Multiple food allergies and

Multiple food allergies and asthma

"Doctor? Hi, it's Carmen again. Listen, he's still not breathing well, and his lips are turning blue. I don't feel good about this."
"Meet me in the ER, as soon as you can get there."

Again. The same scenario was playing out, for the fifth or sixth or ninth time. A few days before, Gabriel had started with a cough, and it quickly progressed to a more frequent cough. He stopped playing, and napped more frequently. He was only 18 months, what could be wrong with him?

We met the doctor in the Emergency Room, and an examination ended with the diagnosis I had anticipated and feared - asthma. We were trying to avoid the official diagnosis, for insurance reasons, but it couldn't be avoided any longer. We were sent home with a prescription for steroids, and a referral for Home Health to visit and bring us a nebulizer. I quickly became familiar with the in's and out's of the machine. Gabe was on inhaled steroids twice a day, and for a while, life was almost the same. He learned to put on his own mask, and he quickly adapted to sitting still and breathing the medicine, often falling asleep to the sound. There were some small flares, but we could easily handle those. There were some late nights, giving breathing treatments every four hours. I set my alarm, in order to keep his breathing as easy as possible. The machine was often next to the computer, and I used the time to surf the Internet. I read all that I could about asthma - from easy, friendly conversation, to medical journals. What I couldn't understand, I was determined to learn. I discovered that many asthmatics had food allergies that exascerbated the breathing difficulties. But, certainly, this wasn't our life. Gabriel ate everything, and after all, we had no food allergies in our families. Surely, this wasn't relevant to us.

And then, it happened again. I found my son, sitting on his bed one day. He was over two at this point, close to three. "Mommy, my tummy hurts." He pointed to his chest, and even without the stethoscope I could hear his wheezing. Lifting his shirt, I saw his ribs retracting - the skin sinking in between them. He was struggling for breath, his nostrils were flaring. All classic signs of a serious asthma attack. My heart sank. Why? What was wrong?

Another late night visit to the Emergency room. This time, it took more medication than ever before, and I could see that the doctor was puzzled. I broached the subject of allergy testing. At first, my pediatrician was reluctant, but I pressed. Three months later, we had our answers.

After an extensive interview, the allergist began the skin test. She assured me that the scratch testing, so called because the test involves tiny scratches on the back, where small amounts of the allergen are introduced, was not painful. Unless there was a reaction. Within a minute of the application, Gabriel began to scream. And scream. I glanced at his back, and froze. The area was a mass of huge, fist-sized welts, running into each other. There were five on one side of his back, and there was no separation. I called for the nurse, trying not to let the panic reach my son's ears. She sauntered in, asking, "What's the big deal? Is he reacti - Oh MY GOD! Look at his back!" She grabbed him, adminstered some benadryl, and began to wash his back. She rubbed cream on it, and said "We'll know in two minutes if we need to inject him." INJECT HIM?? It was the longest two minutes of my life.

He had reacted badly to walnuts, cashews, pecans, coconut, and moderately to peanut. In the environmental category, he was off the chart for cat dander, and a low reading for dog. I was floored. How could he be allergic to all of this? The allergist explained that since I was allergic to a few medications, that made it more likely for my children to be allergic to either foods or medications. She counseled me to scrupously avoid all of the allergens, and I told her, "Well, we just won't eat any nuts. No big deal." Not quite so easy. He was so sensitive that he had to avoid trace proteins, and those are everywhere. He was classified as a severe asthmatic, with life threatening class 5 food allergies. She sent me home with an armload of paperwork, the website for the Food Allergy Initiative, and injectable epinephrine. I was petrified. No peanut butter, (with five kids at the time, this was a staple), no baked goods at all unless I prepared them, no candies. No M&M's, no food that could have any trace of contamination.

I spent hours and hours on the Internet. Thank God for the Internet. With it, I joined mailing lists and discussion groups of other parents of food allergic children. The amount of information was astounding. I learned that Hershey is the only company to have a dedicated line, just for the processing of the milk chocolate bars, with no chance of nut contamination. I learned that some Slurpees contain coconut oil. I learned that the toothpaste I was using to brush my son's teeth had coconut, as did his shampoo and soap. I learned that there are very few companies that care about food allergies. Many companies use the same lines to create nut candies or cookies, don't wash the equipment, and then make nut free goods. Even candies and cookies without nuts in them were off limits. My son was sensitive enough to nut proteins that a cookie, baked on a sheet that had held pecan cookies before, caused him to swell up and need emergency medication. I learned that the vast majority of states do not allow paramedics to adminster life saving epi pens to an individual in distress. I learned exactly how to inject my son with the epinephrine. I practiced on his cute, dimpled thigh with the trainer, hoping and praying to never have to actually use the needle on him. I packed an emergency bag, with benadryl and two epi pens in it, and took it with me any time I left the house. We bought him a medic alert bracelet, and put cards with his medical information in the car and house. Since the asthma and food allergies go hand in hand, I bought the HEPA filters for the house, and the HEPA vacuum, and put myself on a daily dusting schedule.

The first months I lived in fear, dreading every bite that he took. Would it be contaminated? Would he react? Slowly, I grew accustomed to reading labels and policing every bite that he ate. We found substitutes for his favorite - soy butter for peanut butter, Shredded Oat cereal for Frosted Mini Wheats, Colgate toothpaste for Tom's of Maine. It's been an adjustment, one that has been hard on all of us, especially Gabriel. But it's been worth it - his asthma is under control. If it will save his life, I'm willing to read labels and ask questions until I'm satisfied.