On Nov 1, Ben went to the doctor and received the results of his allergy test. We were mildly surprised. Here's the list of what he's highly reactive to (mostly off the chart): almond, barley, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, cow's milk, egg white, egg yolk, filbert, goat's milk, mozzarella cheese, peanut, rye, sesame seed, soybeans, spelt, sunflower seeds, wheat, whey, yogurt, casein (a milk protein), gliadin, and gluten. He's only moderately reactive to brewer's yeast, coconut, oats, and sugar cane (they don't test for sugar beets). So we've been having an interesting few days trying to find out what he can eat. There are very helpful books (sarcasm alert!) telling such things as "If your kid is allergic to cow's milk, try goat's milk! If that doesn't work, you've always got soy milk." OK, so we check the list: "let's see ... cow's milk, check ... goat's milk, yup ... soy mi-- darnit!" Ben's drinking rice milk, which I must say is pretty nasty.
We went to the bookstore looking for cookbooks. There are gluten-free cookbooks, dairy-free, nut-free, etc, but VERY FEW that are for multiple simultaneous allergens. Basically, we need a food-free cookbook. The good news: he's not allergic to meat, fish, fruit, and vegetable, just everything you might use to cook any of that.
Some of the stuff Ben is fine without. He never liked milk and eggs anyway. But sugar! He lives off the stuff. And we had to tell him no more candy after he'd brought home a bucketful of trick or treats. And he doesn't get any more yogurt or PBJs. It's half-cute, half-sad to hear him ask, "Daddy, am I allergic to cookies?" But he's doing a great job. He seems happy, and may be filling out some, and the weird callous-type spot on his shin is going away.
Dinnertime has changed a little. We can't just make a box of mac and cheese anymore; all of Ben's meals seem to require hours of preparation. Neal and I had some leftover pizza the other day, and we ate in the bedroom with the door closed so Ben wouldn't get jealous.
One final note on the subject, and then I'll quit. Anda has great intuition/inspiration, because she for a while has felt like there must be something wrong with Ben that makes him so skinny. If I understand this right, his body does not get much if any nutrition from the food he's allergic to. So no wonder he's skinny. Supposedly we restrict the allergens for six months or so and then test again to see if things have calmed down at all.
So anyway, if you happen to know how to bake with rice flour (or one of the other weird and expensive alternatives to wheat), drop us an email!
1 comment:
Oh. My. LAND!!! My father in law has wheat allergies lives gluten-free and my mother in law is diabetic, so lives sugar-free. It's an interesting household!
What possessed you to even have him tested?? Why did you suspect allergies?
PS -- SPELT is the original wheat, the staff of life as referenced in the Bible, and NO ONE is allergic to it. According to my sister anyway :) Might want to try it :)
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