Airborne allergies include dust, ragweed, mold, and German cockroaches (eew). We knew he had a high level of allergy to cats (since he breaks out into hives and his eyes swell shut), but it turns out he also has a mild allergy to dogs! We had to give our cats away, but he's never had a reaction to our dogs. So, for now, we're just going to take preventative measures. Brad is going to bathe the dogs much more often (or so he claims), and I'm going to vacuum and dust a lot more often. Almost daily. And we're trying to keep the dogs out of his room. I do hope we won't have to give them up. It was hard enough with the cats. We gave them to my mom, but really, where are we going to find someone willing to take in two pitbulls? Besides Brad, that is. He really wants them to stay together if it ever came to that.
Now on to food. He's also allergic to citrus, soy, egg yolks, peanuts, and garlic! There's garlic in everything, people. All jarred pasta sauces. All pepperoni and sausages. Did I tell you he loves pizza and spaghetti? I'm going to have to start making my own sauce. With all organic veggies. Organic tomatoes are pricey! As for the pepperoni and sausage, there's only a little garlic powder in them. I was reading about garlic allergies in the 'net, and apparently people who have severe allergies have pretty severe reactions. Jackson's never had any reactions in the 4 years he's been eating garlic, so I think we'll keep letting him have moderate amounts of pepperoni and sausage. I just won't cook with it or add it to his foods. He might even outgrow it that way. Here's hoping.
Oh, and the citrus thing. I usually buy V8 Fusion juices which I then water down at home. Obviously I can't buy the Mango Mandarin or Tropical Orange flavors anymore, but the Strawberry Banana has orange juice in it and the Acai Berry has lemon. I also buy Honest Kids Organic Juice pouches to send to school. Grape flavor. Guess what it has in it? Lemon juice. Honestly, why does there need to be citrus juice in everything???I did find these organic fruit/veggie juice blend juice boxes at The Sunflower Shoppe. It's pretty pricey, but eh. He's worth it, of course. I just wish these juice manufactures would work with me already!
So, anyway, President's Day was spent at the Botanical Gardens with some friends of ours!
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7 comments:
Man, that's rough! How does he react to all his allergies: rash, sneezes, cough? I guess this means you'll have to do a lot more cooking, huh? I mean to make your own spaghetti sauce (without garlic) and what not. Is he on medicine? Sydney's been on Zyrtec for awhile for her allergies. Her allergies aren't that severe. She just tends to cough at night.
Whew, I hope I didn't bombard you with a lot of questions?!
Poor little guy. Allergies are the worst!! Did they give him anything to help him out??
dawn
Wow, that's quite a few dietary changes. I'm so glad you were able to find out early on, though- to spare him those discomforts of not knowing. You'll have to start a whole website devoted to the foods you find to suit the new diet.
Wow. I'm glad you found out early on, though. I'm sure its going to be better for him, now that he knows what not to have. You'll have to start a website devoted to the acceptable foods you find.
I'm not a doctor, I just play one on the internet, but sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. In your situation, I'd remove what you can for now, and then add stuff slowly back in and see the effects.
Did they give you any estimates on how positively removing the 'allergens' would affect him?
Thanks for all your concerns!
Jackson does take Zyrtec for his seasonal allergies. He's been taking allergy meds since he was a toddler.
As for his food allergies, yes, we've taken him off all offending foods. We've (and our friends nearby) have seen all kinds of improvements on his behavior, eye contact, social interactions, etc., since changing up his diet.
There's a growing belief that diet plays a key role in the development of a person with autism. Foods with gluten and casein have a caused him to have a leaky gut. These proteins pass directly into his blood whole, instead of broken down. Then when they get to the brain, they act like a drug. So it's been like he's been in a fog and is starting to wake up, mentally.
I was skeptical at first, but I'm seen the results first hand.
Our DAN dr. says most of his autistic patients end up having all these food allergies. The first step of treatment is to change his diet and start him on antifungals to get rid of all the bad bacteria and yeast in his system. That's what we're working on now.
Next will be allergy treatments. I don't know too much about them yet, but our dr. is a trained allergist, so I trust him. He claims that some of his patients end up being able to eat all foods again, which would be quite a blessing.
After that we'll do chelation to remove all the toxins and heavy metals in his body. His hair sample test showed a large amount of arsenic and aluminum in his body! Plus some lead and tin and other things. But that won't happen yet. Chelation works by flushing the toxins out through the digestive system, so we have to fix his digestive system first.
Anyway, I guess this comment probably warrented a whole new post.
So, having a child with autism is not easy, of course. But I feel we're moving in a positive direction. It's also not cheap, but I don't need expensive jewelry or cars or trips to Europe.
Oh, and he's starting to learn to read! It's awesome! He's going to rock kindergarten next year!
Oh. That makes a ton more sense. For whatever reason I thought it was Noah with autism and not Jackson. I've reading a lot that diet can improve ADD too so that's good news. Especially if you can already see an improvement.
Carry on!
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