Two Kids and Food Allergies

It's official.
Both girls have food allergies.

A couple weeks ago we took Emma (our 10 year old) to get tested for allergies. The reason for the testing was to determine her seasonal allergies (she's been suffering a lot over the past couple of years). We also decided to do the standard food testing too ... just in case.

Long story short:

Emma has a LOT of seasonal allergies including: alfalfa (3/5), corn pollen (3/5), wheat farm pollen (3/5), trees (3/5), grasses (3/5), and ragweed (1/5).

And....she also tested positive for foods. The numbers I'm going to type out are based on the skin testing and a scale of 0-5, with 5 being "very strong" positive.

Sesame seed: 1/5
Soybean: 1/5
Almond: 2/5
Peanut: 2/5
Walnut: 2/5

Because I always follow up with a blood test too, these are the results. Less than .34 = class 0. They only tested foods with the blood panel.

Almond: .70 - class 1, low
Hazelnut: 23.30 - class 4, very high
Peanut: 11.90 - class 3, high
Pistachio: .77 - class 2, moderate
Walnut: 9.98 - class 3, high

To say I was floored by the food allergy results would be an understatement. Our PA at the allergist's office was shocked by the blood test results. Several of the numbers are MUCH higher than Olivia's results.

I've had several people ask HOW it is that Emma hasn't had a reaction to any foods. Honestly, I'm not sure. Maybe she's had a slight reaction and we missed it. Or maybe, because she doesn't eat peanut butter (has always hated it .. she's never had a PB&J) or any kind of nuts we just didn't know.

Regardless, she now has EpiPens and we're continuing everything we already did for Olivia - avoiding ALL tree nuts and peanuts and sesame seeds.

We just keep on keepin' on.

Allergy Re-Testing Day

Today was the day - time for the every-18-months retesting for Liv's allergies. (Actually the original day was December 27 but we were dealing with hives and illness on that day so today was the new day).

First things first: ALWAYS ask what is going on at the allergist's office. They were only going to test her for the "seasonal" stuff today because they said her last skin test didn't show any positive food allergies (it did but I was armed with the results anyway). I pushed back and said "Here are her results from April 2015 and you can see that she's allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame seeds. You WILL be testing for food again today."

And they did test for food. And we have a few new items to add to our list.

Today the skin test results were positive for shellfish (totally new to us) and were once again positive for corn and soybeans (originally showed up on her first skin test back in 2011 but hasn't shown up again until today).

Liv's arms, halfway through the test

So...long story short: she eats corn products and items made with soy all the time with no issues so the allergist said to continue doing so unless we see an issue. The shellfish was a different story - we were told to avoid all shellfish. Which is fine, since Liv doesn't eat or like shellfish. Easy peasy.

Her positive reaction to almonds wasn't a complete surprise - we know she's allergic to almonds - but it's now a 4 out of 5 on the scale our allergist uses. Hazelnuts, peanuts, and sesame seeds were all still prevalent too.

[As an aside, I'm looking at her test results from 2015 and am seeing that at that appointment they didn't even run the tree nut panel - our results were from the blood test only! GAH! Another reason to always pay attention at an appointment].

The CNP today was great - she went down Liv's arm, one wheal (think: small hive) at a time making a determination by TOUCH of their severity. This had never been done at the office - except maybe back in 2011 at her very first visit. [In 2015 the nurse was hurried and didn't pay much attention at all, which is likely what lead to the miscommunication at today's visit.]

It was so nice to have someone take the time to discuss the new allergies and we even talked about the gluten sensitivity - and we're continuing the gluten free protocol because we're seeing positive (read: good) results with relation to the autoimmune diseases.

As always, we also did a blood screening for IgE levels for almond, brazil nuts, cashew, coconut, hazelnut, peanut, pecan, pistachio, walnut, sesame seed, soybean, and corn. Basically Liv spent 2 1/2 hours today getting poked by needles. 

Oh, and on the non-food side Liv is now allergic to horses and guinea pigs. Those are new to the list. Her "seasonal" allergies are getting better - so in 6 months we might be able to go to once-a-month allergy shots. At least we're making progress there. :)

And in the end we keep on keepin' on. Avoiding peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, and now shellfish. Keeping an eye on corn and soybean. And Liv is never getting a horse. Or a guinea pig.

No Nuts = NO Nuts

Over the weekend Olivia was part of a ballet production here in town.

A few days before dress rehearsal a set of production notes were sent out and in those notes was a sentence (in bright red text and all caps) that basically said do not bring any kind of nuts backstage for snacks.

This directive was due to the fact that there are a couple dancers (Olivia included) who are allergic to peanuts and/or tree nuts.

So...the first night of rehearsal I saw at least one dancer eating a peanut butter snack. 

Night two of rehearsal one of Liv's friends came running upstairs to tell me there was an open bag of almonds backstage in the dressing room. So...we told the production manager about it and she quickly went downstairs to repeat the NO NUT directive.

My one thought was: SERIOUSLY? And then I thought "Can people just not read"? ... or do they just not care? And I decided it was mostly the latter.

Parents of kids without food allergies see the "don't send nuts" directive and either choose to ignore it or think it only means PEANUTS. Or (again) maybe they're just clueless and don't care.

Over the course of the weekend I had to tell another dancer she couldn't eat a doughnut that was coated in peanuts (!!!!!) and she then threw out TWO MORE doughnuts that were swimming in nuts (WTH?) and then ANOTHER dancer said "Can I eat pistachios? They aren't peanuts."

Um....NO. You can't eat pistachios.
Or peanuts.
Or hazelnuts.
Or Nutella.
Or almonds.
Or walnuts.
Or anything that is a peanut and/or tree nut. 

Honestly people - if your child is involved in dance or theater or sports or anything where food might be involved and you get a note sent home that asks you to NOT send in any snacks that contain/might contain peanuts and/or tree nuts please FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY listen to that request and honor it.

No one is trying to deny your child's God-given right (insert eye roll here) to eat a PB&J or a bag of almonds. We're just simply requesting that it isn't done in close proximity to our kid who could get sick (or even die) from a reaction to said PB&J or bag of almonds.

You think we're kidding?
Watch this video and then reconsider sending those peanut and tree nut snacks.