Hi. I haven't been on MN for ages - just lots of RL stuff going on - but I thought you allergy experts might be able to help me...
I am currently in the US - spending 6 months here for work reasons - and my dds are with me. Since we've been here, dd1 (10) has had repeated instances of feeling sick at school. This must have happened about 8 times now since August. Most times she just feels queasy for a while, rests and then feels better. A couple of times she has actually thrown up (but just once, not repeatedly like she would with a tummy bug). And she also had one instance of bad diarrhoea, which may or may not have been related to the same thing... She is never ill at home. I think in her last year at school in the UK she missed one day all year, so 8 days in 4 months is A LOT.
I have been through all kinds of reasonings. Stress at being in a new place (possible, though she is loving it here and is very settled and happy)? Being exposed to new strains of bugs and things which she hasn't been exposed to at home (possible but dd2 has been fine)? Some sort of allergy triggered by different foods from at home?
I have now worked out that on at least 4 occasions (I can't remember the early ones - I wasn't really thinking about it when I didn't realise it was going to become a habit) she had eaten potatoes the night before. We eat a lot of pasta and rice, so it's not as if we're eating spuds 6 days a week. She seems also to be ok with thing like frozen oven chips (not that we eat them very often either...) but actual potatoey potatoes from the ground (!?!) seem to be the thing (IF it's potatoes at all... it does seem a bit unlikely).
I have googled 'potato allergy' and have found a few things, but most of the articles I found talked about hayfever type symptoms and/or swelling of lips or throat. They also seem not to distinguish between potatoes in different forms. I am half wondering if spuds over here are perhaps sprayed with something that she is reacting to (although I peel and wash them, so you'd think that would get rid of it)?
I have some Clarityn in the house, as she's also allergic to cats (hay-fever type symptoms in that case) so I keep it handy in case she goes to a friend's house where there are cats. I am thinking that if it's an allergy the antihistamine might help (though I have NO real experience with allergies and her cat allergy is pretty mild).
She called me from school today at about 10.00 feeling dreadful. It's now 11.20 and she's resting in bed (not like her at all, she's normally very active) but feeling a bit better. She feels 'funny' but doesn't think she's going to throw up.
Sorry this is so long. I don't know what to think. Does this sound like an allergy? Or shall I go back to putting it down to stress and hope that she's better once we get back to the UK?
Thanks...