You may remember, back in April around Micah’s first birthday, how we had an ugly run-in with a very small amount of peanut butter. I brought it up at his one year appointment and we were referred to an allergist. It took a few months to get an appointment with Dr. Krause, but in my opinion, it was well worth the wait. She is a great doctor. I have to give her kudos for being so patient with my son, who turns into a real tool when you try to listen to his heartbeat or look in his ears. (No offense, Micah.)

Within minutes of ingesting a tiny amount of peanut butter, Micah's face was covered in hives and his nose was running constantly.

The appointment consisted mainly of questions pertaining to all the allergy-related symptoms he’s ever had – and their surrounding circumstances. I listed off the foods he’s eaten (almost everything) and the different kinds of reactions we’ve seen (itchy eyes, itchy nose, runny nose, watery eyes, hives, diarrhea, eczema, etc.) I knew he was allergic to peanuts, and I knew he was allergic to something else as well, but that something else I could not figure out on my own.

Within a few hours, the rest of his body was covered in hives, and he was scratching himself and sobbing miserably until the Benadryl kicked in.

After the interview, we were sent to the lab to get a blood sample for testing. He is not old enough for a skin prick test. The blood draw was awful for us both. I had to hold him down, which was really hard because he is so strong. He sat on my lap and I wrapped my arms and legs around his body. When they brought out the needle, I had to turn my head because I’m terrible with that kind of stuff. I felt him jerk when they inserted the needle, and I squeezed harder so he wouldn’t hurt himself while the needle was in… and then I started crying.

The test that Micah received is called a RAST test. The blood test measures the body’s concentration of antibodies against specific allergens.  The results are then divided into six classes, “1″ being the lowest. (“0″ means antibodies are absent or are undetectable.) A couple days ago, we got the results from the blood work. Ironically, Dr. Krause called me while I was standing in the baking aisle at Walmart, doing my grocery shopping. A few minutes into the call, I realized that nearly everything in my cart, short of produce, was potentially harmful to Micah. I bought it anyway, considering Walmart doesn’t even sell the types of allergy-free foods I need. I planned to feed him whole foods until I could figure out substitutions for the list of things he can’t have.

For peanuts, Micah tested at  57 kU/L, which is on the lower end of class 5 and indicates very high levels of antibodies. He also tested positive for:

• Beef (Class 1) – He eats beef all the time.
• Green Peas (Class 2) – Another popular food at our house.
• Egg White (Class 3) - He used to eat these – then he started refusing them. Perhaps he knew something we didn’t?
• Milk (Class 2) – Also refuses. Only wants mom’s milk!
• Soybean (Class 3) – This one surprised me, but may explain the random hives we couldn’t figure out.
• Sesame Seed (Class 1) - Not aware that he’s even eaten Sesame seeds…
• Dog (Class 3) - Both of our parents own dogs – which Micah visits every week at least!
• Goose Feather (Class 1) - Thank goodness we got rid of our pet goose (just kidding.)

His combination of allergies presents quite a few obstacles, therefore we are going to be visiting a pediatric nutritionist this month. One huge positive in all of this is that I am still nursing. (Yay for extended breastfeeding!) If I were not, I’d probably have to go out and get a job just to pay for the extremely expensive toddler formula that Micah would need to keep from becoming malnourished. After all, he can’t receive calcium from milk or any other dairy products like yogurt and cheese.  Without beef, he’d be at risk for an iron deficiency. Soy usually replaces both milk and beef, and he can’t have that either. Anyone who thinks it’s weird that I’m still nursing this kid full time (not exclusively, obviously) when he’s two years old can stick their opinions up their you-know-what, because I’m not paying hundreds for fake milk.

Needless to say, I’ve been researching all about ways to prepare certain foods without the offending ingredients. The hardest one to go without may be eggs, since it’s a popular ingredient in many foods like bread or cake.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about allergies since we received Micah’s test results. For example, my husband didn’t understand why it was so important to avoid the Class 1 allergens, especially if the only symptom was sneezing, for example. The answer to that is small children like Micah have a chance to outgrow food allergies, but you reduce those chances by exposure, which can make the allergy worse. You don’t get rid of allergies by exposing yourself to them – you get rid of them by avoiding them altogether. According to the literature that the Allergist gave me, “approximately one-third of children and adults will eventually be free of their allergic reactions to foods after rigorously following appropriate diets free of the offending food allergens.” [Emphasis added]. So… I’m not being fanatical about reading labels because I’m worried about Micah suffering from a full blown, life threatening allergic reaction, even though that is a very real possibility for his peanut allergy. Rather, I’m being so strict because I want Micah to have the best chance of outgrowing these allergies. I don’t want him to go through life reading every label, never getting to eat ice cream or birthday cake at parties, never getting to eat a real cheeseburger, taking his epi-pen to restaurants, or having to bring his own food to every family function to be safe. That is the life that some people live, but I don’t want that for Micah.

The second question is: how do you get allergies? Well, primarily you get them from your parents. But you can also get them from excessive early exposure. With the peanuts, I blame my diet during pregnancy. I was a peanut butter fanatic during my pregnancy and even during my early months as a mom while nursing. I love peanut butter and I ate a lot of it.  It’s very possible that I played a part in Micah developing a severe peanut allergy. I also have allergies myself. I am allergic to penicillin, cats, and dogs to name a few. I am not aware of any food allergies, but then again, there does not go a day when I don’t sneeze excessively or start itching on my hands, ears, eyes or mouth, and I don’t know what caused it. It’s possible I’m suffering needlessly…. maybe some of my symptoms will go away once we eliminate these things from our house and then I’ll know!

We are coping the best we can. Today, I made a batch of wheat crackers from scratch so I could be sure there were no peanuts or soy products in them. They actually turned out great and Micah kept asking for more throughout the day. I also found a recipe for bread that does not include milk or eggs, and I hope to try that soon. We’ll switch up our menu and eat things like turkey burgers (without the cheese) on homemade buns instead of cheeseburgers. I’ll start buying rice milk instead of regular cow’s milk. I’ll also start shopping in the allergy-free aisle at Woodman’s, even though the store is 30 minutes from my house. I want to focus on what he can eat, not what he can’t. There are tons of fruits, vegetables, meats and grains that he can eat. It’s the preparation of these foods we’ll have to change the most.