Personal Struggle

Tonight, I am at a crossroads.

I have no idea what to do.  In case you didn't know, we have 2 cats.

There they are.  The fat gray one is Pepper, and the small calico is Simone.  She's my baby.  I've had her in my life longer than Willie and Addison.  Heck.  I've had her in my life longer than both of them put together!  Pepper, well, he's a "rescue" but still a major part of our family. In fact, he's our "family" cat, playing with Addison, giving her love, sneaking into her room (but still acting like a tough guy). Simone, well, she just hides a lot and runs away when Addie comes into a room.  She shows up for love usually around now when the house is quiet and peaceful and nobody is awake but me.

I love them.  Honestly, though, I'm tired of them.  Pepper has bladder issues that have cost us over $1,000 since November.  He's now on prescription food for urinary crystals and has developed a nasty habit of peeing on the floor.  We were doing really well in the new place for such a long time, but when we went on our trip, he took it back up and now we can't get him to stop.

Simone is just... a bitch.  I'm sorry.  I love her to death and she's my "baby girl" but she's mean to Addie and ever since Addie was born she has also had a problem with the litter box.  I think it's retaliatory.  I've done everything I can think to do.  Addie has never intentionally been mean to her and has rarely even had a chance to be accidentally mean to her.  She can't get a chance to learn how to be nice to Simone.

These issues alone were not enough to make me question keeping my beloved cats.

Addie's allergy test results showed that she was highly allergic to cats.  At the time, we hadn't noticed any major symptoms that we could for sure blame on the cats so the allergist told us to just watch her and see because she may grow out of it. 

Weeks later, Addie is doing amazingly well.  Almost no rash. We cut out peanuts completely and we're limiting eggs and soy, watching her closely after each serving.  She's been fine.  She even had scrambled eggs, and while her mouth got a little red during breakfast, it didn't cause a rash.

Here's the crappy part.  Yesterday afternoon, Addie was hanging out in the house in her diaper (what?! It was 83 degrees in here!) and suddenly broke out in an awful, swollen, itchy rash.  It was so sad.  She kept saying "Itchy, mamma!" and scratching.  No eggs. No peanuts. No food in general other than pita chips which are totally safe for her.  Only explanation? Yep. The cats.

What now?! Sure.  They are a P.I.T.A. most days lately, but do I really want to give them away? Is it even an option at this point? Now I'm fairly certain they have been the problem all along. I'm not sure how willing I am to continue putting Addie through these rashes knowing what is causing it.

This is such a struggle for me.  On the one hand, I will feel like I am abandoning my pets if I give them away (and yeah, right, like Simone will adapt well to that).  On the other hand, am I betraying my daughter and affecting her well being by keeping animals around that I know she's allergic to?!

Allery Update #3 - The Allergist

Note: If you are behind in this story, feel free to read the back posts (in this order) here, here, and here.

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I'm a bit late writing this post, but life has been hectic this week.  Understandably, I hope.

Thursday was our appointment with the allergist.  We had had several phone talks with our pediatrician and the receptionist at the allergists office between getting the results on Monday and arriving at our appointment on Thursday morning.  Wednesday night I filled out five pages worth of forms to bring in to the doctor, and read all of their new patient directions-which included not using a strong smelling soap, keeping Addie in short sleeves, giving her a good beakfast, and preparing to spend 2.5-3 hours in the office between skin testing and consultation.

I barely slept Wednesday night stressing out about the testing and the results we may find.  To be honest, everything was still very mind-boggling.  Peanut allergies, egg white allergies, getting rid of our cats, epi pens...all of it was pretty jumbled in my mind.

At the appointment, we talked for a good 10-15 minutes about symptoms I've noticed, foods that she reacts to (which is hard to say since it seems so totally random), and what we've done so far.  Unfortunately (well, fortunately, but not in this instance),  Addie was clearer than we had seen her in weeks!  I say unfortunately, because the doctor couldn't see any rashes other than the small rough spot on her chin that was still healing.
Luckily, he eliminated three foods right off the bat.  According to our initial chat, we do not need to be concerned with peas, potatoes, or rice unless we start noticing symptoms. As far as I can tell, she's always eaten those with no problems (although like I've said, it's hard to tell sometimes when she's breaking out and why because she was always broken out).

He did tell us to cut out all peanut products until she is 3, and then we will re-visit that one and see if anything has changed.  Note to all parents, according to him you are supposed to wait until age 3 to introduce it at all.  I knew it was an allergen, but I thought they were all okay to introduce at 1 if you had no history of allergies.

After that, he told me he really did not see the need currently to do a skin test.  All of her symptoms appear to be skin related, so we can try diagnosing the other allergies using food challenges.  He thinks the most important food to test first is egg whites.  That means no eggs or products made with eggs.  It will be hard, but I hope it gives us a better idea at what we're looking at.  To be totally honest though, I'm a bit jaded against the idea of a food challenge now since our last food challenge left me so sure that it was onion, or garlic, or both.

That does, in some ways, make sense though.  After closer examination, most of the products we noticed a reaction with also had soy as an ingredient.  In fact, most processed foods do. Unfortunately, the allergist doesn't feel that soy is causing the rashes-at least not all of them.  Apparently, the levels for soy were so low it's unlikely they are causing any symptoms.  That and the fact that we've given Addie edamame (soy beans), and served foods with soy sauce with seemingly no reaction.

I still really feel in my gut that there is something to this soy allergy.  Maybe it's not all of it, but it has to be some of it.  After the appointment, I gave Addie some fig newtons. Now, keep in mind her skin is clearer than I have almost ever seen it, so even the slightest reaction is visible, and she did have a slight reaction to the fig newtons.  I've spoken with a few people now that cannot eat soy as an ingredient in processed foods, but do fine with soy in it's natural state-such as soy beans or soy sauce.  It just means anything is possible.

Bottom line, the allergist appointment was someone disappointing, but also a relief. I felt like I was running as fast as I could toward the edge of a cliff all week, but was pulled back at the very last second.  I left feeling somewhat deflated.  All that preparation-mentally and physically-for a 15 minute chat with a doctor that didn't feel there was an immediate need for action.

I was so looking forward to leaving there with solid answers. I wanted to be able to just stop giving Addie the foods that are making her miserable.  I wanted to be done.

Something good did come from the appointment, though.  I'm calmer.  The doctor sees no need for immediate action.  Her allergies are not severe.  Due to this sudden calmness, I've been able to channel my subconscious and really figure out how I feel about all of this.  I've got an action plan.  For now, we're limiting both foods-soy and egg white-and keeping an eye to see what causes reactions.  I'm reading all labels and familiarizing myself with the foods we eat a little more so that when we are ready to do the food challenges in a couple of weeks, there will be fewer slip ups than last time.  Once we get back from visiting family, I'll deal with the rest.  I'll start food challenges.  I'll deal with rashes and a wakeful toddler. I'll cry with her if she gets rashy enough to scratch herself bloody again, or gets hives again.  For now, though, I'm okay with all of this.

Allergy Update #2 - The Test, and the Results

Well, today was the day we've been waiting for.  If you haven't been following my tweets, then here is a little back story for you:

We finally found Addie a new pediatrician-inadvertently we chose an allergy specialist-and got an appointment for this last Thursday.  While I was there I brought up our issues with food and my thoughts on allergies.  I told her all about the rashes, showed her the one around her mouth that is clearing up, and talked about my frustrations with our old pediatrician.  She told me we could get Addie's blood drawn in the lab connected with her office before we left!  I was so relieved and so scared at the same time.

The blood draw was traumatizing for all of us even though the phlebotomist was great with Addie.  I was told we would have the results by Monday (today).  I waited all weekend with bated breath until this morning...which is where this blog picks up.

Our new pediatrician called us this morning (yes! The pediatrician herself called me! Not a nurse or receptionist!) She said she was actually still waiting on the results for the onion and garlic test since those had to be added on separately, but that she wanted to call and update me because Addie apparently has quite a list of allergies already back.

So, here it is, she is highly allergic to the following:
Peanut (what?! seriously?!)
Peas
Potatoes
Rice
Cats (Our cat is a special needs cat-think we can get someone to take him in?!)

She is Moderately allergic to:
Egg Whites
Dogs

The following came back in the Low category:
Cod Fish
Soy
White Beans

According to the pediatrician, the allergists appointment should narrow this list down some.  She said a lot of the time when kids come back with long lists like this, it can mean a kind of "false positive".  I guess a lot of times your body can show the antibodies for these things but when you are exposed, you don't actually show symptoms.

Nevertheless, an epi-pen was prescribed to us and we were referred to the allergists office.  I called and made an appointment expecting to not have any answers in time for our upcoming trip, but they were able to get us in this week! Even better, although we'll be in the office for 2.5 hours, we'll walk out with test results!

I'll update again when I have more answers.  Right now we're still all processing this information.  It's a lot to take in considering we didn't have any known food allergies in either of our families.

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).

Check out this picture of Addie today.  No editing, just Addie. 

We're still learning, and we're still dealing with flare-ups, but over all, she looks better than she ever has, basically!

Is it Allergies?! What is it?!

**This post is me thinking through this info so it may be a bit chaotic**

 Those of you that know me, or "know" me through the internet-blog follower, forum friends, and facebook friends-probably know by now that we've had a lot of problems with Addison and her Eczema in the past. 

There were suggestions-of course- that she possibly had a food allergy.  These comments were made when the Eczema first showed up at 2 months old but we brushed them off because it wasn't a rash that came and went, it was just always there.  It didn't get worse after I ate anything (during the nursing days) or after she ate anything after she started solids.  It was just there.  Always.

Around the time of her first birthday, I started noticing that after she ate she would get a bright red rash around her mouth and scratch like crazy.  I got the inkling at that point that maybe she had some sort of food allergy, but I couldn't figure it out.  It was literally 90% of the time she ate this would happen. 

It's started to get worse more recently to the point that she has started getting rashy all over her stomach and arms after she ate, and would get particularly fussy after eating some foods.  Foods like spaghetti.  One night I made a meatloaf and she got some pieces in her shirt while she ate.  When I took her shirt off after her meal, I noticed bright red whelps where the meat loaf was sitting on her.  I made the meatloaf with ketchup.  This is when I started finally noticing a connection with the tomatoes and the rash and fussiness. 

About three weeks ago I decided to cut tomatoes completely out of her diet and see what happened.  For several days it seemed to be working.  I thought I had figured it all out.  Her rash was going away, she was happier during dinner, and her diaper rashes were going away (oh yeah, she had diaper rashes that were "textbook" allergy).    Shortly after my "celebration" of figuring it out, I started noticing a spot on her chin that she kept scratching and it just wouldn't go away.  I started diligently checking labels for anything I may have missed, being more careful about what is in the food I cook than I ever have before.  Her rashes were still coming back. On her arms, her face, and her knees mostly.  It could  just be dry skin, I guess.  I mean, I've had Eczema all my life and it's seasonal.  I've just got this feeling though that it's not.

Sometime in the last week, I've gotten to the point where I am 100% confident that she has had no tomatoes.  It can't be tomatoes.  So what can it be?

My friend Jess and I were talking yesterday and she mentioned (not for the first time) that maybe Addie has an allergy to something that is commonly served with tomatoes.  Like maybe onions.  Yep.  The same food I had to cut out while nursing because it gave her such bad gas.  Hmmm...there's a thought.  After some discussion and research, I'm realizing just how much food has onions in it.  Yikes.  Even her Goldfish crackers!  One kind we normally get has tomatoes in it, and the other has onions.  Onions would make sense.  Onions are in everything that has made me notice a break-out or scratching.

So...now we are testing onions.  No onions (or garlic since apparently they go together) for Addie and we'll see.  Now, the only problem with this theory is:

She broke out tonight after a dinner of Pork Chops cooked in olive oil, salt, and pepper; Whole Wheat angel hair pasta, and steamed asparagus.  No onions. No garlic. No tomatoes.  Her rash is all over her stomach, sides, and arms.  I just don't know. 

The only thing I can think of is last night she had some onions in dinner, and she did eat her goldfish (the ones with onion powder) before we read the label today.  She was also outside playing almost all day long. She was playing just in the gravel and in the garage though so I mean what could it be?!  Did she really eat that many gold fish? Would it make a difference that she spilled half of them on herself in the car? Is it something outside, too? It wouldn't take that long just from dinner last night, would it??

This is such a confusing, weird, overwhelming issue.  It's finally at the tip of my fingers what could be causing all of these rashes and making my daughter itch, and it's something that can be in my control, but I just can't figure it out and this is just so frustrating.