Twenty Something: Allergies- An Update

So, we're now close to 2 weeks into our "food challenge" with Addison. 2 weeks of no onions, garlic, or tomatoes.

If you're a bit confused during this blog post, and not quite sure what you may have missed (I mean, why are we doing food challenges? Why do I have a blog post about food allergies at all?), you may want to read this post.

Since it's been close to 2 weeks, I thought it was time for a small update on the situation.

If you remember, I was very confused about Addie's rashes and what could be causing it. I was very frustrated and overwhelmed, knowing I was thisclose to figuring it all out but just couldn't.

The first week of food challenge was all about trial and error. She was slipped some onion on occasion. We just weren't in the practice of keeping it away from her.

On day 3, I was just raving over how great her face looked. It was still patchy, but healing. I mean...I wanted to cry it looked the best it's ever looked. Then dinner happened.

I found this really yummy recipe for Spanish tortillas-something I've been trying to find a recipe for since my vacation to Spain 3 years ago! Unfortunately, the recipe called for onions, and lots of them. I decided since I wanted the full effect, I would just keep Addie's tortilla mix separate from mine and Willie's (and our friends').

It seemed totally do-able (despite 2 separate frying pans, 2 separate bowls, 2 separate whisks, & 2 separate spoons) until I sliced the first onion open. Addie was sitting on the kitchen floor playing and keeping me company, and all of a sudden she started whining and squirming...getting worse and worse. Then she started scratching. Like all over her body! Her face was suddenly red and scaly again, her back and tummy were itchy, and she just wouldn't stop crying!

I ran her out to Willie so she could get some fresh air, and just felt like crap. I mean seriously. Who knew?? Apparently an onion allergy is similar to a peanut allergy in that you can't be in the room with them (at least I think I've read that about nut allergies).

So, now I know. No more onions or garlic in our house-at least until this experiment is over. One good thing did come from that episode, though. I am now way more aware of what is in food and remembering to check every label, and omit anything that contains any of the 3 ingredients.

Since then, things are going better. Her face is clearing up again, although we do have random bouts of rashi-ness-specifically on her back & sides where her diaper and pants sit. That may just be from chafing and dry skin. I'm not totally sure. I do know there are some environmental issues that cause rashes for her sometimes-harsh chemical cleaners being one of them. She's been mildly exposed to those the last few weeks with this new play date we go to in a childrens learning center. They use bleach to clean their large toys and diaper area. In fact, the day I wrote my original post was our first trip out there, and she did get a diaper change there, so hindsight is telling me that could be what caused the rash that prompted my blog.

We're still in the middle of the food challenge. I'm really nervous to start introducing foods- even though I know technically she's having mild reactions. I'm just dreading it, but I will do it to help narrow down what's causing this.

We may still try eliminating gluten/wheat from her diet as well after this is said and done, just to see if it's another cause, since she's still kind of rashy. We will see. Maybe she just needs more time for everything to get out of her system.

Here is a picture of Addison 2 weeks ago, roughly. It's un-edited (yes, I usually edit out some of the worse rashes. It gets really old hearing "what happened to her face?!" when I show photos to family).