Feb 14 2008
We found a new allergy today
As you all know, Em’s food allergy list has been cut in half in the last year. WOOOO FREAKING HOOOOOO!!!! BUT… today, we found something we’d never experienced before.
As you know. Today was Valentines day. So I thought I’d do something special for us (even though we don’t NEED that crap) and I got a cookie decorating kit… it had 4 cookies, with some hearts and sprinkles and frosting to decorate with. We all decorated our cookies and then we had the 1 left over… so we threw some icing and sprinkles on it and we split it into thirds and ate it.
Everything was fine for about 20 minutes. In that time I noticed her eczema was flaring and before we knew it, she was LOSING HER MIND. An emotional outburst I’ve never seen in my life, followed by uncontrollable sobbing. Crying so hard that she couldn’t control her breathing. At first in the infantile stages, I thought it was a temper tantrum, but it didn’t take me long to realize this was much more than that.
Hubby and I started scouring the ingredients label trying to figure out WHAT THE HELL was going wrong. The only thing we could find that she’s not had before (even though she’s had this before) was Red Dye. She’s had red dye before, but never this heavily concentrated. I’m not kidding when I say our kiddo freaked the hell out! I gave her a half dose of benadryl and within 20 minutes she was her old self.
So… from this day forward, it is on the do not feed list. I’m not rushing her back to the allergist… because bless Em’s heart… she’s a trooper, but her annual testing sucks the life out her and I both. I refuse to submit her to that hell more than once a year. So… we’ll avoid it till next go round and then we’ll test for it.
I just really thought we were on an upward trend. I’ve read though, it’s not uncommon for allergic kiddos to take some steps backwards through their journey. It’s not like that crap is any good for us anyway! If we could just trade that for the carrot allergy… that would be cool.
I learned from a dear friend that the “Red-Dye 40″ can cause significant reactions in children. My twin sister, mother of 3 boys, was struggling with her boys spazzing out and when I shared it with her and she eliminated that, it helped.
I’m glad it was something easily recognized and remedied, for all your sake.
I found you on the blissfully domestic site.
I just wanted you to know my daughter is 7 and we keep finding things that upset her. Currently it’s just Peanuts, Soy and dyes. I try very hard to not give her any kind of dyes. I know there is a Benedryl that is Dye-free. I use that for my daughter. It really makes me sick to know some kids are being labled ADD only because their parents aren’t checking what they are giving their kids (red dyes). I am so glad you are so on top of things.
I guess I just wanted you to know…you are not alone in the “allergy” area of motherhood.
Keep up the Great Work as a mom!!!
Susan