5.01.2012

Emmett's Allergies

It all started with Emmett around 6 months old when we tried to introduce formula. It didn't go well and he vomitted every time he had it. I luckily didn't have to fight that battle and I continued to feed him until we introduced milk. As we introduced new foods we discovered more things he was sensitive to. He would get very red around his mouth or vomit. By 2 years, he took a blood test and we learned to avoid eggs, soy, peanuts, and peas. They couldn't test for it but he also had reactions to chickpeas. As time went on, we found more things that caused him to vomit. At 2.5 we went in to do skin testing and added to the list...melons, tree nuts, legumes, green beans and many environmental allergies. He is allergic to trees, grasses, weeds, feathers and cat dander. Thankfully, we are able to manage his symptoms with our cat in the house and he now gets a dose of claritin daily to deal with outside. A couple months and additional violent vommiting episodes later (one which included the use of an epipen as a precaution), I had another talk with the allergist and she ordered additional blood tests. We learned a couple interesting things. The best thing was that his allergy to egg and soy has lessened which gives us promise that he will grow out of this.
Below are the foods we should currently avoid:
Egg
Peanut
Tree nuts (walnut, pecan, almond, hazelnut, pistachio, cashew)
Soy
Melons (cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew)
Avocado
Raw tomato
Peas
Green beans
Sesame
Spinach
Beef
Coconut

We have not tested the following, but I suspect an allergy and we're also avoiding the following: chick peas, lentils, all other beans (legumes), and mango.

Emmett now wears a medical alert bracelet, which makes me feel a little better when I'm not around during school or at church. I've become a crazy label reader and I've learned how cook standard foods allergy free. We rarely take him to restaurants and so far we haven't done much traveling. We are soon leaving our comfort zone with a weekend trip to Grandmas (parentless) and some future vacations planned. It will be fine. I count my blessings that we have not experienced any life threatening reactions. We have great medical care and a few epipens around as backup (and thanks to what happened recently, I know I am capable of using one). Hopefully, he'll grow up and we'll reminisce about all the crazy things little Emmett was allergic too. We love this little guy; he's fun, energetic and brightens our everyday.

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