Food Allergies. Again.

I really wanted to start this blog post with a loud sigh.
[SIGH]

Emma had her very first allergy test this week - I had made the appointment because as soon as things starting blooming (VERY early) around here she was a sniffling, sneezing mess. It seemed like a good time to figure out what kind of seasonal stuff we were dealing with.

As part of the test they tested 23 outdoor allergens (weeds, trees, dust, grasses, cats, dogs, guinea pigs, etc). The test also included 20 food items.

This is what her arms looked like:

The "seasonal" arm immediately reacted with redness, itching, and small weals (or welts). Emma said "I've never been this itchy in my whole life!" And she cried. A lot.

The food arm took slower to react and I honestly wasn't expecting it to react at all. Or maybe I was HOPING it wouldn't react. I mean, what are the odds that BOTH girls would have food allergies?

Um, pretty damn good apparently.

After about 5 minutes Emma's "food" arm started reacting.
This is what it looked like after the serum and pen were wiped off:

Those red weals are all reactions to certain foods. Specifically: peanuts, almonds, walnuts, soy, and sesame seeds. Now, Emma eats edamame (soy beans) all the time with no issues so we were instructed to keep eating that.

However, everything else on the list of allergens is OFF LIMITS. So...Emma and Olivia have the same food allergies. [insert loud sigh here].

Emma hasn't ever liked peanut butter - she never eats it. And we don't eat nuts because I don't keep them in the house. But she now has to avoid anything that might have a cross contact issue (M&Ms, other candy bars, etc).

[As an aside: Please don't lecture me about this. Maybe you feed your peanut and tree nut allergy kid M&Ms all the time. I don't. I'm very vigilant about avoiding any foods that have been processed in a plant/on a line that also processes foods containing the allergens. You do you. I'll do things my way].

And so, Emma now has EpiPens and we have to be careful about her foods too.

To say I'm sad about this might be an understatement. I'm really pissed off. And, I'm sad for Emma (who is also sad). I wouldn't wish food allergies (of any kind) on anyone and now both my kids have them.

I mean really.
Seriously universe?
Are you done yet?

Oddly enough, I can say that this was not a bombshell diagnosis like it was with Olivia. When she was diagnosed in 2011 I was floored. Like FLOORED. With Emma it was more a feeling of sadness and resignation. Like, "well, here we go again."

And I know a lot more about food allergies than I did six years ago. So...I keep on keeping on. I continue to be the strongest advocate I can be for my kids.

But really universe. If you could just give me a break ... for just a little bit, that would be awesome.

Olivia's Allergy Adventures Continue

This week was Olivia's allergy re-test for food and seasonal allergens.

We had a scratch test for 35 items on Wednesday and then followed it up with blood tests for specific food items that didn't showcase well on the scratch test.

35 items on scratch/prick test

She's still allergic to sesame seeds, peanuts, and hazelnuts. And now we've added almonds and walnuts to the mix too. The numbers for her hazelnut allergy has almost doubled from what it was two years ago (8.25 up to 14.70 based on blood tests).

I will freely admit that these are not the results I was hoping for but it is what it is.

I will admit that for the last two days while we waited for the blood test results I allowed myself to think "what if?"

What if one or more of her food allergies had vanished?

What if Olivia could eat something she hasn't been allowed to eat for the last three years?

What if we could lose the "food allergy" label for at least one of the items. 

What. If.

But there is no "what if" today. There's just the reality that the food allergies are still here with two additional offenders added to the list.

The reality is that in the near future we'll likely have to do a food challenge with peanuts so we can know with 100 percent certainty just how dangerous they are. The reality is that for now we continue to avoid all peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame products.

It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't have a child with food allergies how totally helpless and guilty you feel as a parent.

You question things whether you should have fed your kid peanut butter earlier than you did. Or if you missed other "warning signs" of these food allergies. You think about the times your child ate one of the allergens before their diagnosis and how they were sick afterward and you think about all the things that could have happened. And then you force yourself to stop thinking like that.

When I told Olivia about her results she just looked sad.
I think she was hoping for some other news too.

As it is, we continue the "status quo" of avoiding the bad foods, keeping an EpiPen with us at all times, and we keep on keepin' on.

And on the non-food allergy front her numbers weren't so hot either. Her mold allergy is higher than ever before and the trees, pollen, and ragweed are about the same. We were hoping to move to once-a-month allergy shots but based on her numbers and the welts she gets on her arms after almost every shot, we're on the same every-other-week schedule for at least 6 more months.

On the bright side, her allergies to cats and dogs has gone down. ;)

I guess we'll take the small victories where we can find them.