Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Information – Blog

I have wondered how much help a naturopath would be in reducing the severity of allergies. I have been hearing a lot of stories lately from people who ask me about our children’s allergies. “They” all have friends who had ‘allergies’ and eczema, and after seeing a naturopath they were eventually allergy-free. I am somewhat skeptical.

If there was a cure for this, why are there so many millions of people still afflicted? Why don’t Doctors and Specialists refer us to these professionals to help us? Has is it been kept a secret so the pharmaceutical companies and doctors don’t lose out on all the profits from us constantly needing medications and treatments after a reaction?

What about before the fact? Has anyone had any success with an alternative approach to allergy prevention rather than medical treatment……that honestly works?

I never quite know what to expect when we go for allergy testing. With each skin prick butterflies raced in my tummy. With each skin prick Declan winced and Bianca cried. We filled the few result-waiting minutes with questions about school, upcoming medical breakthroughs and dealing with the children’s anxieties. We had hoped that these questions would be answered. Unfortunately we did not get any useful information to answer any of the questions we had. This seems to happen every time we go to this particular doctor. We would like to try another specialist and hope that we can be enlightened, and get help to go along with the results, not just the results.

Speaking of the results, they are as follows.

Declan
Dairy: 4. Last year: 12 (if it went that far) official recording 4+.
Egg: 3. Last Year: 1
Peanut: 2. Last Year: 3
Goat milk: 1. Last year: 4
Strawberry: 0

He did not retest the environmental allergies saying that exposure to those are imminent anyway. Last year he had dust (4), dog (1) and grass (2).

We were upset that his egg allergy has increased. Even though the dairy response is a 4, it is a lot more encouraging than the result from last year. He is still regarded as having anaphylaxis, and we must maintain the same level of vigilance that we have become accustomed to, and treat egg with the same respect aswell. Actually we always did. We didn’t want him exposed, to give his body a chance to desensitise itself to the egg protein. The doctor still thinks he has a good chance of out-growing the milk allergy, even though it is so severe. We always cross our fingers and hope for the best!

Bianca
Dairy: 1. Last year: 2
Fish: 1. Last year: 1
Strawberry: 0 Last year: 1

We were thrilled with these results. They are heading in the right direction. Thankfully, as she is a lot harder to convince to stay away from certain foods and drinks.

Our minds wander to those foods that the kids have not been exposed to yet. What will their response be to those?

Today I am filled with nervous excitement, for tomorrow the kids have their yearly allergy tests. I still dream of a reduction in their allergic responses, every time they have a test. This year Declan is saying that he doesn’t want to go, because he remembers his arm getting itchy. We have explained the importance of the tests, but to a four year old….who cares, his arm gets itchy! He does remember that it doesn’t hurt, so that is a good start. We can get around the itchy thing, but if it hurt like a needle, forget it! Bianca doesn’t remember her last test.

To all those who are also going for allergy tests tomorrow, our thought and best wishes are with you.

Fingers crossed for good news in my next entry.