Maybe Kale is Our Only Option...

Vivi had some allergy testing done today. She's allergic to milk, (no surprise there) eggs, and peanuts.  

Eggs and milk are in everything.  This Mumma is going to need to brush up on her vegan baking skills...

I went to the pharmacy after her appointment and left with this:

A huge box filled with her monthly supply of formula, epi-pens, hydrocortisone ointment, and laxatives.  Seriously...wtf.  I could run a pharmacy out of my kitchen.  

On the bright side, she was also tested for allergies to almonds, casein (a dairy protein), soy, apples, sweet potatoes, and coconuts.  All of these were negative.  She'll at least be able to drink almond, soy, or coconut milk going forward.  And Maddie should probably get used to the idea of almond-butter and jelly sandwiches.  

I was dreading the testing, but it was pretty painless.  Vivi cried when anyone touched her, but that's because she's antisocial.  It was actually an interesting process.  

She had a skin test. (A percutaneous test if you want to be fancy.) The doctor asked a lot of questions before deciding what foods to test for.  These items were then applied to her back on a grid.  The nurse actually pricks the skin a bit to allow the allergen to enter the body, but it didn't seem to hurt Vivi at all.  

Then we waited fifteen minutes to see if any red circles appeared.  Every few seconds, I'd peak at her back, and was both relieved and annoyed to watch her skin turn red in three places.  On one hand, I wasn't crazy.  She really IS allergic to food.  On the other hand, she really IS allergic to food...

Before cleaning her up, they measured the diameter of the rash.  I assumed this was to estimate the severity of the allergy, but it actually indicates the likelihood that the child will outgrow it. 

The milk circle was very small, so that's a good indicator that she will outgrow it in the near future.  Hoo-Ray!  It's also likely that she will outgrow her allergy to eggs.  Double Hoo-Ray!  The diameter of the peanut drop was the largest, and the doctor told me that people do not usually outgrow peanut allergies.  Bummer.  

However, the doctor made it very clear that false positives are common.  Then, I went home and did some research and found that false positives occur fifty to sixty percent of the time!  Um, okay...I'd call that common. (Please don't quote me on this statistic.  The Internet is also fifty to sixty percent unreliable.) 

It's tricky because Vivi has never eaten eggs or peanuts, so there's no way to know if she would have a reaction to them.  And nobody is going to stick a peanut down her throat just to see what happens.  Obviously.  She could go into anaphylactic shock or she could sniffle once, but we avoid these foods just in case.  We may now be in possession of several epi pens, but it's my goal to never use them.  

I do believe she's truly allergic to eggs though.  I was suspicious of eggs early on when she was still nursing. Her symptoms always seemed worse after I indulged in my favorite Eggs Benedict.  Womp.  

To throw another wrench in the puzzle, these results don't explain any of the symptoms she's currently experiencing because she hasn't had any milk, eggs, or peanuts.  Maybe there are other foods she's allergic to, or maybe her symptoms have nothing to do with allergies.  We have a more detailed skin-care regimen to follow to see if her ezcema improves, and more testing may be done in the future.  

In the meantime, I'm going to go polish off the last of the Halloween candy less some peanuts find their way into baby hands.  It's a tough task, but I'll do it.  After all, I'm a mother.  

Seriously though, I have zero experience with allergies.  My family eats everything. So, if you have any tips, resources, or recipes to pass along, I would be grateful!  Leave a comment or email me. Maddiebearsmail@gmail.com.