Food Conundrum

So, in case you didn't know Penn is allergic to milk, peanuts, tree nuts and sesame seeds. And it totally sucks. We already knew about milk (immediate vomitting) and peanuts and tree nuts as a category. Last year when they tested him he was only tested for a few nuts (almonds, walnuts) and had a reaction so we were told to stay away from all nuts. This year I wanted to test more specific nuts in the off chance that he could tolerate any of them. I guess not. Some of the biggest welts above are from cashews, pistachios, peanuts and milk. What a rip off that he will miss out on those the health benefits and delicious yumminess of nuts. We were sent home with a prescription for an EpiPen and a referral to a nutritionist (my request). Good luck with that!

Food allergies stink big time. I'm not sure what Penn's reaction to peanuts or nuts is since we have avoided them for the last year. It could be anaphylactic or it could be throwing up (like with milk). But that is the thing. I don't know just how freaky to be with this whole thing. I think I may ask to have a test where they give small amount of the offending allergen to see what happens. As Penn gets older this will be more of an issue (he has been invited to a play group and now I am thinking "do I have to train all the Moms on the EpiPen?"). Seriously.

Penn broke his arm in June and had a cast for a month. It was totally easy compared to having allergies. Food avoidance consumes our lives. I remember the good old days when I knocked on wood (it doesn't work) and said "I'm so glad my kids aren't allergic to nuts. I don't know what I would do, I love nuts". I remember when I wasn't the lady who is always asking about specific ingredients (is there milk in that hamburger bun?), and the lady who is constantly going on and on about milk substitutes and hidden milk in french fries and chicken nuggets. I am the lady who has to explain the difference between lactose (sugar) intolerance and milk allergy which includes whey, casein, etc. I am the lady who is mad at the maker of dairy substitutes that are just lactose free but still have milk products in them.

So last night I was up looking up food allergy related information. It is scary. I know you can't believe everything you read but pretty much it sounds like bad food is making our kids sick with allergies, asthma, ADHD and autism (why do they all start with A?). So, I probably did this (inadvertently) to Penn by drinking Diet Dr. Pepper and eating GMOs--you know Genetically Modified Os (I think Organisms) because they are bad. There is a reason (I'm not totally sure of the origin) that kids have so many health issues these days compared to our day and I don't believe it is because we are better at diagnosing them. Allergies have to do with proteins and they are making artificial proteins and they are messing up the immune systems of kids. Also many websites say stay away from corn and soy. Evidently a protein in GMO soy is very similar to a protein in peanuts. Great, soy is Penn's main dairy substitute and source of food at this point. I am hoping that Silk is ok (it was on the non-GMO list). Also soy has some sort of estrogen in it and should be limited especially in boys. Why didn't anyone tell me until I asked? It is very confusing and frustrating. I hope I didn't totally screw up Penn's life in the last year.

No one has told me what to do. I don't think they know. When I was in the allergist's office I thought "they don't want to figure this out because it keeps them in business". I tried the voodoo doctor (acupuncture/frequency) and it didn't work and I really wanted it to. I had already resolved to make more of our family's food rather than buying processed and prepackaged food. Now I really feel an urgency to do this. But seriously, you could go crazy. It could be a full time job just trying to figure it all out. And I will probably need a full time job to pay for it.

Last night I went to bed (at 3:00 AM--not my most rational time of day) thinking that I had to do a total food makeover. That is not totally realistic but I will try to do baby steps. I need to stop drinking diet soda for one (after I finish the pack I just bought at Costco). I have started watering down Penn's Silk so he is not ingesting so much soy. I need to meet with a nutritionist who cares. I need to be grateful for the health that we do have. This is manageable, just overwhelming at times. I'm not going to go all Suzanne Sommers or anything like that.

By the way I was right (according to one allergy website). Last year I asked the allergy doctor if boys are more likely to have asthma and allergies because most of the people I know that have these issues are boys. He said no but one study I read says yes. Ha!

On a much lighter note (don't you love it when they say that on the Today Show?), its a new season of Project Runway---yeah!