My Allergy Kid

Cross contamination is one of the biggest difficulties in the life of a food allergy sufferer. Cross contamination affects not only food , but also surfaces.

In our home, the biggest problem is the fact that Mason is the only one with food allergies. So the rest of us do eat foods that he is allergic to, we just have to be very careful. If Brody eats a yogurt, I have to make sure his hands and face are completely clean of the dairy proteins. If he has on his hands and touches a toy that Mason then touches, Mason could have a very severe reaction just from touching the contaminated toy. I have to be very careful with sippy cups. If Brody accidentally takes a drink from Mason’s cup after having eaten a food item Mason is allergic to, then again, Mason could have a very severe, life threatening reaction if he drinks out of the cup before I get the chance to thoroughly clean it or get him a new one.

At home, it’s not as difficult to avoid cross contamination. Mason has his own area of the refrigerator that is specifically for his foods. He has his own cabinet of “Mason friendly” foods that are just for him. The problem is public places. Play grounds are a specific area of concern. A common picnic food or school lunch food is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Kids eat and then go play. It’s an easy place for there to be peanut butter proteins on the equipment. All Mason would have to do is touch it and be at risk for a reaction. The same goes for grocery carts. Think of all the items that get put in and out of a grocery cart and how many of them may contain allergens.

Cross contamination in food is another big issue. This is why a lot of allergic people stay away from restaurants. The simple misuse of a cooking tool or the accidental touching by the handler of an allergic food before touching the allergic persons food could all result in an allergic reaction. Peanut oils are popular cooking oils, which can be problematic for those with peanut allergies.

It’s a fine line between protectiveness and a bubble-like world to live in. We desire for Mason to have as normal as a childhood as possible, however we desire to keep him safe, healthy and away from allergens. With careful attention and diligence, this is possible- difficult, but possible.

I had posted previously that Mason had an appointment with an Allergist/Immunologist/Pulmonologist today down at Children’s and so this is an update on his condition.

His blood tests showed there is no immune system disease, which is great, but his immune system is underdeveloped (most likely by him being born a little too early). The allergies are VERY severe. His numbers on the blood tests showed that his dairy, egg, tree nut and peanut are about as bad as a persons allergies can get. The doctor today said that they pretty much can’t get any worse in a child this age. She said he’d be lucky to outgrow the dairy and egg by age 10-15 and he’ll most likely never outgrow the peanut/tree nut. She confirmed what we were hoping was overprotective-ness from his pediatrician that he just can not touch anything if we don’t know what/who has touched it before him (grocery carts, playgrounds, crayons….etc). This means no preschool or school, and in her educated opinion she said if Mason was her child, she wouldn’t send him until he is at least 10 and has gone through some training courses they offer at the Cincinnati Children’s Food Allergy Clinic that teach kids all about their allergies and how to self medicate in the event of anaphylaxis.

His environmental allergies were also pretty bad with dogs, cats, grass, and mold being the worst. The major concern with those is his asthma.

So really the news isn’t anything more than what we had previously assumed…it’s all just confirmed now. The allergist put him on some asthma/allergy medication to take daily for preventative measures and we’ll see how that gets us through the upcoming spring allergy season. I’m a lot less concerned with the environmental allergens than I am the food allergies. We have our inhalers, nebulizer, Benadryl, Claritin and epi-pens ready for any situation we may encounter. We’re hoping for a healthy spring!

They offered recommendations that we get special air filters for our home as well as put certain hypoallergenic mattress covers on his bed. We also invested in the asthma and allergy Dyson Vacuum in hopes of getting the floors even cleaner for him to minimize allergens there.

As for the cause of the allergies, it is the underdeveloped immune system from early birth that has been ruled as the “cause”.

There are only two basic ways to test for food allergies: skin tests and blood tests.
Skin prick tests are performed in a doctor’s office and results are known before you leave the office. Doctors will use a tool that resembles a fork with 2 prongs. A small amount of the allergen is placed either on the tool or directly on the skin. Then the device is placed on the skin to prick or break through the first layer of skin, putting a small amount of the allergen under the skin. A hive will form any spot where the person is allergic. This test is ideal for quickly learning if there is an allergy present. Skin tests cannot predict if a reaction would occur or what kind of reaction might occur if a person ingests that particular allergen. They can, however, confirm an allergy in light of a patient’s history of reactions to a particular food.

Blood tests are another useful diagnostic tool. One test is the RAST (RadioAllergoSorbent Test) which detects the presence of IgE antibodies to a particular allergen. A CAP-RAST test is a specific type of RAST test with greater specificity: it can show the amount of IgE present to each allergen. The RAST test results are compared to “predictive value” charts that researchers have come up with to determine sensitivity. If a persons RAST score is higher than the predictive value for that food, then there is over a 95% chance the person will have an allergic reaction if they ingest that food. Currently, predictive values are available for the following foods: milk, egg, peanut, fish, soy, and wheat. Blood tests allow for hundreds of allergens to be screened from a single sample, and cover food allergies as well as inhalants.

There currently is no cure for food allergies. Treatment consists of avoidance diets, in which the allergic person avoids all forms of the food of which they are allergic. For people who are extremely sensitive, like Mason, this may involve total avoidance of any exposure with the allergen, including touching or inhaling the allergic food as well as touching any surfaces that may have come into contact with it.

Tis the season of Birthday’s and Valentine’s Day in our house! I have a recipe for a yummy cake that is Dairy, Egg and Peanut free!

• 1 box of Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix
• 10 oz. Sprite

Mix together and bake according to box directions. Cupcake form works best, as a cake tends to sink in the middle. Top with Pillsbury cream cheese flavored frosting (it’s one of the only frostings that is dairy free).

This is a very yummy cake and perfect for anyone allergic to dairy, eggs or peanuts!
Enjoy!

One of the scariest things about severe food allergies are the fact that they are life threatening. As mentioned in previous posts, some people may only have gastrointestinal symptoms or itchiness/hives or swelling, but like many other people, Mason’s allergies pose a risk to his life. This is because they can cause what is known as anaphylaxis.

Anaphylaxis is a violent allergic reaction involving a number of parts of the body simultaneously. Like less serious allergic reactions, anaphylaxis usually occurs after a person is exposed to an allergen to which they were sensitized by previous exposure (meaning, it does not usually occur the first time a person is exposed to a particular food). As little as one-fifth to one-five-thousandth of a teaspoon of the food the person is allergic to is known to have caused death.

Anaphylaxis can produce severe symptoms in as little as 1 to 15 minutes, and life-threatening reactions may occur within seconds or progress over hours. Signs of anaphylaxis are: difficulty breathing, throat tightness, swelling of the mouth and throat, a drop in blood pressure, and loss of consciousness- all of which cause the person to have great fear, often feeling as if they are dying (and without treatment, they probably will). The sooner that anaphylaxis is treated, the greater the person’s chance of surviving. The person should be taken to a hospital emergency room, even if symptoms appear to subside on their own. Symptoms can often seem to subside, then flare up again unexpectedly.

There is no specific test to predict the likelihood of anaphylaxis. Allergy testing may help determine the severity of the allergy. Doctors often advise people who are susceptible to anaphylaxis to carry medication, such as injectable epinephrine (ie. Epi-pen), with them at all times. Injectable epinephrine is a synthetic version of a naturally occurring hormone known as adrenaline. For treatment of an anaphylactic reaction, epinephrine is injected directly into a thigh muscle or vein. It works directly on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, by causing blood vessel to rapidly constrict, reversing throat swelling, relaxing lung muscles to improve breathing, and stimulating the heartbeat.

We’ve luckily seen great results with epinephrine in Mason. It has helped him greatly when needed. After epinephrine use, patients are usually advised to remain under observation by a physician in a Dr. office or ER for a period of 3-4 hours to make sure the body doesn’t adversely react again. Occasionally, repeat doses of epinephrine, in addition to steroids and anti-histamines, are needed to fight the anaphylaxis.

Food allergies are very different from a food intolerance. The common misconception is that they are the same thing. I can’t put it into words better than the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), so this information comes straight from them.

The difference between an allergy and an intolerance is how the body handles the offending food. In a true food allergy, the body’s immune system recognizes a reaction-provoking substance, or allergen, in the food–usually a protein–as foreign and produces antibodies to halt the “invasion.” As the battle rages, symptoms appear throughout the body. The most common sites are the mouth (swelling of the lips), digestive tract (stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea), skin (hives, rashes or eczema), and the airways (wheezing or breathing problems). People with allergies must avoid the offending foods altogether.

Food intolerance is a much more common problem than allergy. Here, the problem is not with the body’s immune system, but, rather, with its metabolism. The body cannot adequately digest a portion of the offending food, usually because of some chemical deficiency. For example, persons who have difficulty digesting milk (lactose intolerance) often are deficient in the intestinal enzyme lactase, which is needed to digest milk sugar (lactose). The deficiency can cause cramps and diarrhea if milk is consumed. Estimates are that about 80 percent of African-Americans have lactose intolerance, as do many people of Mediterranean or Hispanic origin. It is quite different from the true allergic reaction some have to the proteins in milk.

(http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/wh-alrg1.html)

A food allergy is an immunologic response to a food protein. It is estimated that up to 12 million Americans have food allergies of one type or another, and the prevalence is rising. Roughly 6-8 percent of children under the age of three have food allergies and about 4 percent of adults have them as well. Food allergies cause about 30,000 emergency room visits and 100 to 200 deaths per year in the US. The most common food allergies (known as the Big Eight) are shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and eggs, milk, soy and wheat. These are the allergens you’ll find listed under the ingredients list on most food packaging .

Sadly, there currently is no cure for food allergies. Treatment consists of avoidance diets, in which the allergic person avoids all forms of the food to which they are allergic. This can be difficult because of the various “names” for different foods. People with dairy allergies have to avoid foods with the ingredient listed as “whey” or “casein”. For people who are extremely sensitive, this may involve the total avoidance of any exposure with the allergen, including touching or inhaling the problematic food as well as touching any surfaces that may have come into contact with it. Food allergy is distinct from food intolerance, which is not caused by an immune reaction. We’ll talk about the difference in between food allergies and intolerances in my next post.

Welcome to my blog. Please take a minute to read about me as well as Mason’s story. Hopefully those pages will better explain the point of this blog as well as it’s importance to me. I hope you find this site helpful and full of information the more it develops and unfolds! It is my goal to update often with information, article reviews as well as life stories from our household where we experience the life of food allergies every day. Thanks for helping me spread the word.

~Lindsay