Talking Allergies

I'm new to this all...I was introduced to Allergic Living by signing my son up for his Medic Alert bracelet. (which has taken me a week to get him to wear it when we go out He'll be 4 in Oct.) So far what I've seen I like. I've been surfing the web for 3 yrs now with not much luck. The Doctor's dont' seem to be 'overly' concerned about anything (hate them) Zach had his first milk reactions when he was about 3 months.. nothing severe at first just some little hives (red spots, didn't seem itchy and went away within a half hour) when he was supplemented with baby formula. But what really did it was when I gave him a tiny bit of chedder cheese. OMG is all I can say he was 10 months at that time. And from than on it's been a challenge. He has asthma but it's only Allergy induced (well so far it seems to be) there's more with him but that means I could be here FOREVER.....
Than I've got Dylan who is 10 months and I've kept him away from everything (experience from Zach) But for some reason I think he's got some issues when it comes to Oatmeal and barley and wheats. As soon as I give it to him he starts with the eye rubbing and he seems to get constipated. But he's pediatricin tells me that's no sign of a allergy. Any comments on that??
I'm wanting to get him tested but his doctor is giving me a hard time about it. But I'm thinking of calling the allergy clinic at the childern's hosptial ( in winnipeg) and making an appoitment myself cause Zach's already on file there. Plus with Zach I want him retested. I've tried some alternative stuff (NAET) and I think it's working but I'm still scared to drop my graud cause I don't want to send my little man to the hospital (he's so afraid of it) We've been twice for Cheese (the second one was the sitters fault) and once because of a hot dog ( mother-in-laws friends fault) he had a asthma attack which is something he's never had before. Scary!! The hot dog incident was after his NAET treatments so I'm skeptical of them but I know for some of the things she has helped him (I think he needs more but I need more money) Cause he's not constitely rubbing his little nose off of his face. There's something in his enviroment that is bugging him and I can't figure out what it is *FRUSTRATING* also what do people think of Arieus (dont' know if I'm spelling it right). My son use to just about live off of Benadryl ( i still use it but not as Much as I was)
Well it's late and I need sleep... my little one will be up at 6am. ARUG!! Just wanted to say Hi and that I'm happy I've found this place and hopefully I'll be able to help my boys out alot more than what I have and perhaps help me overcome ALOT of my fears. Letting my little ones grow up with out their mommy ALWAYS over top of them to make sure they aren't getting stuff they can't have. Zach goes to nursery school this fall and I'm petrified of letting him go. It's only 2 days a week but still.. we went to a friends house once and because she let her kids walk around and eat foods Zach can't have as soon as he went to play with their toys he reacted and we had to leave....some ppl just don't understand the problem of how serious it is.. and after that I'm afraid to let him go to other ppls houses. unless the wole house has been washed down.. sounds funny hey.. well yeah like I said a million years ago I should get to bed. *can you tell I LOVE to talk

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Z - Anaphylaxis to Milk; Allergic to Cats, dogs, Coffee, Choclate, Mould, Dust Mites, addit. and pers.
D - milk? wheats? 10 mnths old
J - ??
Me - Hay fever to Cats, Dust, milk, rag weed, tabacco, tomatoes, feathers

Hi Kym -

Welcome to the forum! I think you will find some help and lots of chance to talk here.

My youngest son is also ana to dairy (and others). It is a challenging allergy, especially when they are little and perhaps accidentally exposed to it through other little friends and what they've eaten.

For your youngest, you said some symptoms he's experienced are



For me, this could indicate an allergy. I would definitely keep an eye on it and if you can get him tested, I would go for it. I have found that parental instincts are something to pay attention to. If your ped won't make a referral (grrr - what harm can it do? especially when there is a history of allergies in the family!!! it drives me nuts when doctors won't refer people to allergists!!!), then see if you can do what you were planning to do.

Likely the best thing is to try to really figure out what the culprit is. Wheat and barley are cross-reactive (my son used to be allergic to both). Oats are often cross-contaminated with gluten - which could perhaps have wheat as the source. So it could be wheat that's the problem, or wheat and barley, or all three. But of course testing would help with that.

And don't let anyone tell you your son is too young to be tested. My youngest was skin tested at 5 months, which is how we found out about his milk and wheat allergy - and removing these things from my diet (I was nursing) seriously helped calm down his rampant eczema, which was so bad he couldn't sleep.

My allergist is always suggesting Aerius but my kids hate the taste (bubblegum), so we've been using Reactine for long-term (12 to 24 hour) relief from environmental allergies.

As for asthma and severe allergies, it's really important to make sure your son's asthma is really well controlled. As you've seen, those with asthma are more likely to have breathing problems when they have a reaction, and those with poorly-controlled asthma are at greater risk. For more info, go to

http://www.allergysafecommunities.ca/de ... atsubid=19

and check out point 1.

This website is based on the new national anaphylaxis guidelines, and well worth a read.

Anyway, that's probably enough for now. Can you tell I like to "talk" too??

Take care!

Karen

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

welcome to the site

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ds 6: ana to peanuts and fish, cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, many environmental
dd 12: reacted to pork rinds
dh: brazil nuts
me: shrimp, mangos, environmental

Thanks for the info. I'll be sure to look into it all. I'm going to the lake for a couple of days (always fun with the in-laws ) I'll check in when I get back. So talk to you later!

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Z - Anaphylaxis to Milk; Allergic to Cats, dogs, Coffee, Choclate, Mould, Dust Mites, addit. and pers.
D - milk? wheats? 10 mnths old
J - ??
Me - Hay fever to Cats, Dust, milk, rag weed, tabacco, tomatoes, feathers

Hello, hello~

I am new to the site as well. I am also a subscriber to the magazine "Allergic Living". I tell you that I am so glad that I am not alone in the world of allergies. After reading some of the posts I feel terrible however at the same time relieved that I am no alone. I live in a remote northern Ontario community with little to no support from anyone with an allergy or anyone who has known someone with an allergy I hope each day that I will be able to handle the reactions and comments from everyone and also be able to help educate those who know nothing about allergies. My son is 3.5 years old and has a severe allergy to peanuts, all tree nuts, fish and raw egg. He was just enrolled into our local public school who is now just this year NUT & PEANUT FREE I am not sure what that means to the staff, students, administrators, etc. yet however I am attending daily to be the allergy police I hope that we can help to educate everyone. We are being dilegent in our effort and my son is very well aware of his allergy. We have the epi-pen, medic allert bracelet and he does not share food or take food from others however we are concerned as we are about 3 hours away from any medical facility.

Anyone out there have any resource material for a family starting out fresh in the school system? There does not seem to be anyone that has anything for us to use as a model or template? We are thinking about leaflets, flyers, letters home, posters etc. We have the Anaphalaxysis Canada stuff along with a few things from medic alert however wondered if there were anything else out there. Would love any suggestions.

Yoli

Hi Yoli -

Welcome, and I'm glad you've found us. A few years ago another online forum saved my sanity (probably literally), because I too was feeling really isolated and alone and frustated and all those other fun feelings... That's why I'm such a huge fan of online forums - it's a great way to get in touch with the allergic community, even if we're all hundreds if not thousands of kilometers away from each other.

So... here's some helpful stuff, I hope:

1. In the near future I hope to put some stuff up on my local support group website that is school related, including some things in Word (like posters that I've made for my son) When I do this (just ... need ... more ... time) I will alert the group in the Schools forum. If you want to check that site out in the meantime, it's at www.ottawaasg.com .

2. Definitely check out the Allergy Safe Communities website at

http://www.allergysafecommunities.ca

This website is based on the new national anaphylaxis guidelines that is titled Anaphylaxis in Schools & Other Settings, just published in early 2006. It's aimed at those caring for children and teens with anaphylaxis, both in schools and elsewhere.

Definitely check out the Tools & Resources page at http://www.allergysafecommunities.ca/de ... p?catid=35 , including the link to the online anaphylaxis eWorkshop called Prevention First for those caring for children at risk of anaphylaxis.

3. If your school is part of the public system, your principal should have received an Anaphylaxis Resource Kit from the Ontario Ministry of Education that includes a copy of the guidelines and other info and tools. Check out the details at http://www.allergicliving.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711 .

4. I've found that it does take time (sometimes years) to really educate a community, and even more, it takes a few allies with a bit of clout if you can find them (or even just one). I'm fortunate that our school nurse is such an ally, and I've seen a lot of changes since she came to our school 3 years ago. Do you have any kind of medical professional that advises the school, like a community nurse?? That could maybe help too. Plus a strongly worded letter from your allergist, if you have one, that stresses prevention and knowing how to respond in an emergency.

5. As for the distance to the medical facility... that's a tough one. I guess the main things I would stress are (a) prevention, (b) making sure they understand that he should get the EpiPen ASAP if they think he needs it because delaying can result in a "bad outcome" (a medical euphemism that I hear more and more these days), (c) making sure they understand that if they are in doubt about giving the EpiPen, they should just give it and not wait to call you or figure out what to do. (That sometimes happens, even today, unfortunately.)

Anyway, you're definitely not alone, and I totally understand your concerns about your child's safety. Sounds like you're doing all the right things, if that helps. My youngest is starting kindergarten this year and obviously I'm rather nervous about the whole thing, even though he is fairly mature and good at self-protecting, any my oldest has been at this school for 3 years with only 1 reactions (and that was in kindergarten, and didn't require an EpiPen).

Take care, and I'll get to work on that school stuff. I've been promising it to others for awhile now!!

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

Karen:

Thanks so much for the in depth response and your kind words. I am so excited about checking everything out. I am still planning on being at the school to "assist" in checking out the food but would really like to empower the staff to do this so that my son can get on with the whole JK thing. Will be back to visit the site from time to time.

Thanks so much

Yoli

No problem. That's what we're here for.

The one thing I would suggest is that the school consider calling themselves "allergy aware" rather than "peanut and nut free". For one thing, there are more severe allergies out there than just peanuts and nuts (I know lots of young kids with severe dairy and egg allergies), and for another, no one can guarantee that the school is truly peanut and nut free. It's better not to have people let their guard down, and think "Oh, it's all safe, anyone can eat anything because it's all peanut/nut free."

Just a suggestion.

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma