Challenge, phase two

I reintroduced wheat to my son on Saturday.  It did not go well.  I made him cream of wheat cereal, which he gobbled up, loved the stuff.  About 15 minutes later he jumped down from the laptop and ran for the bathroom.  Shortly after that the coughing began.  A wet phlegmy cough.  And after that the nose plugged up.  A few hours later, his tummy hurt.  I think it's safe to say we will be continuing our no wheat policy for Mr. P.

Elimination diet updates

With the hustle and bustle of school starting I didn't post about the challenge phase of Paulo's elimination diet.

We've started challenging the foods that Paulo was restricted from last Friday.  He got to pick the order in which they were reintroduced. He chose eggs first.  So Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday he had eggs twice a day.  Once at breakfast and again at lunch in the form of a hard boiled egg.  At first he was quite excited but by Tuesday after breakfast he requested no egg in his lunch.  Which in itself is telling.

Some things I noticed, the shiners got dark again, he had some difficulty falling asleep, but with the change of school and seasons I am not putting too much weight on that.  The thing that really stunk (pun intended) were some of the gastrointestinal side effects.  That boy was stinky by Tuesday.  I took him back off eggs Wednesday and then let him have one this morning to see if anything changes.  The other thing that I noticed was Tuesday night.  We were reading story and he kept squirming around and scratching, I took back the covers and realized that an eczema patch had flared up.  He seemed to have had some level of reaction to eggs, but the thing is he would never eat two a day normally.  So, like Kelly mentioned, we may be able to have eggs as long as we keep it under his sensitivity threshold. 

Saturday we start with wheat.  I'll keep ya posted!

Elimination diet update

Paulo saw Dr. Kelly today.  We will keep on this elimination diet for 2.5 more weeks and then start the challenge phase. 

She's very happy with his results so far though.  His voice is less nasally.  His nose is clear.  His tummy problems are less frequent.  Basically he's doing great, and while he may miss the occasional bowl of mac and cheese he knows he feels better following this diet. 

We will see what the challenge phase brings us.  We've decided to start with eggs.  He'll eat two servings of eggs a day, everything else stays the same so no dairy and no wheat, and we will see if anything changes.  We'll be watching for behavioral changes, sleep changes, mucus production, headaches, aches and pains, that sort of thing.  If eggs go well then the next thing we'll challenge is wheat.  He'll get two servings of wheat a day, no eggs and no dairy, and we'll watch for any changes.  The last thing will be dairy.  After that we'll see what we can, or can't add back into his meals.  I like Kelly's description of trying to identify his "threshold'.  At what point does he cross the threshold and start to have side effects, for instance can he eat eggs and wheat a couple times a week but maybe not at the same meal?  Will we be able to go out to breakfast but I will have to be prepared for the likelihood that he'll wake in the night because he's having a hard time breathing from all the mucus?  Where is his critical mass so to speak?  I know he and I are both happier with him sleeping all night and I realized that he has not gotten sick since June.  I know it's summer...and I use that term very loosely here in the Northwest, but he usually has at least one bad summer cold.  But not this year.  I would really, really love to get through the winter without calling him in sick time after time after time.  That's my dream.  That with these diet changes he won't get sick and miss school and he will not need more antibiotics.  That's the dream, the golden ticket to happiness. 

We shall see what the challenge phase brings us.....

Preplanning

We are thinking of turning our day trip to the beach into an overnight at the beach.  However, with Paulo on his elimination diet this proves somewhat tricky. 

I've found two restaurants that are listed as "gluten free friendly" one of them even has gluten free pizza, it remains to be seen if that is also egg free and dairy free.  I've emailed the company to ask. 

My alternative though is to pack food, enough for dinner, breakfast, lunch and another dinner.  Bake a loaf of bread, slice it, bring it, bring nut butters, ham, GF mustard, that sort of thing, bring cut fruits and veggies GF snacks for lunch or dinner.  Bring stuffed corn muffins or make some pancakes, something that could be reheated in our room for breakfast.  We, thankfully, have not had to travel during our elimination period, I didn't give the demands of traveling on a restricted diet a second thought, until today.  Now, it's getting a second, third and fourth thought! 

Dear Baskin and Robbins

I am not a satisfied customer.  Given the rising occurrence of dairy allergies and lactose intolerance I find it difficult to understand why your franchises would not stock more allergen friendly options.  I phoned two local stores and in one there were a whopping two choices, the daiquiri ice and the tropical ice, the second only had the daiquiri ice.  My dairy free 6 year old has no frame of reference as to what a daiquiri tastes like and is understandably not interested.  He's a child.  He'd like something in a strawberry or perhaps a dairy free chocolate variety.  He's 6 after all and despite not being able to consume dairy he's a totally normal 6 year old boy.  He loves frozen treats.  I thought for sure your franchises would stock some sort of soy ice cream or coconut ice cream options, alas I was mistaken.  Apparently the growing portion of the allergic population is not welcome at Baskin and Robbins.  Duly noted.

An irritated Mother.

Elimination diet update

We are half way through the elimination period.  Paulo has adjusted well to the restrictions.  He's very good at reminding others too of his special diet.

I had a very interesting evening with him on Friday.  We needed to do the grocery shopping so I took him to one of the very few restaurants that I considered safe, Pho.  Dairy?  None.  Eggs?  Nope.  Wheat?  Nah, we get the rice noodle soup....safe right?  Perhaps not.  We split our usual, chicken noodle, and off we went to New Seasons.  Within minutes of entering the grocery store my son was bouncing off the walls.  He literally could not stand still to save his life.  Now, if you know Paulo, you know he's pretty rambunctious.  But, this was different somehow.  I reminded him that we were in a grocery store and he really needed to settle down, to control his body.  He agreed and then, seconds later was jumping up and down again.  It was as if he could not control himself.

I looked back through his food diary and at first glance saw nothing amiss.  Then it hit me.  Pho, Vietnamese soup, did they use MSG?  Was his behavior related to consuming MSG?  I phoned today to be sure, after a few seconds of a language barrier the man said yes, they use MSG.  I also looked back through his food journal.  I would say easily 80% of the nights he's struggled with falling asleep, or staying asleep, he's been at Pho for lunch or dinner.  We thought it was our safe spot for dining out during this elimination period, looks like we thought wrong.

We meet with our naturapath next week to go over our progress so far and discuss reintroducing the three food groups.  I'm anxious to see what, if any, reaction he has to each item as we allow him to eat them again.

Elimination diet update

We've been on the elimination diet for almost one full week.  I've noticed a few things that give me hope.

• with one exception Paulo has slept through the night every single night since Sunday-this is a huge accomplishment for my notoriously terrible sleeper.
• his allergic shiners seem to be getting lighter.
• he's eating his meals better, I'm not a member of the clean plate club but at least eat enough to fill your tummy!
• and a big one, I noticed this morning as I peeked in at him, he's sleeping with his mouth closed.

Paulo was always a mouth breather which led to some nasty sore throats.  He was sleeping so peacefully this morning-I had to check to make sure he was breathing!  His little mouth was closed.  He also used to sleep in an arched position, like a backwards C.  I haven't found him arched back all week.  It gives me encouragement that we're on the right track.  It's a lot of work but I think we're on the right track.

Goodbye gluten

Took my baby out to breakfast Friday so he could enjoy one last good old fashioned American breakfast.  The boy loves his pancakes and eggs!  He did it up.  Started with a mug of cocoa with whipped cream.  Finished with a plate of pancakes, scrambled eggs, one bacon and one sausage.  Licked the plate clean. 

Last night though began our allergen free elimination diet.  It'll be an adjustment for him, but I hope he'll feel a difference in his allergy symptoms.  That will make it much easier to accept the lifestyle change I'm asking of him. 

Holy sticker shock!!

We go, gung ho, on the elimination diet starting Monday.  In anticipation of that I had to go grocery shopping.  On top of my normal groceries I needed to explore the wonders of gluten/dairy/egg free products, i.e. breads, pastas, tortillas, etc.  My grocery bill was bit....higher than normal for one week.  True some of the things I bought today will last more than one week.  I did invest in quinoa flour so I could learn to make a new kind of pancake for my pancake loving son, that flour will last more than one week.  It was expensive though, I knew it would be, I tried to prepare myself-I failed.  It's worth it though, it's worth it.

Sorry son, no more beer for you

My sweet baby, Paulo, has been plagued by ear infections and year round allergies.  Since Valentine's day he's had 3 EIs, all in the same left ear.  Two of which ruptured.  It's really hard to watch your son experience the pain of an EI that is on the verge of rupturing.  I'd do anything to prevent that from happening again.  It was heartbreaking.

Here's a brief recap of our journey through Allergyville:
http://theviewfrommyfoxhole.blogspot.com/2010/03/source-of-sneezing.html
The first blood test came back with some environmental red flags but no food flags.  So I decided to proceed with skin testing.
http://theviewfrommyfoxhole.blogspot.com/2010/03/now-work-begins.html
The skin test came back positive for a lot of different pollen allergies as well as dusts and pet dander.  We decided to continue with the daily dose of Claratin and add in Nasonex.  I also decided to take him to my naturapath, Kelly.  http://theviewfrommyfoxhole.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html
Come June, and the 3rd round of infections, I took him back to the ENT we saw when he was 3 for a check out.  He thought that his allergies were the biggest culprit but wanted a scan to rule out any sinus abnormalities.  The cat scan came back showing "improvement" in his sinuses-whatever that means.  He recommended we stick with the allergy treatments and follow up with him in a month.  

By that time though I'd already decided to have food allergy blood tests done again.  This test, recommended by my naturapath was more sensitive.  Yes, I know there is such as thing as too sensitive, but this would give us a starting point for an elimination diet, if needed.  I took him off his daily allergy meds for the required week-boy was that a tough week!  We had the blood work done on the 5th of July and today was his follow up with Kelly.  The blood work results were in.  And the playing field in the old kitchen is totally changed.

My baby boy tested extremely high for egg and wheat allergies and high for dairy allergies.  Oh, and brewers yeast, sorry Paulo, no more sipping Daddy's beer-at least for now. 

The reality is, the daily breakfast of eggs and toast, waffles or pancakes that I happily have served my child nearly every single day for the past oh 4 years or so **may** be contributing to his severe allergy symptoms and his recurrent ear infections.  In the immortal words of Homer Simpson....DOH!

Where does that leave us now?  On an elimination diet.  No eggs, no wheat and no dairy for 8 weeks.  After that we will reintroduce them one at a time and monitor his symptoms.  Yeah, Momma's going to need to do a little research this weekend and some serious pantry purging.

Big day today

Paulo has a big day today and I'm a little nervous.  My poor baby has been plagued by ear infections in the last few years.  Didn't have his first one until he was a year old, and got a double whammy then, didn't have too many in the year or so that followed but lately, probably since 3 years, it's been rough.  Since Valentine's Day he's had three all in the same ear, two of which have ruptured!  That's just too much!  It's painful and I do not like giving him round after round of antibiotics.

I know that his horrible allergies are a factor.  We're working on those as best as we can.  He gets a lot of extra vitamins, we neti pot, he takes daily meds, I clean his room obsessively....the one thing I really wish I could do?  Hardwood floors in his bedroom.  I hate the carpet.  Never thought I'd say that, but having a child with severe allergies makes me loathe carpeting.  You just cannot get it clean enough.  We are also having more food allergy testing done.  Our naturapath thought it odd that with all his environmental allergies nothing showed up for food allergies on the blood test his pediatrician ordered last February.  So, she ordered one that tests for over 95 different allergens.  That's on Friday, fortunately he's really good about shots and needles.  The last time he had a blood draw done he watched, wide eyed, through the process, didn't make a single sound.  Part of me hopes that they do find something because then, I can do something about it.  If there's a food that his body can't handle I can remove that food.  I cannot go out and chop down all the trees or burn all the grass he's allergic to.  I suppose that's why I'm obsessive about his room, I can do something about dust.  I can vacuum.  I can wash his bedding weekly.  I could, and did, buy him a new mattress.  There's something I can do there, I don't feel helpless.  With the pollens, I'm helpless, and I don't do well with being helpless.

But back to today.  Last week I took him back to the ENT that removed his tonsils and adenoids when he was 3, Dr. Lewis.  The very nice Doc checked him out, tested his hearing, talked with me and agreed that 3 EIs in 4 months is just not reasonable.  The first word out of his mouth on why though was allergies.  So, yes, we may be chasing our tails here.  To be sure though Dr. Lewis ordered a CAT scan of his melon.  He wants to see what is going on in his sinuses and ear tubes.  Today's the big day.  Paulo has had this done before, when he was 3, which he may actually remember-the boy has a freakishly good memory.  The scan then showed that his adenoids blocked his airway when he laid on his back, which explained the apnea that scared the crap out of me when he was a toddler.  Today, I'm not sure what it will show us-which is frightening for me.  I tend to go to a dark and scary place with my fears about the health and well being of my son.  I start thinking bad thoughts.  I do not share these dark, scary thoughts with anyone mind you, but they're there, in my brain, taunting me. 

For today though I put on my happy face and tell my son that nothing will ever hurt him, because Mommy will always be there to protect him.  And he looks at me and smiles, reassured, he doesn't need to bear the fear, that's my job, I'm the Momma.