Yesterday we took Carter to the Allergy Specialist in Ogden...... Notice the eczema on his cheeks...more on that later.
I love this picture of him up on the table.....ready for his skin test and completely unaware of what is coming.
They tested him for about 15 different things. There are 5 common allergies in children. Milk, eggs, Soy, Nuts, and Shellfish. They tested him for those 5 along with some others including, Cats, Dogs, Lemons and Peaches. The skin test wasn't as bad as I was fearing. They mark him with marker, then put liquids drops of the allergens on and then scraped his back. They don't poke holes like I thought, but instead just take a swipe. Carter didn't even cry until the very last 2 swipes. And once she was done he stopped.
Here is his back after a few minutes. If you can't tell the top row is where he reacted the worst. The "C" and "D" are the cat and dog. Long story short he is "highly allergic" to milk(caesin and whey), eggs(both egg whites and yolks), and cats and dogs. He is "mildly" allergic to peaches as well. Our cooking and meals will now have to change that's for sure. He cannot have any of these ingredients cooked or raw. The good news is that he isn't allergic to Soy so we can substitute milk for soymilk. We will have to do all our cooking with soymilk and egg substitutes. You'd be surprised how many things have milk or eggs of some sort in them. I have become a label reading guru in the past few weeks. I have come to conclude that we can't really use boxed things anymore because most of them have powdered milk and dried eggs. So maybe we will eat healthier now as I have to be so careful as to what we eat. Carter cannot have cheese or butter or anything like that that is also in many dishes. I will now have to be the NAZI mother and make sure no one is feeding him anything I haven't checked out and that everyone in a 100 milke radius knows of his allergies. Yes, I will become one of "those" mothers. I have to.
So that is why I say Carter is a vegan(except for the fact that he can eat meat(hopefully,) he hasn't tried it yet. The good news of this is that he will most likely outgrow his allergy to milk and eggs. (You don't outgrow cat and dog allergies.) He can outgrow them IF we can completely and totally keep all milk and egg products out of him until he's 3 years old. That's a long time but if he gets bits and pieces of these things then he probably wouldn't outgrow these allergies.
--He isn't allergic to nuts but the Dr. said that because of the allergies he already has, there is a very good chance of him developing nut allergies. So, Carter isn't allowed to have any nuts of any kind until he is 2 years old. So we have to treat that as an allergy too!
--Anybody ever tried Soy milk? If so, how does it taste compared to regular milk? Anybody any seen the prices of soy milk? Ahh--very expensive. And yes-they do have Soy Ice Cream. It costs approximately 1 arm and 1 leg. Maybe we will just never tell Carter about Ice Cream.
--Also, the dr. thinks his eczema is related to his allergies and that me eating eggs and milk can pass through my breast milk and exhibit themselves in Carter's eczema. So.....she said if his skin gets really bad or worse then I will have to cut those things out of my diet as well! Maybe I'll just wean him tomorrow.........
Saturday, February 7, 2009
My son the Vegan.......
Posted by Amanda at 4:26 PM
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10 comments:
Sad day! I have had soy milk-both regular and chocolate. One was actually really good and the other wasn't as good. I don't remember which is which. I'm not so worried about you being that mother as I am about Carter not growing out of this and being "that kid." I'm sure he will though!
oh wait, how does he do with the cat?
That is sad! Hopefully he will outgrow this. I have had Soy milk. I had the vanilla flavor and it was actually quite delicious! With you as his mom and Carrie as his aunt, I am not sure you will be able to keep ice cream a secret!!! Good luck with everything! I was wondering about the cat as well?!
So with the cat issue(i was secretly hoping the Dr. said get rid of him ASAP!) But with cats and dogs, you can be really allergic but it doesn't affect you the way food allergies do. It's more of an annoyance-it doesn't cause an anaphylactix(sp) reaction. So as long as we keep the cat out of his room he'll be fine. And we've had the cat for months and he's never reacted. Plus she recommended getting a HEPA filter for his bedroom. Plus the cat is an outside cat who only comes in occasionally-so she said it's fine.
What a brave little guy. He is such a trooper after all he's been through these past few weeks. He deserves a big bowl of ice cream after all of it.... oh wait..... maybe some SOY ice cream. But maybe he'll outgrow the milk and eggs by the time he's old enough to be going places without you there and then you can rest easy when you're not with him. At this age and in the next year or so, if he can't reach it and it's not around, he can't get it. He can only have what you give him, so that's nice. And I have to agree with Mel- there may be no hiding ice cream, but I actually eat most of my treats after the kids are in bed anyways. Hopefully in a few years we will be able to ask Carter, "Got Milk?"
please, give me something harder! CHEERS! You sick of the cat?
Poor kid. I am glad he didn't have to get poked, I thought that is how they tested for allergies.
Cash has bad eczema as you saw on my blog. Aspen had it too really bad and still has it but nothing like she used to. Now she only has it on her legs and bum. It got a lot better for her once she was about a year and a half. Good luck with everything. Hopefully all the food issues will go away.
Poor kid! Hopefully he'll outgrow it, but I'm glad you know what's going on now- that can be scary!
Amanda I can't get enough of your wit! I am sorry about his allergies...that stinks, but at least you know now what to keep him away from. As for Soy milk we bought it once for Cam when he was really sick and the Dr. said not to give him any dairy, yeah, he refused to drink it as did I...I can almost still taste it in my mouth. I wish I were allergic to ice cream...I suspect I would weigh alot less!
I'm certaily no expert on soy milk, but I've heard that vanilla flavored "Silk" is good.
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