How we got here

I'm assuming those who will read this blog, at first, will be people we personally know, who thus know our story (or at least are familiar with it). To those people I say: sorry for the repetition. But to those of you who find us randomly, or join us later, here is the background info.

We are a family of four, dealing with multiple food allergies in me and at least one of our two young children. My name is Nessa. I've been married to Dave for 4 years this past May. Our older daughter is Lily. She turned three at the end of April. She is our reason for our allergy journey. Our younger daughter is Aevryn. She just turned one at the end of May. The jury is still out on her, though she has already shown some reactions to the same foods with which Lily and I have issues.

In a nutshell: Lily was an intense baby (and is subsequently an intense kid. Very.). We actually assumed there were allergy issues as early as one week old. The symptoms were: projectile vomiting; constant nursing; gas; horrible poops. I went off dairy for 3 months. I did not see an appreciable difference, so I went back on gradually. Things seemed to be going okay, so we decided she must have "outgrown" it. Starting when she was roughly 20 months old, and encompassing a two month period, she got hit with a barrage of illnesses including: a mysterious rash and eczema; croup and lingering chest cold; mysterious persistently high fever; constant night terrors; mysterious rash around her mouth after eating certain foods. Remarkably (and not in a good way) the eczema, to this day a year and a half later, has not gone away.

After much trial and error (and doctor's visits and blood tests as well as hours upon hours upon hours talking to other moms online and combing medical journals and articles) we have come to this place of food avoidance. We've been diary-free since May 15, 2007, after a particularly bad week of tantrums, night terrors, screaming and bloody full-body eczema. We've been garlic-, pinto- & navybean-, poppyseed- and turmeric-free since a blood test identified those as problem foods for Lily in July 2007. We've been additionally soy-, corn-, gluten- (including wheat, barley, rye, spelt and non-GF oats), peanut-, legume-, and seed-free since October 31, 2007 (after a particularly upsetting and all around tear-filled week). We have been tree nut-free for several years now, since my random cashew allergy escalated after Lily's birth.

We were also at times fish-, shellfish-, ginger-, onion-, potato-, egg-, tomato-, and pepper-, coffee, coconut-, canola-, banana-, avocado-, and chocolate-free, but have since successfully added them back. I'm a mite worried about the chocolate, but I've yet to pinpoint a reaction.

We have tried the Body Ecology Diet with moderate success. I believe if we had been able to keep at it for more than 3 weeks, we would have seen a great deal of healing. I loved the information in the book and think there is great wisdom in detoxification, especially when you are presented with symptoms that tell you your body isn't handling things well. As with any diet or medical regime, I think it's best to do your own research and figure out how things fit into your life and your belief system. From this book, we learned about food combining. Breakfast is the hardest for us to "properly" combine. However, we do well with lunch and dinner. Rarely do we have protein, grains, or starchy veggies in combination with each other. (The exception is my potato-kale quiche which I have renamed "Best Quiche Ever".)

I am for sure reactive to: cashews, pistachios & mangoes (severe hives on my hands and face); sunflower and sesame seeds (less severe hives on my arms); dairy and soy (severe digestive issues).

Lily is for sure reactive to: diary and soy (eczema worsens/spreads; night terrors; bed wetting; tantrums; digestive issues); green peas (eczema worsens/spreads); raw tomatoes, strawberries, citrus (hives/"mystery rash" on arms and face); dogs & cats (hives on arms; severe worsening of eczema). We're also pretty sure she is having issues with corn slipping into our supplements and other places (darn you xylitol!). We are almost back to a baseline after the terrible waiter incident from 16 days ago, so it will be interesting to see where we go from there.

Aevryn is for sure reactive to green peas, soy and diary (super gassy; mucous in stools; CRANKY; restless/interrupted sleep).

And then there's Dave. Poor Dave is just along for the ride. He may or may not have mild wheat issues. But, he still consumes whatever he wants when outside the house. Additionally, we do stock yogurt, granola, cereal, almond milk, wheat bread, cheese and lunch meat in the house for him. I'm not an ogre. Heh.

So that's us and our story so far.

Sometime in the next few months, I'm hoping to get Lily in to see a local Traditional Chinese Medicine practicioner who specializes in children and allergies. I've heard good things about him from several, unrelated sources. I would also like to get us established with a chiropractor, but there are only so many dollars in a pay period...

Inaugural Post

Hi! Welcome!

I've been putting it off and putting off, but no longer. Here is the beginnings of an allergy-friendly recipe blog that I've been pondering for almost a year. After the countless, "but... what do you EAT?" responses when people hear of our "allergy situation" as I've dubbed it, I thought I'd start keeping track of the deliciousness that I lovingly prepare from scratch. Daily. For every meal and snack. It's an endless job, but also very rewarding. (And tasty.)

Yes, I do miss cheese. And ice cream. And bread. But, I *don't* miss constant stomach pain, heartburn and gas. Nor do I miss the gross poops and the hellacious gas my children used to have. And neither the full body eczema nor the constant night terrors in my older daughter. We're still pinpointing a few things here and there - corn is exceedingly hard to avoid; gluten cross-contamination is everywhere; restaurant servers like to lie to you about food ingredients (yes, this really happened) - but all in all, we're in a pretty good place, especially compared to where we were even six months ago.

In addition to avoiding personally "reactive" foods and other "potentially reactive" foods, we are on a daily supplement regiment to help our bodies digest our food better and to help heal our gut (more on that in a coming post). All of us (Lily, Aevryn & I) take daily dairy-free probiotics and cod liver oil (not as gross as it sounds; ours is mint flavored). Lily takes an allergy-free children's multivitamin. I take daily allergy-friendly Calcium/Magnesium/Zinc and B-complex 100 vitamins. Lily & I try to take digestive enzymes with every meal that contains proteins or grains.

As the months wear on, I'm starting to see evidence of better nutrient absorption and better gut conditions. I'm hoping to go off of vitamins this fall, preferring to get all of our vitamins and minerals directly from our food. We've been digestive enzyme-free for a week now and I'm considering going back on, but I'm still waiting and seeing. We've been eating a lot of raw and/or fermented foods lately, so I think that's been helping. I feel like we'll be on priobiotics and fish oil for a long time to come, but I think it's worth it for improved health.