Talking Allergies

Wow - I just noticed that. I use SpectoJel for myself (my face) and it seems clear of nut products. But for some reason the unscented version has a really strong chemical smell now - where before it was odourless. I'm starting to think I'll switch to Cetaphil, since it still seems odorless.

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

The information I recieved from dove about the use of almond in unscented products is that it "masks" the chemical smell when there is no fragrance present. Perhaps when the product was odorless it contained the nut oil, but the one you have now is free of nut oils and smells of chemicals because the almond is no longer present. The trouble with any unscented products is that there is OFTEN nut oil present. If an unscented product does not smell of chemicals...then that may be an indictor of the presence of nut oil or other nut-based ingredients.

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DD age 9 1/2 -peanuts, nuts,
DD age 7 1/2 - milk, eggs, chicken, peanuts, treenuts, cats, dogs,
DS age 2 1/2
Husband- asthma, eggs, treenuts, fish, shellfish environmental
Self - penicillan, eurithromiacin, mild laytex allergy.

I had no idea. Talk about a nonsensical practice. I would think that if you are making unscented products for a clientele that is "sensitive" (i.e. doesn't like perfumed things) you might extrapolate a bit and realize that they might also be allergic.

Or am I being "overly sensitive" (pun intended) about the whole issue?

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

My thoughts exactly Karen. With dove only putting almond in the unscented baby products...and not the scented...it seems to me that they are overlooking the fact that those who are choosing the unscented products are choosing it for sensitive babies who don't need any nut exposure!!! It seems to be a common practice though...I found one aveeno product that was unscented as well and had almond...but the scented one did not. As well as a few others brands. It is like I was having to chose between fragrance or nut oils. That's what got me looking at more natural products.

I was also stunned to discover that "hypoallergenic" has nothing to do with allergies. My assumption was that it meant free of top allergens...which is not the case. It means "does not clog pores". Very misleading!!!

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DD age 9 1/2 -peanuts, nuts,
DD age 7 1/2 - milk, eggs, chicken, peanuts, treenuts, cats, dogs,
DS age 2 1/2
Husband- asthma, eggs, treenuts, fish, shellfish environmental
Self - penicillan, eurithromiacin, mild laytex allergy.

Hypo-allergenic means nothing!


Heres the link: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-224.html
another Canadian perspective: http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/micr ... genic.html

Not likely to clog pores is non-comedogenic.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Susan, when I contacted dove...that was their company definition that they gave me for hypoallergenic. Does not clog pores. I did not realize that other companies have different definitions!

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DD age 9 1/2 -peanuts, nuts,
DD age 7 1/2 - milk, eggs, chicken, peanuts, treenuts, cats, dogs,
DS age 2 1/2
Husband- asthma, eggs, treenuts, fish, shellfish environmental
Self - penicillan, eurithromiacin, mild laytex allergy.

Scary, eh?

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

There are supposed to be cosmetics regulations coming. Allergic Living mag. is keeping an eye on this, will report on them when there's more to tell.

But yeah, "hypo-allergenic" does get tossed around loosely.Which is too bad, because some companies actually do use it to mean avoids major allergens.

HI, sorry I haven't had a chance to check online for a few days. I am very fortunate to have a sister in law who is a naturopath, she was on mat leave the same time I was and ended up selling her clinic but she put me in touch with her mentor who has been practising for 30+ years and he loves working with kids.

As for products I'm using, for bath wash I use Nature's Gate Rainwater Baby Shampoo, calendula cream is by Weleda and they also make a great diaper cream, general body moisturizer I use Beta-cort by Ayurved Formulas, there's another cream called Immuderm that I found worked almost as well as cortisone but it's expensive. I've got a list of about 20 other creams that I've tried but for Bryce these worked the best. There was one other called Herbacort we had OK results with.

I was also desperate enough that I went to a practitioner of BOS therapy which is basically energy healing. I was skeptical and figured a fool and their money are soon parted. Six months later, I know it's time to go back when Bryce's skin begins to flare up, the practioner does his thing with Bryce and Bryce's skin is good for 6-8 weeks. For us the combination of naturopath and BOS have worked wonders for him. Of course I could have just taken the short cut and just used cortisone but I'm looking at Bryce's eczema from the point of view that it's an outward sign that something deeper inside needs attention. If the remedies etc can address that issue then the eczema and allergies will clear on their own. I know it sounds far fetched. For the record I don't own a pair of Birkenstocks, I've never been to a peace rally, and never in a million years did I ever think that I would be in a situation where I'd even consider walking into an energy healers office, let alone tell other people that what he did worked.

Feelings on the topic of conventional/alternative medicine run deep so if you disagree with the route I've taken, thats fine, just keep in mind, I'll respect your choices, please respect mine. There's good to be found in both camps. I just added this last bit in because I've seen in our own family how divisive this issue can be.

If there's anyone else out there who has tried any other alternatives, I'd be interested to hear. My husband was on a course today and car pooled with a co-worker who is of Asian descent. She said her son had asthma and she consulted a chinese herbalist. He instructed her to feed her son alligator soup every other day for a month. It took her a long while to even find the meat but after a month of feeding the soup, her son's asthma never returned. So I'm wondering if anyone else out there hay any other experiences? (yes, the story is true).

Brycesmom,

In western medicine, doctors are paid to prescribe medications, and treat the unwell. In eastern medication doctors are paid to keep patients healthy and if someone becomes unwell...the doctor treats for free. To me, that says a lot!

Since having allergic kids I have become vegan (I was vegetarian for 3 years of my teens, but began to eat meat due to societal pressure that meat was healthy). I have "gone natural" with household cleaners, body products as much as possible ( I appreciate your sharing which products your use). I buy organic produce, I garden. I take vitamins. I have a great interest in nutrition, and the important role healthy foods play in our over all well being. I've chosen to homeschool my kids. I am interested in alternative, preventative medicine. There just seems to be a mentality that anyone who chooses to not "go with the flow" of the western culture is a lunatic hippie .

I planned on attending a "body, mind, spirit, wellbeing" expo out of town this weekend, but am not going now due to my daughters invitation to a birthday party she was invited to which I will attend with her.

No...I do not think you are wierd for choosing to treat your son with "alternative" medicine. I hope to find a good neuropath soon myself. I do consider myself able to hear a lot of info...and take from it what may be valuable advise without doing anything questionable to my daughters safety.

I mean, my doctor just prescribed the cortizone and sent us on our merry way. It was me who chose to go natural and chem free with products and basically eliminate my youngest daughters eczema problem. I also like pure aloe vera gel for the odd mild skin irritaion we now face.

And if all my efforts to feed my kids loads of healthy organic fruits and veggies don't cure the allergies...well at least we will reap the rewards of a healthy diet.

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DD age 9 1/2 -peanuts, nuts,
DD age 7 1/2 - milk, eggs, chicken, peanuts, treenuts, cats, dogs,
DS age 2 1/2
Husband- asthma, eggs, treenuts, fish, shellfish environmental
Self - penicillan, eurithromiacin, mild laytex allergy.

Well Bryce's mom, you inspired me to revisit a naturopathic approach on your last post. I met with a new naturopath today who has also lived this type of experience. His approach is what I've been looking for. So I'm on a restricted diet for a month before challenging foods with Kai and then will start introducing things to him. I'm hoping his triggers will be more clear through this process. He has been much better the last few days - he's been taking lactobacillus which I think is helping. We also have some homeopathics to start him on which will hopefully help speed up the healing.

Being so heavily involved in western medicine is not my usual approach with things and I have been having a difficult time resolving it within myself. Kai's skin was so bad and has been so infected off and on that we really needed that medical community to get through. Now that we've hit a stable point, I'm relieved to round out the picture and to get to the root of things the best we can. Or at least have the time and energy to find different approaches that work now that we're not is such crisis.

Interestingly enough, a good friend of mine is talking to her energy healer about us and we may see him. Perhaps there is something deeper happening in his body that is causing it not to be accepting of what it comes in contact with. We'll see what happens.

I really want to thank you all for your support and encouragement. The crazies are gone for the moment and I am better able to trust my instincts again. This support really has been wonderful

Brycesmom,

I'm all for combining traditional medicine and alternative therapies. I've heard many positive things about Reiki and Chakra Balancing.

Those who fear the unknown are quick to criticize. Do what's best for you.

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15-year-old son: peanuts, nuts, raw egg whites, asthmatic
Self: allergic rhinitis, fragrance/chemical sensitivities, oral allergy syndrome

on the scented/unscented issue---i had read that some "unscented" products are not actually safe for those who are sensitive to scents because they are scented but the scent is masked. I had no idea that it was almond oil, however!

on the naturopath issue: one person in my family has had a good experience with the naturopath....but she didn't go for allergy issues. I think that some of the things they recommend in the case of allergies---like probiotics and omega 3 oils--are becoming mainstream. also, they really do look at the individual case much more closely than doctors do. doctors i find may or may not be aware of what all's in one's medical file---they might not even review it regularly. naturopaths research all of the meds and all of the health issues that their individual patient might be having. my sister's naturopath is quite knowledgeable about both western and alternative medicine--she even knew about some side effects of a drug that another member of my family was taking that this person's family doctor wasn't concerned about. (the health problem the person was having could have been serious....and it was one of the *known* side effects of the drug that doctors are supposed to look out for--it was even listed on the info. given out by the pharmacy). okay...little vent over. where i was going with this is....I think that the naturopath can help with some things. I do get concerned sometimes, however, because I'm not certain about whether they always distinguish between food intolerances and food allergies. now that the naturopath has my family member's health more or less back on track, she is trying to help with the allergies. she knows she can't do anything about severe food allergies, but thinks that she should be able to help with the less severe ones. i think that she is thinking of this allergy---which is a true allergy--as an intolerance.

good luck with everything---let us know how things go!

Helen, K-rae, Storm and Saskmommy, great to hear from you guys! And thanks for your support re the whole natural thing, I wasn't sure how well it would be received. We are all in the same boat and I know the frustration of being written a script, patted on the head and told that all will be OK, when deep inside I didn't believe it. We each need to trust ourselves with our kids. Let me know how it goes with the naturopaths and I wish you all luck. Do you think there is room for an alternative therapy forum here?

As for this whole almond/scented/unscented thing I had no idea. I"ll check out those liinks for some more reading.

Cheers
Brycesmom

Hi guys -

The answer to this question is "no".

There may be some benefits in some circumstances to naturopathic treatments, but at Allergic Living the opinion is that too much of the "alternative" advice in allergy is not science-based and has the potential to be harmful if not deadly to those with allergic conditions, which are diseases of the immune system.

As we say in the Intolerances sticky of this forum, intolerances may be discussed in that thread, but we will not be weighing the pros and cons of naturopathic medicine on this site.

Karen & Gwen

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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