesn't have to avoid ALL fish forever.
This is science-y stuff, so I'm not even going to attempt to summarize or paraphrase. I'm just typing in excerpts of what they mailed us now:
Interpretation of Blood Test Results
...The purpose of this testing is for an epidemiologic study and not for diagnosis.
IgE is the antibody that causes immediate hypersensitivity to proteins, such as foods or airborne allergens. The total IgE value is a general indicator of how "allergic" a patient is. For example, patients with hay fever (allergic rhinitis) or eczema (atopic dermatitis) may have an elevated IgE level. For total IgE, the lower limit of detection is 2.0kU/L and the upper limit is 5000 kU/L.
The blood tests called "CAP-RASTs" determine the quantity of IgE to a specific allergen. For specific IgE, the lower limit of detection is 0.1 kUA/L., and the upper limit is 100 kUA/L.. Values outside this range will be noted as "<0.1>100 kUA/L." Please note that CAP-RASTs, especially to foods, can be falsely positive. The main limitation of these tests is that a positive result does NOT necessarily mean that the food will trigger symptoms...
POSITIVE BLOOD TEST ALONE DOES NOT EQUAL DIAGNOSIS OF ALLERGY
Sometimes, CAP-RASTs can also lead to false-negative results (although a negative test result generally rules out an allergy)...
In addition, the blood test results do not reflect the severity of an allergy. A higher value does not mean that a reaction will be more severe. Rather, the value reflects the probability that you or your child may be allergic to that particular allergen: the higher the value, the more likely that the result is a true positive....
IgE is the antibody that causes immediate hypersensitivity to proteins, such as foods or airborne allergens. The total IgE value is a general indicator of how "allergic" a patient is. For example, patients with hay fever (allergic rhinitis) or eczema (atopic dermatitis) may have an elevated IgE level. For total IgE, the lower limit of detection is 2.0kU/L and the upper limit is 5000 kU/L.
The blood tests called "CAP-RASTs" determine the quantity of IgE to a specific allergen. For specific IgE, the lower limit of detection is 0.1 kUA/L., and the upper limit is 100 kUA/L.. Values outside this range will be noted as "<0.1>100 kUA/L." Please note that CAP-RASTs, especially to foods, can be falsely positive. The main limitation of these tests is that a positive result does NOT necessarily mean that the food will trigger symptoms...
POSITIVE BLOOD TEST ALONE DOES NOT EQUAL DIAGNOSIS OF ALLERGY
Sometimes, CAP-RASTs can also lead to false-negative results (although a negative test result generally rules out an allergy)...
In addition, the blood test results do not reflect the severity of an allergy. A higher value does not mean that a reaction will be more severe. Rather, the value reflects the probability that you or your child may be allergic to that particular allergen: the higher the value, the more likely that the result is a true positive....
Mother | Father | Daughter | |
Allergen tested | Value (kU/L) | Value (kU/L) | Value (kU/L) |
Alternaria (mold) | <0.1 | 1.300 | <0.1 |
Cat Dander | <0.1 | <0.1 | 0.417 |
Cockroach | 0.143 | <0.1 | 0.102 |
Codfish | <0.1 | <0.1 | 20.871 |
Dog Dander | <0.1 | <0.1 | 0.110 |
Dust Mite 1 (Df) | <0.1 | 1.397 | <0.1 |
Dust Mite 2 (Dp) | <0.1 | 0.872 | <0.1 |
Egg White | <0.1 | <0.1 | 0.887 |
Milk, Cow | <0.1 | <0.1 | 0.672 |
Peanut | <0.1 | <0.1 | 4.182 |
Sesame | <0.1 | <0.1 | 6.615 |
Shrimp | 0.236 | <0.1 | <0.1 |
Soy | <0.1 | <0.1 | 1.148 |
Total IgE | 16.151 | 23.727 | 108.137 |
Walnut | <0.1 | <0.1 | 6.049 |
Wheat | <0.1 | <0.1 | 4.020 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay - me here again. So, my thoughts on what we can take away from any of this:
--One more thing to keep in mind when looking at these results - you can't compare CAP-RAST scores for different allergens and infer that equivalent scores mean equivalent likelihood of being allergic (i.e., true positives). In other words, a 4.0 on peanut may not mean the same thing as a 4.0 on wheat.
--Obviously, we'll have to wait to get in to see the doc this fall for further testing and discussion, but Georgia's egg test result confirms my suspicion that she may have outgrown this allergy. I don't really know how to judge it, but that number looks low to me! I believe it's lower than her score from 2008, which is great news.
--Definitely true what they say about false positives, because I eat shrimp with no problems, and Georgia consumes milk, wheat and soy with no problems as far as we can tell.
--Based on what little I know of Peanut CAP-RAST scores, I am pleased with Georgia's score on that one. It's definitely well below the 95% certainty threshhold. It may indicate that even if she's allergic now that she's among the 20% of people who have a decent chance of outgrowing a peanut allergy.
--Bummer about the codfish score for Georgia. Her reactions to fish started around February or March, which was so weird, because she had been eating salmon with no problem and loving it for about 6 months prior to that. I wonder if or when we can find out which fish she's allergic to? We'll have to ask the doctor about that. I hope she doesn't have to avoid ALL fish forever.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Stuff that Bugs Me
Just saw another online "article" (if you can even call it journalism) about how there's too much hype these days about food allergies....(yawn).
Of course, like an idiot, I also read some of the reader comments.
Here's a common one that gets me, personally: the people that criticize parents of food allergic children, basically saying one of two things:
1) all kids need to play outside more, and if they did, then there wouldn't be so many food allergic children; and
2) if only you fed your kid real food and did some cooking instead of filling them up with pop tarts, fruit snacks, and every other processed creation under the sun, then there wouldn't be so many food allergic children.
[Note: both #1 and #2 boil down to, "I have no sympathy for your child's condition, because it's all your fault.]
Thanks.
Okay, I'm not even saying that there's not a shred of truth in either #1 or #2, because maybe there is, at some societal level, over a number of decades. It seems plausible to me that the American lifestyle and abundance of genetically modified, processed foods in our diets might have some connection to food allergies.
But at the individualized level? Well, that just pisses me off. My daughter has food allergies and she's not quite two yet. I'm sorry, was I supposed to send her out on her own to play outside more during the first 6 months of her life? Especially on the snowy days, right? Babies love that.
And as for the food? If anything, I'm the mom that others make fun of for trying too hard to avoid processed crap. (Not that our family succeeds on that front entirely, but I'm just saying, we at least make an effort.) I kind of pride myself on having avoided pretty much all food (or food-like products, as I sometimes like to call them) that are specifically marketed to little kids. Also, we certainly don't do everything organic, but we do buy a lot of organic foods. I try to cook at home as much as possible. We enjoy buying from the farmer's market all summer. And when our daughter was younger, we boiled foods and made a great deal (but admittedly not all) of her pureed baby food from scratch, for Pete's sake. Oh, and p.s., I breastfed for 13 months, another thing that is supposedly linked to a lower risk of allergies. Due to being diagnosed with an egg allergy around age 1, my daughter basically only knows cookies and cupcakes from books, so excuse me if I'm just a *wee* bit sensitive to the idea that it was my stuffing her with pop tarts that gave her food allergies.
Whew! Bitter rant over. Okay, I feel better now.
Of course, like an idiot, I also read some of the reader comments.
Here's a common one that gets me, personally: the people that criticize parents of food allergic children, basically saying one of two things:
1) all kids need to play outside more, and if they did, then there wouldn't be so many food allergic children; and
2) if only you fed your kid real food and did some cooking instead of filling them up with pop tarts, fruit snacks, and every other processed creation under the sun, then there wouldn't be so many food allergic children.
[Note: both #1 and #2 boil down to, "I have no sympathy for your child's condition, because it's all your fault.]
Thanks.
Okay, I'm not even saying that there's not a shred of truth in either #1 or #2, because maybe there is, at some societal level, over a number of decades. It seems plausible to me that the American lifestyle and abundance of genetically modified, processed foods in our diets might have some connection to food allergies.
But at the individualized level? Well, that just pisses me off. My daughter has food allergies and she's not quite two yet. I'm sorry, was I supposed to send her out on her own to play outside more during the first 6 months of her life? Especially on the snowy days, right? Babies love that.
And as for the food? If anything, I'm the mom that others make fun of for trying too hard to avoid processed crap. (Not that our family succeeds on that front entirely, but I'm just saying, we at least make an effort.) I kind of pride myself on having avoided pretty much all food (or food-like products, as I sometimes like to call them) that are specifically marketed to little kids. Also, we certainly don't do everything organic, but we do buy a lot of organic foods. I try to cook at home as much as possible. We enjoy buying from the farmer's market all summer. And when our daughter was younger, we boiled foods and made a great deal (but admittedly not all) of her pureed baby food from scratch, for Pete's sake. Oh, and p.s., I breastfed for 13 months, another thing that is supposedly linked to a lower risk of allergies. Due to being diagnosed with an egg allergy around age 1, my daughter basically only knows cookies and cupcakes from books, so excuse me if I'm just a *wee* bit sensitive to the idea that it was my stuffing her with pop tarts that gave her food allergies.
Whew! Bitter rant over. Okay, I feel better now.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
I Wonder...
11 days until my due date.
I wonder if this child will have food allergies or not? So curious about that.
We pray that it will not.
They tell me not to do anything differently - not to eat or behave differently in this pregnancy versus the last. They say there's no good evidence yet that any of it matters.
And yet I find myself wondering what the cause could be. Should I not eat this hummus sandwich from Cosi? What about the peanut m&m's from the vending machine at work that I could not resist - should I not have eaten those? (Beyond the list of other reasons that one might want to avoid them, of course.) What about this soda? Is it the secret evil? What about this supposedly environmentally friendly kitchen cleaner - is it okay to use?
You see how messed up I have become? I'm telling you, I think you would be the same way. It's all such a mental game, these food allergies.
A confession: I desperately want our second child not to have food allergies. First and foremost for its own sake - for its health. But also so people won't think Georgia's allergies are "my fault." That they're something I caused, or something I invented.
Selfish of me to feel that way, I guess. Rather insecure and defensive, I know. But that's how I feel a lot of the time; that's where I am right now.
Hmm.....I wonder... I wonder...
I wonder if this child will have food allergies or not? So curious about that.
We pray that it will not.
They tell me not to do anything differently - not to eat or behave differently in this pregnancy versus the last. They say there's no good evidence yet that any of it matters.
And yet I find myself wondering what the cause could be. Should I not eat this hummus sandwich from Cosi? What about the peanut m&m's from the vending machine at work that I could not resist - should I not have eaten those? (Beyond the list of other reasons that one might want to avoid them, of course.) What about this soda? Is it the secret evil? What about this supposedly environmentally friendly kitchen cleaner - is it okay to use?
You see how messed up I have become? I'm telling you, I think you would be the same way. It's all such a mental game, these food allergies.
A confession: I desperately want our second child not to have food allergies. First and foremost for its own sake - for its health. But also so people won't think Georgia's allergies are "my fault." That they're something I caused, or something I invented.
Selfish of me to feel that way, I guess. Rather insecure and defensive, I know. But that's how I feel a lot of the time; that's where I am right now.
Hmm.....I wonder... I wonder...
Friday, July 31, 2009
That's what friends are for
In connection with the whole letter to Congress thing mentioned in the previous post, I recently exchanged emails with a good friend of mine who is a lifelong food allergy sufferer.
She really has no idea what a positive source of inspiration and comfort she is for me when it comes to dealing with Georgia's food allergies. When my mind starts swirling with all of this stuff, or starts slipping towards greater anxiety, I can remind myself of my friend, who is of course a normal, happy, well adjusted adult despite having to put up with food allergies. Also, she has had multiple scares during her life - awful incidents requiring EpiPen injenctions and trips to the ER. You would think that would make me feel worse, but the fact that she has always come out okay is what makes me feel better. That's the part I choose to focus on.
Anyway, I'll share a few lines of her email, and you'll know why this person helps me stay grounded:
Friendship is a two way street, though. While I may not be giving back to my friend as much as I feel like I'm receiving from her right now, she did at least confess to me that hearing about our family's experience is making her see her own food allergies from her mom's perspective for the first time. So, there is that, which is nice.
She really has no idea what a positive source of inspiration and comfort she is for me when it comes to dealing with Georgia's food allergies. When my mind starts swirling with all of this stuff, or starts slipping towards greater anxiety, I can remind myself of my friend, who is of course a normal, happy, well adjusted adult despite having to put up with food allergies. Also, she has had multiple scares during her life - awful incidents requiring EpiPen injenctions and trips to the ER. You would think that would make me feel worse, but the fact that she has always come out okay is what makes me feel better. That's the part I choose to focus on.
Anyway, I'll share a few lines of her email, and you'll know why this person helps me stay grounded:
"For what it is worth... ...it will always be harder for you than it is for her."
Another tip she gave me that brought a smile to my face was to always pack Georgia a good lunch for school field trips, so that she wouldn't have to eat a soggy turkey sandwich. To me this highlighted an interesting difference in perspective -- as the parent, you may be worrying about impending doom, when all your kid is really concerned with is avoiding a soggy substitute box lunch.
"The allergies are just going to be part of her life, and she won't know life without them-- I know that sounds hard for a parent, but to her it is all she will know and she will learn to adapt."
Friendship is a two way street, though. While I may not be giving back to my friend as much as I feel like I'm receiving from her right now, she did at least confess to me that hearing about our family's experience is making her see her own food allergies from her mom's perspective for the first time. So, there is that, which is nice.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Just Sent a Letter to Congress...
...via the Food Allergy Initiative's website. The letter requests increased federal funding for food allergy research.
Here's the online form for submission:
http://www.votervoice.net/core.aspx?Screen=Alert&IssueID=17107&SessionID=%24AID%3d1048%3aSITEID%3d-1%3aVV_CULTURE%3den-us%3aAPP%3dGAC%24
Thought I'd link it here.
Here's the online form for submission:
http://www.votervoice.net/core.aspx?Screen=Alert&IssueID=17107&SessionID=%24AID%3d1048%3aSITEID%3d-1%3aVV_CULTURE%3den-us%3aAPP%3dGAC%24
Thought I'd link it here.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Reflecting on a year
It's been just about a year since Georgia's first known allergic reaction, which was to a bite of hummus. (I say "known" only because there are some of her more serious eczema outbreaks when she was younger that I now wonder if were due to foods that I was eating that she was getting through breastmilk.)
Anyway, I thought I should pause and reflect on our first year of dealing with a food allergic child. What the surprises have been, etc.
Anyway, I thought I should pause and reflect on our first year of dealing with a food allergic child. What the surprises have been, etc.
- It feels like it has been a lot longer than a year. Feels like it's been from the beginning but it hasn't.
- The wait to get in to see the allergist felt interminably long.
- I can't believe what a crazy restricted diet she was on for about 2 months while we were waiting to get in for that first allergist appointment. Felt like a caveman's diet.
- Given Georgia's young age, and our ability to control her diet 100%, I think the biggest impacts on our life so far have been: (1) When we go out (for errands, outings, whatever) we tend to take food with us way more often than other parents of a toddler her age, just in case; and (2) We hardly ever eat out at restaurants with her - to us it's just not worth the hassle most of the time. (So, yeah, I guess we're not the "cool" parents who haven't let having a child impact their own social life at all (the ones that many childless people I know seem to always think of as the "best" or most laid back). Oh well!)
- We've been lucky that Georgia has had no serious allergic reactions. What I wish people could understand is that even the mild ones are not fun to experience. They're scary.
- I think every first time parent goes through those, "is the baby dead?" moments when they just have to go in and check on the sleeping child to put their mind at ease. I think we experienced (and still experience) that syndrome WAY worse than the average parent. (It stems from the fact that we've been told that anaphylaxis can kick in up to 2 hours after exposure to a food, and when you're dealing with a kid who sleeps as much as Georgia did this year, well, there's not always room for a 2 hour window between eating and sleeping.) I know it's probably a ridiculous, unfounded fear, but it crops up now and then.
- I guess I knew before we were thrust into the fold that food allergies were a "hot topic." But I had no idea how much misinformation is out there. How strongly opinionated people can be about this stuff. How much negativity there often is in the media's coverage of the issue. How truly unsympathetic, and frankly, downright cruel, people can be when leaving comments on the Internet (to articles or blog posts they've read). I have got to learn not to let those people get to me, or just not to read the comments! (BTW, when it comes to this stuff, Joe is SO much better than I am at not giving a hoot what anyone else thinks. He would never let such hurtful comments get to him.)
- I've noticed a pattern. As vigilant as we try to be, we ebb and flow. We go for a period where Georgia has no allergic reaction to anything and slowly we become just a little bit more lax -- a litte more willing to let her eat something without asking first what's in it and instead going with our assumption that it's okay. And then she has some kind of reaction, and suddenly we're all hyper-vigilant again. [That's normal, right? I imagine that pattern will continue forever as we, and eventually she, try to always strike the right balance between safety and unnecessary caution.]
- To our surprise, we find the sesame allergy to be the most annoying to deal with.
- Another surprise: We wish they could come up with an allergy test for severity almost as much as we wish they could come up with a cure. Of course a cure would be ideal, but if that's not possible in the near term future, then please, oh please, scientists, work on a severity test.
- This is stating the obvious after having reflected on all of the above, but it's remarkable after one year of dealing with food allergies how much of a head game allergies can create. (At least for the parents. I don't ever want this stuff to stress Georgia out as much as it can stress us out.) The physical part of food allergies is so manageable; the mental part sometimes requires more work.
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