Allergy Update

The kids had their yearly allergy testing a few weeks ago so I'm doing my update to see what changes occur throughout the years.

Both kids are allergic to pretty much everything in the environment and animals. For whatever reason, their immune systems are on overdrive. 

Elizabeth continues to be allergic to peanuts, sunflower seeds, and hazelnuts. 

Nathan's had a rough year allergy wise. He missed 5 days of school last year due to sickness, and we were thinking his sickness had to do with allergies but we couldn't figure out what since we were avoiding everything we knew he was allergic to. He seemed convinced bananas and pumpkin were a problem. We spent a few weeks keeping track of what he ate and sure enough, whenever he ate one of those two foods, he would have gastrointestinal problems. No hives or anything anaphylaxis related.

He's also had a rough time saying that when he eats certain foods, his mouth and tongue itch.

Now, Jeremy has a condition called Oral Allergy Syndrome. It means he is allergic to the pollen that is in or on the food somehow. He got to the point where we couldn't eat most fresh fruits and vegetables. The allergist had him do allergy shots and it has really helped him. He seems to be able to eat more of the fresh fruits and vegetables.

 This may be something Nathan has to do someday but the shots are painful and he would have to go 2 times per week and miss a lot of school to do the shots. Apparently, this condition runs in the family as Jeremy and his grandpa and an uncle all have this. 

So, on to Nathan's allergies. 

He continues to be severely allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, and kiwi. These will cause hives or anaphylaxis. 

This year, we discovered that he is intolerant or has a mild allergy to banana, pumpkin, zucchini and probably all the squash family. He used to be able to eat all these foods fine, but now gets terrible stomach cramps and other issues when he eats them. 

He says he has oral allergy syndrome now and will not eat the following fresh foods because they make his mouth itch: Carrots, peas, grapes, peaches, nectarines, pears, cantaloupe, watermelon, plums, tomatoes, 

We are running out of things to feed him. His immune system seems to be getting worse as he gets older which is opposite of what traditional allergy issues are supposed to do. 

 Banana was a really hard one to take. Bananas are such an easy, clean snack and I always used to make banana bread. We also used to make him smoothies all the time with banana. Pumpkins seeds are another hard one to take. He used to eat these all the time for protein since his protein sources are so, so limited. I also used to make pumpkin bread and zucchini bread and he loved them. More foods he cannot eat. 

It's getting to the point where the only food groups he will have left to eat are meat and breads/pasta and some cooked vegetables. 

This was the first allergist appointment I didn't cry when we got home. I think it's because before I always had hope that someday the allergies would get better and every year I was devastated when I found out that things were never better. Sometime over the last year, I've given up all hope that things will ever change or improve. Things just keep getting worse. I guess giving up that hope makes it easier to deal with. I've just accepted that things will always be very hard.