Olivia was six months old when we first realized she had some allergies. Only twenty minutes after ingesting some baby food, she was struggling to breathe and we made a scary dash to the E.R. Six months later she went into anaphylactic shock and completely stopped breathing while we were out running errands. I injected an epi pen into her leg and it saved her life.
After taking her to an allergy specialist, a little more than a year ago, we found out that Olivia is severely allergic to casein, whey, eggs, and peanuts. As discouraging as it was to find this information out, I was grateful for an answer to so many medical issues that Olivia had been experiencing up until that point, including: eczema, asthma, vomiting, and of course, anaphylactic shock.
Visiting with the allergist was informative and hopeful. His advice to us was, "Live without, and she has a chance to outgrow these" and he handed me the list of ingredient names that she cannot have.
As you can imagine, this has been a challenge. Casein, eggs, and whey are in a lot of things, including breads, cereals, crackers, and a lot of other common foods that we use to have in our home. Grocery lists and menu planning now take a lot more forethought. Outings to parties and dinners, nursery, and traveling is much more difficult than it used to be. I never feel like I can sway my attention to much when we are out, because there is always a chance that she will find something on the floor or that someone will offer her food that she can't have.
I'm grateful for trials, because they humble us and they make us more sensitive and in tune to other people and their trials, but I still pray every day that Olivia will outgrow her allergies. The doctor says that if we are strict in her diet at not exposing her to any traces of her allergens that she may outgrow them. So, we are hopeful. The blessing of this is, that we live in a day and age, where blood tests can tell us a lot about a person. And thanks to this allergest in Washington and Olivia's new diet, she no longer has a hard time breathing, nor does she have the crazy excema that she used to when she was a baby. The other blessing is, that since going on the same diet as Olivia, I have also stopped having asthmatic sytems. I still take my inhaler occasionally, but my asthma is so much better.
As hard as it is, I think living without has been well worth it for all involved parties.
For those of you my friends who struggle with similar trials, my heart goes out to you. You know who you are. :)
Great articles to read more on the subject of food allergies:
-My friend, who has Celiac desease recently sent me
this great article on asthma and food allergies.
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This, is why I am living without too.
On a more happy note I got two cavities filled today:
Say CHEESE!!!
