Allergies
I ran short on time last night and didn’t get the next Avoiding Toxins post written. That’s okay though, because I wanted to take some time for us to talk about and compare the things our kids are allergic to.
GlitterGirl doesn’t do well on sugar. At all. It’s like she loses her ability to self-regulate. I have no idea what mechanism causes it, but it hasn’t gone away as she’s gotten older. It’s not as bad now as it was when she was three and four, but it’s still there.
GlitterGirl also has issues with most food dyes. She’s okay with a little bit here and there, but if she gets too much then she just goes stupid on us. It’s like she’s on meth or acid. She doesn’t like the way it makes her feel, either, so she knows that if she does eat (for instance) birthday cake at a party, that she should scrape the colored icing off and not eat it. She also avoids suckers and colored goldfish and much of the other crap that ends up at school parties. We don’t have many things with food coloring at home, but you’d be surprised what kids get at school.
TwinkleToes has super sensitive skin, if one of her friends at school gives her some lotion and she uses it on her hands then her hands will start peeling something awful. Layers and layers of skin just sloughs off. The same goes with the lotions my parents would put on her if I didn’t supply something else for them to use. I’ve never taken the time to figure out if it’s the preservatives or the petroleum or maybe one of the chemical fragrances that does it. Burt’s Bees stuff is fine, the hemp stuff from WalMart is fine, and the food based items I make for skin is fine. The thing about six (almost seven) year olds is that if their skin peeled a few weeks ago from using someone else’s lotion then they’ll tell their friends they don’t want any lotion when it’s offered. But if their skin peeled three months ago then it’s like it never happened and they’ll happily accept whatever is offered.
I make a coconut oil mixture that we use on her skin when it’s peeling and it helps it normalize out faster – a day or two instead of a week or more.
Glittergirl also has trouble with some kinds of cheese, but not all of them. They tear her stomach up something awful. She’s fine with milk and yogurt and sour cream and creamed cheese, it’s just a handful of cheese types she has trouble with.
We are fortunate that both girls are fine with everything else.
Do your kids have allergies or sensitivities?
February 3rd, 2012 at 9:17 am
We are lucky that our kids don’t have any serious allergies, especially food allergies since I think those would be the most difficult for us to deal with.
DS’s (4) issues are identical to mine, which is a little funny – we can’t use fabric softener, can’t leave a bandaid on for more than a few hours without getting hives (even fabric bandaids), and any insect bite becomes a huge swollen welt.
DD seems to have no issues with anything. Her skin is not sensitive and bug bites are like little tiny bumps on her. She seems to be able to eat anything.
February 3rd, 2012 at 9:18 am
My daughter isn’t allergic to anything. Since she was young, we tried basically everything in the house: fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, seafood, peanut butter, etc. Sometimes, she has dry skin, so she puts on body cream, milk or lotion whenever she feels that she scratch her skin to often. We are very fortunate.
February 3rd, 2012 at 9:35 am
DD has more problems than DS. DD gets strep throat at least 3-4 times a year. We have had her tested and she is not a carrier. Her very homeopathic cleft doctor says it is something in her diet. He does not want her to have any dairy or anything processed….I try, but its hard. Her pediatrician says he is wacko and that her diet has nothing to do with it. Cleft doc does not want to take out her tonsils, Ped does. Sigh.
She also has a hard time with insect bites, and lotions. Ped says its eczema. Again cleft doc says its diet.
I’m really confused.
February 3rd, 2012 at 10:36 am
My daughter is allergic to tomatoes. It started at age 2 and at first it was just raw tomatoes but after several years has progressed to all tomatoes even in tiny quantities. She is not allergic to any of the other foods that are often associated with tomato allergies (strawberries/citrus/potatoes). She also does not do well with cows milk. I don’t believe it is a milk allergy but her gut has never worked that well on cows milk. She is fine with cheese/yoghurt/icecream. On the plus side she is totally fine with sugar and colors. Due to some developmental issues I really thought that this would be an problem for her but I have never seen her have any kind of adverse reaction. I still don’t like her having lots of ‘junk’ but she doesn’t react when she does.
February 3rd, 2012 at 10:48 am
My husband has issues with sugar, milk and caffeine. I have a wacky body. I have issues with caffeine (immediately addictive and withdrawal symptomatic after one day without), alcohol (it does not really affect me even in large quantities unless mixed with certain antibiotics like levaquin in which case one drink while on meds and I will be nude dancing on a table), and I have weird side effects to most meds (birth control almost made me kill myself for one.) Hence, we are pretty careful.
Our older son has the same caffeine issue I do – sensitivity and then withdrawal (sullenness and headaches) after one time exposure; he is also mildly lactose intolerant like his dad. My older daughter has some asthma issues like I do, although she is more sensitive. We both have fur allergies, and she has a chlorine sensitivity. My younger son has eczema that is milk product related, although none of us have that, and our younger dd has only been home 3 months and is 1.5 so the jury is still out for her.
February 3rd, 2012 at 11:33 am
Ah, mosquito bites. I forgot about that one, being that they aren’t out right now.
GG gets huge golf-ball sized itchy bumps from mosquito bites. Ice makes them go away. The cold stops the histamine reaction and stops the swelling. If you do it soon after the bite it’s like it never happened, but even doing it a few hours later stops the itching and reduces the swelling. When they get bit they go get ice from the freezer, run it under cold water to smooth it off, and then rub it on the bite for a few minutes. GG wraps a paper towel around the part she holds so her fingers don’t freeze.
TT also reacts to them a lot more than I think is normal, but it’s not as bad as GG.
doc33 – probably no surprise that I agree more with the cleft doc. The solution with the lotion thing is to not use lotion – use food grade vegetable or fruit oils, or shea butter, or something vegetable based. Coconut oil is good for eczema. As for the strep, something is weakening her immune system so that she keeps succumbing to it. I’d get her in the habit of not putting her hands near her mouth (GG touched everything when she was little, and her hands stayed in her mouth when she wasn’t touching things, drove me crazy), and I’d do research on the things that weaken the immune system (sugar, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives – that’s a start). I think most doctors are too quick to operate and prescribe pills instead of getting to the root of the problem – nutrition. We are what we eat.
RK is allergic to the additives to most laundry detergents, though he’s fine with Tide Free and Cheer Free. I don’t make my own laundry soap, I know people who do and I applaud them for it, but we put the clothes through a double rinse cycle and I’m good with the fact that most of the detergent washes out. I don’t know if the girls would be allergic to clothing washed in the smelly stuff because we don’t use that.
February 3rd, 2012 at 1:14 pm
My childhood friend was allergic to cheap “silver” jewelry. It gave her rashes where she wore it. She also is allergic to the tape they use for microphones (the kind that go on your cheek). She is an actor and has a break out/reaction on her cheek every time.
When I was little, I could never where that cheap kids’ eyeshadow. My eyes would immediately get red, swollen, and itchy as soon as I put it on. That allergy has decreased dramatically as I have gotten older though.
February 3rd, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Oh boy…what a list I could talk about for our entire family.
I just wanted to say that I work in medicine with MDs and DOs all day long. Their knowledge of nutrition and allergins is extremely limited. In addition, they do not have much time to keep up on the “new and improved” preparations that are being mixed new every few weeks. Their extraordinary knowledge is for ACUTE illness and increasingly CHRONIC biological illness. Twenty years ago they did not even receive much training about living with chronic illness. Things are changing in medical school and in the technological support of allopathic doctors so it won’t be long before they are well versed in holistic approaches. Meanwhile, the naturopathic doctor is my preference for these allergins in our environment. The ND is taught about this type of illness and doesn’t pooh-pooh it.
My DD#1 has very sensitive skin and came to us with eczema. She has occasional break outs but mostly she has grown out of it at age 9. Having said that, every time I buy her new clothes, I have to wash them first because of the dyes and dust that gathers in them on the shelf. If I take her anywhere, I have to be extremely concerned with any kind of bug bite. In my Mom’s garden in Hawaii, we sat under her big mango tree. Evidently, a tiny white spider bit my daughter on the upper arm. Within hours it was itchy and I thought it was a mosquito bite. But the next day when her arm looked like a balloon, I was freaked out and gave her round the clock Benedryl which calmed it down. It didn’t hurt her but it looked awful. Now she has two gross warts on her feet that have to get treated. Doctors said that possibly due to poor prenatal nutrition the matrix of her skin is not as strong as it should be. We give her all sorts of vitamins, omega 3s, zinc, kid probiotics and borage oil but she has to drink it to strengthen her skin. Some weeks she does and some weeks she does not. We live in the “Granola Belt” so this stuff is run-of-the-mill for lots of people. I’ll stop there but I could go on and on. Thanks for this topic. Glad I’m not alone in my concern for environmental issues.
February 3rd, 2012 at 2:15 pm
The only thing my daughter seems to have a sensitivity to is lactose. 2 years ago she suddenly threw up every time she ate ice cream or yogurt or drank milk. I started giving her chewable lactaid tablets and it stopped. I’m not sure if she is still allergic, but I don’t think lactaid tablets are bad for you, so I keep giving them to her. The main milk product she likes is yogurt. As for ice cream I started giving her almond milk or coconut milk ice cream. She doesn’t notice the difference.
February 3rd, 2012 at 4:50 pm
doc33: Family friends could not get rid of strep in their house. Finally, veterinarian suggested that the dog might be a carrier. Turns out, he was. Treated the dog and everyone else was fine.
February 3rd, 2012 at 6:52 pm
My older daughter is highly allergic to yellow jackets and had an anaphylactic reaction when she was stung at age 2. Ranked up there as one of the scariest moments of my life. It happened so fast. I saw the yellow jacket on her lip, grabbed her, walked in the house and grabbed ice and benadryl, and by that point she was already sticking out her tongue showing swelling in her throat. I was home alone and by the time I got her to the hospital she was unresponsive… talk about scary. We are now doing immuno therapy and thankfully she has never been stung again. Apparently having the venom in her system acts as a deterent to the bees… we of course carry epi pens and have them everywhere, but still very scary since we just don’t know what reaction she will have if she is stung again.
My son had allergy induced asthma when he was young, and had a scary incident at age 4. The daycare called and by the time I got there they had already called the ambulance… holding him for those few minutes waiting for the ambulance was like a lifetime… he was allergic to everything in the environment, but thankfully now at 18, it is managed only with claritin.
Our little one came to us with eczema. We started with a dermatologist, but then found natural treatments that worked even better. Thankfully she grew out of it.
February 4th, 2012 at 12:26 am
MidlifeMidwife, HOLY HECK….I knew that dog was trouble…LOL…seriously I will check into that.
RQ and others….can you point me to some shampoo and body wash that is safe to use??
February 4th, 2012 at 11:19 am
Jess is allergic to dogs. She’s fine as long as she washes her hands if she touches one but if she pets one and then touches her face, she blows up. Jason’s allergic to sulfa.
February 4th, 2012 at 3:20 pm
One thing we need to be very clear on is the difference between a Sensitivity and a true allergy because they are very different and I hear moms all the time talking about allergies and what they mean is their child has a sensitivity to food dyes they think. “my kid is sensitive to sugar act like an alien when she eats too much”(isn’t that most kids lol) is a sensitivity. an Allergy is an immune system response that triggers a histamine reaction. My daughter used to be sensitive to acidic foods because of her eczema but as she has gotten older she can eat them in normal proportions.
However, she is allergic to Milk and Eggs. She not have them at all (we have to get very creative around here) or she gets hives (as in she turns into a giant hive), horrible stomach cramps, goopy eyes, coughing and wheezing, etc. (everything short of anaphylaxis so far).
A REALLY great resource for information about food allergies is the website for the food allergy and anaphylaxis network http://www.foodallergy.org.
If you suspect your child has a food allergy, or any other allergy, talk to you pediatrician about getting them tested (they can do a blood test 1st instead of the pin cushion test). If your child has an allergy they can help you (or get you to a dietitian) that can help you adjust their diet with out adverse reactions.
February 4th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
RQ, thank you so much for all this info. Our daughter has horribly dry skin, though I haven’t found a dietary cause for it, and also reacts hugely to insect bites. I confess I’d been using baby oil in the bath to treat the dryness — she also hates having any lotion rubbed on her because of sensory issues — but I’m never doing it again, thanks to you. Olive oil smells better anyway!
February 4th, 2012 at 6:20 pm
My younger daughter (from Luoyang) has major problems with bug bites. During summer, she got either a mosquito or a spider bite on her foot, and it swelled up like a balloon and stayed inflamed for about two weeks. After that, through summer and into the fall, she was hyper-reactive to everything, but especially tomatoes and strawberries. She now eats them without difficult, which makes me think that the bug reaction just amplified everything. Thankfully, by gradually reintroducing the problematic foods (which are someof her favorites) we have forestalled any further reactions.
I’ve always had allergy problems, but I was thrown for a loop two weekends ago, when I ate something containing macadamia nuts and immediately went into an asthma attack that lasted more than an hour. It cleared up with an inhaler, but was pretty distressing while it lasted. I’ve been steering clear of tree nuts ever since.
I think auto-immune disorders (which includes allergies) are one of the last frontiers of medicine, and I suspect that much remains unknown because of constant changes to our natural environment, changes in our relationship with our natural environment, and the use of so many chemicals in all facets of our lives.
Interesting thread.
February 4th, 2012 at 6:44 pm
meimeiavery – for sensory issues around lotions or oils, put a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a bowl and let her play with it. She’ll get plenty on her hands playing with it, and then you can mimic for her to rub her arms and her legs (if she’s got shorts or just a teeshirt on so she can get to her legs). Or put her in the tub, naked, with no water but with a little pool of olive oil in front of her (or a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a bowl) and let her play with it. With GG, when she was a baby, I’d rub it on me and then help her rub it on herself. Eventually I could rub it on her and she was fine with it. (She loves for me to rub lotion on her feet now. And after a big practice if she has sore muscles I rub a mixture I’ve made up into her muscles to help them recover.) But, back to babies, the great thing about olive oil is that if she puts her fingers in her mouth while she’s playing with it, it’s fine. Just make it play at first, and let her be in control.
Abracadebra – I’m pretty convinced the auto-immune stuff is hugely because of the chemicals and processed foods in our diets. Fructose is a big part of that, because it’s in so much of what we eat, but it’s not the only culprit.
Divamamma – The difference in being sensitive and being allergic is, in part, a matter of what degree you have problems with something. I would say GG’s food dye issues are bordering on an allergy, as are the problems with certain types of cheeses. The sugar thing is… hmmm, probably a sensitivity now, but when she was younger it was pretty bad, compounded by the fact that so many sugary foods have dyes in them so it was a double whammy. RK’s issue with laundry detergents is definitely an allergy. GG’s mosquito thing is a sensitivity thing. Some things are cut and dried, and easy to define between sensitivity and allergy. But in the end, some of it comes down to semantics. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you need to be very clear to teachers and to friend’s parents if there is a life threatening allergy.
February 4th, 2012 at 8:29 pm
DD#1 has a sensitivity to some citrus. She can eat oranges and has no issues with melon, but clementines make her itch if she even touches one. I have to check the ingredients on shampoos and conditioners for citrus oil, because she has reacted to that too. My youngest has terrible eczema outbreaks on her arms and legs and behind her ears, mostly in the winter. We have creams that help keep it under control, but if we aren’t vigilant, she gets a flare. Still haven’t identified the triggers, but it has gotten better as she gets older ( she’s 5 now).
February 5th, 2012 at 12:03 am
My Guangxi princess is allergic to Red Dye #40 – hives up right away. She used to be able to eat a few red m-n-m’s or purple, red or orange skittles (in the small halloween sized packs) and be fine, but now she can’t even have just a few. I’m going to talk to the pedi about an epi pen – just in case. It just seems to get worse and worse… Thankfully she will tell anyone around that she is allergic to it and won’t eat anything red, purple, pink or orange… Mosquito sensitivity and eczema are also big problems for her. We live in S. TX and unfortunately the mosquitos are year round down here. I’ve recently taken her off dairy & that seems to be helping with the eczema for now…
February 5th, 2012 at 12:31 pm
I am allergic (not lactose intolerant) to milk. I can have milk products in very small doses, but I pay for it. Oh, ice cream – I hate you and I love you!
But something an allergist told me once is that when people can drink milk and tolerate some milk products, but certain cheeses they react to allergically, that indicates a mold allergy, and possibly a penicillin allergy – a form of penicillin mold is used to make the ‘blue’ in blue cheese, and the white crust on soft cheeses like camembert and brie. It is put into a lot of different kinds of cheeses.
Not to play ‘internet doctor’, but it is interesting to me to hear examples of what my allergist was talking about. I thought he was nuts at the time, but have since met or heard about a few people who can drink milk but can’t eat many cheeses.
February 6th, 2012 at 1:28 am
Both my kids have sensitive skin. It doesn’t peel as bad as TT’s, but the doctor told us not to use soap, and if they need something other than water in the bath, to use Aveeno lotion. My daughter has also had several yeast infections as well, one at about 3 or 4 and the other at 6. She is 7 now.
My daughter is also mildly lactose intolerant. She drinks Lactaid milk, but she’s OK with dairy in foods. The doctor said that it might get worse as she gets older.
My son doesn’t seem to have any major allergies, but he still needs to watch what goes on his skin. Not as bad as my daughter though. Sometimes I will buy Aveeno Baby shampoo, and sometimes I will get the dye-free version of a cheaper brand.