A few weeks ago I got a letter in the mail with test results that I’d been anxiously awaiting.
After Dylan was diagnosed with so many food allergies at the beginning of the year, I’d been very curious to see if there were more that we didn’t know about. The skin test is used to determine if there are allergies to any of the most common food allergens, which is great, but there are about 80 billion other foods that are also common allergens. Luckily, there is a blood test available that does a more thorough job of identifying allergies.
So, at our 6 month follow-up, I asked the Doctor if he thought it would be a good idea to order. He agreed that there was a strong likelihood that Dylan has more food allergies than we knew about at the time, and thought that doing the blood test was indeed a good idea. I was relieved. Dylan didn’t feel the same way, though. Having a needle stuck in his arm was a deterrent, apparently.
So we headed off to the lab and had his blood drawn. It went better than I thought it would. There were some tears, but he calmed down pretty quickly and admitted afterward that it hadn’t been as bad as he had anticipated.
And then we waited.
A month or so later, the results arrived in the mail. I tore the letter opened and, although I had been expecting to find out he had more allergies, I was somewhat shocked at what I saw:
Wheat, Corn, Sesame Seeds, Eggs
So, in addition to what we already knew about (Tree Nuts, Peanuts, Soy), he is also allergic to wheat, eggs, sesame seeds and corn. And those foods, or forms of them, are in pretty much everything on the planet.
I’m not entirely sure where we stand at this point. I think that most of these foods don’t cause any reaction. Or, any noticeable reaction. Will they someday? Maybe. Am I going to cut out products that contain wheat? No. He doesn’t eat plain eggs, so I don’t have to worry about that, but I’m not going to cut out egg containing foods, like pancakes or other baked goods. Sesame seeds I’ll avoid.
The corn allergy is an interesting one. I’ve never been a big fan of HFCS, and have usually opted for foods that don’t contain it. But I’m not generally a label reader and didn’t actively seek it out. Then, a week or two after getting these results, Dylan told me that his Salami was making his mouth itchy. So I read the ingredients and, sure enough, it contains corn syrup. I switched to a different brand, and so far so good. Now I find myself reading labels to avoid HFCS or any other corn ingredients.
We go back to the allergist in a few months and we’ll see what he says. In the meantime, I’ll be the crazy lady obsessively reading labels and snatching candy out of his hands at Halloween time.
Looks like I get to keep all the Snickers for myself…
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Since he won’t be able to eat the candy, maybe you could buy it from him and he can use the money to get something special. Then you could donate the candy to a foodbank or shelter.
We have a dentist where we live who does that very thing….buys back candy from kids and a certain price per lb!
**at a**
Wow, that’s a lot of allergies. Poor Dylan.
That really blows.
I can’t believe that HFCS is in salami. WTF? Now I would turn into the person who checks every single label.
MomEinstein´s last [type] ..A Year of Victoria
Food allergies are very problematic and especially when it comes to children. If any adult has a food allergy, we sometimes have them around us to remind us about our allergy but for kids we need to remember them. Take care!
Rodrigo Valenzuela´s last [type] ..Los tipos de mujeres que los hombres prefieran
I’m telling you, just feed the kid seafood. Clearly he was born to be a pescetarian.
Katie @Overflowingbrain´s last [type] ..Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Check out the cookbook ‘Cooking for Isaiah’. My son was diagnosed in February with 21 different food allergies, this book helped get us started
Sam is allergic to Corn too. It is in EVERYTHING. Thankfully, we’re now to the point where we avoid “obvious” corns, rather than all corns. Not sure where you’re at with it, but I learned it’s also “hidden” a lot too… for instance, paper cartons of milk are treated with corn (not sure about cartons like OJ, etc.)
Anyway, just wanted to commiserate with you for a moment. Hopefully, the older he gets, the more he will outgrow! (Sam used to be allergic to peanuts and eggs too, and a couple of other things that I’ve thankfully forgotten!).
punkinmama´s last [type] ..five
Chipmunk showed wheat and eggs but never reacted openly to either and we never cut them out. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we DID but I’ve never had the energy to give it a shot.
Maria´s last [type] ..The Soundtrack of My (Really Dorky) Youth