Going round in circles please advise

[p123]

i AM SO CROSS I NEED A RANT:

We have a two year old with Peanut and egg allergies and i feel like i am going round in circles every day.

We have a 5 page list of foods/ingredients to avoid and are sticking to it but its becoming a nightmare,i am snowed under with paper work as i am getting as many companies as i can to tell us which of their foods do not contain any thing on this massive list and is vegetarian.

The post and emails from comapanies are coming in every day and although we need the information its a full time job sorting it out.

On top of this she is still reacting (spots all around her mouth after eating most meals)But my husband says this isn't a reaction so we shouldn't be giving her piriton for it.

Also 5 times in the last two weeks she has had a bad reaction (hives and swelling)

She is now worried about what she eats and will only 'happily ' eat most fruit veg and yog.

We have to take her seriously when she refuses the foods in case she is feeling a reaction beging that we can't yet see.

My mum is the only person who we have to look after her so we get a break but she worries about everything and doesn't seem to gage the seriousness of it and we are ending up arguing.

last weekend i went to get something from the cupboard under the stairs .where everything that hasn't got a home lives and found a Huge open bag of peanuts (that someone must have given us to feed birds in the garden with a long time ago) that we had forgotton about and they we all over the cupboard.so we had two spend to days decontaminating eveything that was in there.

We thought we had made the whole house free of her alergens.

Then yesterday she had a bad reaction after eating mushroom pate ( so as i had made lunch hurriedly i had to decontaminate the kitchen as i couldn't be sure what it had touched)

Every piece of advice we have been given regarding the allergies has been contridicted by someone or something else and i am at the end of my tether.

I constantly stressed and this is causing arguments at home.

We felt it may be a good idea to get away for a few days no i am worring about what we sould clean in case of cross contamination (we are self catering when we get there.

Help.....................................................................

bumping, sorry I can't help though

hi p123 im sorry i not know much about allergies apart from wheat and gluten as my dd is coeliac xx if i was you i would speak to a dietitian at your local hopital that where i get all my medical info from huni x sorry i cant be more help let me know how you get on xxx

Yes we have spoken to the dietican who was usless we knew more than she did about the subject.

have you tried keeping a food diary? and also noting down when she has reactions?

you may see a pattern

what tests has she had done?

what it sounds like to me (possibly) is that there's an allergen that you haven't figured out yet - it may be making her more allergic to everything.

I know this sounds odd but until we had figured out all dd's allergies, I honestly thought she'd never be able to eat a meal because she appeared to react to everything but I think it was only because we hadn't precisely figured out what she was allergic to so something innocuous, like peas, would set off a mild reaction even though she wasn't truly allergic to them (and once we'd cut out the problem food, she was fine with them iyswim).

Yes we are keeping a diary of when she reacts etc

she has only had skinpricks tests done so far.

I think you are right but its a nightmare not knowing.

How do you deal with the endless paper work.

Cooking everything from scratch etc on a daily basis?

What about holidays?

I am constantly chasing my tail and the stress is making my own allergies and health problems worse.

get her to have the blood tests (RAST).

I must admit, I was quite lax on the paper work front. We only had dairy, soya and egg to deal with but basically, for a couple of years, I just cooked stews and meat and 2 veg type meals. Fruit for pudding and that was that. Actually, it made my job easier in many ways.

Can you do stews? Just bung some meat in a casserole dish and fill it up with veg that she likes. Shove in the oven with some stock (or just plain water if you've used flavoursome veg) and it will cook itself in a couple of hours. You can serve with rice or potatoes.

Or lamb chops/pork chops. Steak.

Anything where you can just cook meat on its own and then serve with veg and rice/potatoes/pasta.

Also, pasta dishes with tomato sauces (add bacon for protein). That sort of thing.

It means that both children still, to this day, will eat vast quantities of fruit and veg!

It is very tiresome, I know, but once you get used to cooking everything fresh, you do get used to it.

Also, with the stews, you can cook big batches and freeze them and then defrost as necessary.

All good advice except that we are vegetarian!I need to relax a bit more and let the shock sink in a bit i think.
Its so scary seeing her in anapahalactic shock .
We are getting as much info as we can.

oh sorry! yes, that is true - it is a TERRIBLE shock. Awful, awful and really does take some time to get used to.

Whereabouts are you in the country?

we are in the south west

Just realised the time i need to go and find something safe for my dinner now!!!!!

ah, I don't know any of the consultants down that way (we are in London).

It does sound like she needs further tests though .

how are you getting protein into her? oh, you can have dairy can't you.....

has she been tested for soya? It's in a lot of foods. Good advice about the food diary.

I don't bother with any paperwork - waste of time as it could all change next week. We cook from scratch a lot and have a lot of pasta/ meat and two veg. As you're vegetarian perhaps a lot of rice and pasta with lentils and beans. Baked beans on toast are healthy, quick and easy. Baked potato with cheese is another favourite standby. For prepared food I read labels reliously. Makes shopping trips a lot longer but as your child gets older she will get better at it than you . Hopefully she'll outgrow at least the egg allergy. I shop at Sainsbury's whenever I can as they have a better range of food without nuts.

If you're self catering I'd wash any cutlery and cooking utensils/ saucepans and wipe over any surface you'd use to prepare food. We take our own food on planes and always ask the airline not to serve nuts on the flight. We take all the epipens we have, with a doctor's letter saying we need them.

Very hard to be veggie with nut and egg allergy. The anaphylaxis campaign are invaluable when you're newly diagnosed and petrified. The parents of older chidlren are so much more relaxed about it and just seeing their children are still alive is a comfort .

Thank you tatt.i think we have spoken befor.I can't sleep hence the time. i think what you say about food list are ture really as i say i am just chasing my tail.BUT we do need them as * is only just 2 we do need to keep intorducing her to whatever safe food we can find.

Soya not yet!

I feel for you I really do - but think you should consider giving her meat. Both for the nutritional content as well as providing a quick and easy base for a meal. I'm not sure of your reasons for being veggie - but I think that you should put your daughter's health ahead of animals - at least until she is more stable.

Also half a zyrtec tablet every day could help prevent some of these reactions.

As for your holiday - I always take my own frying pan, spatula and chopping board.

It does get better honest.

It's quite a bit of work having a child with nut allergy (label reading/ cooking more from scratch) and being veggie makes it a lot tougher. If you would consider meat for your child it would be easier to ensure a balanced diet. I'd forgotten a lot of pasta has egg in . Just checked my gluten free Sainsburys pasta and that doesn't mention it.

Do you like quinoa? That's supposed to be a superfood and you can mix it with any veggies you like or serve for breakfast with dried fruit in it.

here's a chocolate cake recipe allrecipes.com/Recipe/Egg-Free-Dairy-Free-Nut-Free-Cake/Detail.aspx

There are plenty of websites you can search like this one www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/advanced_search.shtml

oops - forgot to say antihistamines are not recommended when you have a child with nut allergy. Can mask the early symptoms and suddenly you have a crisis.

I mean regular antihistamine, of course. It can help with a minor reaction in an emergency.

Hi P123

Hope things seems better today, I found a leaflet a health magazine for an allergy show in London, don't know if you can go, but for what its worth you can book online and get a discount about £6 per adult, The allergy show . I'll bump this again if you don't get it straight away.

good luck!

Ds took half a zyrtec daily from 1 year to 2.5 years as part of a trial to see if it prevented asthma. Never got told about the nut thing.

Hi i do feel better today.Yes we are going to the allergy show.We are giong away for a few days (no PC ,No Post,no emails etc!).
We are just going to relax and try to get our heads around this in our own way and work out a action plan .Thanks for every bodies help and concern

anaohylaxis campaign memebers are often sent free tickets to the allergy show - although its probably too late to get them if you join now.

Yes we have the free tickets thanks