I know I haven't posted for a while, life has been busy, but as you can see we have new developments. I have always said that my oldest daughter, Amanda, has the fewest allergies...funny thing is, we had never had her tested.So, lets start at the beginning. For over a year now, my 17 year old has been having tummy troubles, but she didn't tell me until about 5 months ago when it started getting really bad. Every single day she would get up and have something to eat, then as soon as she was done eating, and continuously for the rest of the day, her food would come back up one small mouthful at a time. She would simply swallow it back down and go about her day, it was so constant that there really was no other option. The doctors started ordering one test after another. Of course they all wanted to call it GERD, but there is no acid coming up, just food. One of the tests showed some bile pooling in her stomach, but the doctors didn't seem too worried about that. The biopsy showed EE, her eosinophilic count was over 60. Then we did the allergy test. The results... peanuts (which they weren't even supposed to test her for because of a family history of anaphylaxis), wheat, barley, dairy, soy, and beef. She cut all of these things out of her diet and for the first day she had no regurgitation. We were so excited, this was actually working!!! Every day following, however, her symptoms have returned. We have not yet figured out why. So this is where we are at in our journey. It's her journey really since she is an amazing young adult now, but of course I will always be here to love her and support her in any way I can. She has started a blog journaling her condition and the foods that she eats every day. She and her boyfriend eat out a lot and I've been really impressed so far with the options they have found and with the helpfulness of their servers at the restaurants. Her blog is http://myjourneytoahappytummy.blogspot.com/ . I may be biased, but I thinks she is an amazing writer and I am so very proud of her! I'm also very proud of how well she has been handling this whole thing. She inspires me :)
So, that's where we are now. I hope to be posting a peach cobbler recipe soon. Maybe, with this new inspiration, I will find the time and energy to start posting recipes more frequently again. Love and allergen free hugs to you all!
11 comments:
been following your blog for a while and so sad to hear about your new development. If there is a good thing about this yucky disease is that there is a great community of bloggers out there. i will follow her blog now also.
Thank you! I'm happy to know people are sticking with me with as little as I've been posting. I think Amanda will be excited to see her first follower that isn't family or a personal friend. Thank you also for commenting, which led me to discover your blog.
I'm so glad to have found your site! I, too, have been allergic to food all my life, had stomach issues (to the point of chronic pancreatitis within past two yrs), but was just dx'd with EoE 2 yrs ago. Looking @ The pic of the Scratch allergen test makes me itch all over! I definitely will be following your daughter, too. You probably know this, but with a banana allergy, be cautious around latex. They cross over. For me, bananas came very early as an allergy; then, I started Dentistry & HEEEELLO! My asthma, which I thought was long gone came back & my hands were weepy, oozing areas of allergic dermatitis. Thank goodness, it quickly became a problem & nitrile or neoprene gloves became available. Looking forward to cking out recipes & food sources!
Thanks for reaching out to others!
MON
Oh my goodness Monica, I din't know that, and thank you! My middle daughter gets oral allergy symptoms from bananas and she was just saying that her rubber bands from her braces make her mouth feel funny. That explains it! I guess we had better ask for latex free bands.
I just came upon this blog and after reading this post I can`t believe there is someone out there like me! when i was 17 my mom finally took me to the doctor because i was having the same problems. We found out i had GERD, and my gaul bladder hadn`t been working, so the following summer i had it removed. It helped my tummy issues but they recommended seeing a allergist, where I was diagnosed with milk, soy,wheat, egg, and tree nut food allergies, as well as EE. I know exactly what your daughter is going through, I`m now almost 21 and dealing with EE and all my food allergies, it just takes time to figure out what we can and can`t eat, but there are foods out there for us:)
Alyssa, thank you so much for writing! We have never found anyone else who has the same tummy symptoms. There is something about simply feeling like you are not alone that seems to help. If you have any more thoughts, suggestions, or input, I would love to hear from you. Thanks again! :)
I recommend getting the patch testing done with the allergist as well. It is a delayed-reaction test, versus the prick test, which is more histaminic and immediate reaction. Our daughter has the same situation, and we didn't find alot of her allergies until we did the other test. They put the pureed food in a teeny suction cup that gets taped onto the back for 48 hours, read, then exposed to air for 24 hours, then read again. She had tons of allergies that the prick test didn't find, and once we cut them out of her diet, she is a different person. Things like chicken, turkey, banana, peaches, green beans, etc. Perhaps that what is going on with your daughter? Its at least worth a shot, like a science experiment!
Thank you for your input. I know that you are probably right, everyone I know with EE has many allergies to less commonly allergenic foods also, which they didn't test for. Unfortunately, at this point, the last thing she wants to find out is MORE foods that she can't have. My poor sweet baby is in a bit of denial because she ate free of her known allergens for 2 months and saw no change, so at the moment she is back to eating whatever she wants. :(
I just randomly came across your blog. Have you ever heard of the GAPS Diet? http://www.gapsdiet.com/
particularly have you ever heard of the term leaky gut syndrome? I am currently studying nutritional therapy and also have recently experienced MULTIPLE food allergies. I got answers and understanding as well as healing from my food allergies using these resources and litterally googleling leaky gut syndrome. It may help you and your girls. Good luck.
I just came across your blog & am looking forward to reading more! I saw in a previous post, someone talked about the patch test. We found a lot of new allergies that way, as well, I wanted to add that these are actually IgG reactions & intolerances verses IgE reactions & allergies (which the prick test finds), so they actually cause more damage internally. For us, they have been the biggest source of my son's issues with eczema, sleep, delayed reactions, etc. Another thing I was wondering is if you have tried digestive enzymes? Just in case you haven't, I wanted to mention it, as they've also had a huge positive impact for us. He takes 2 before meals & then a probiotic after his meal plus a high dose of Vitamin D, all part of his healing gut process...hopefully all of our kids find better health in the near future!!
Eosinophilic esophagitis affects both the young and the old. While it may disguise itself as a food allergy in the young, older patients have recurring GERD and acid reflux as a common denominator among others. The bottom line is, have yourself checked to rule this out. Only a biopsy will confirm it, so it takes more than a simple talk with your doctor to say if you have it or not.
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