This blog was created to share my journey and to provide hope for others going through their own struggles with food sensitivities and allergies. Throughout the last 6 years God has been right by my side and is the only reason I have gained the knowledge I have. He has used friends, co-workers, former patients, and even complete strangers to get His message to me, which is: this is a lifestyle change for my family and me, He has a plan for my life through this experience, and I am not alone in my struggles. Below is the beginning of my story.
June 2,
2013, I was tested for food allergies and sensitivities as a last resort to
symptoms I had been having for a few years that had become increasingly worse
over time. My food bloodwork came back showing multiple food allergies
and sensitivities. But to understand how we even got to this point of knowing
that food allergy testing was the direction we needed to go in, I must give you
some history.
As long
as I can remember, I have always had sensitivity to peanuts. Of course, I
LOVED peanut butter. I have fond memories of eating peanut butter and
jelly sandwiches as a kid. However, I also remember always battling fever
blisters. I applied topical creams. I swallowed Lysine tablets. I
also had prescription capsules when the fever blisters were really bad.
My dad has been cursed with the love of peanuts and fever blisters, also.
So I thought it was heredity and just something I would have to learn to
deal with all my life-just watch my peanut intake and if I ate too much, then
treat the fever blisters.
Then in
April 2008, my daughter, McKay was born. That is when Brian and my world
changed forever...especially when McKay had "colic" for the first 7
months of her life. I suspected something else was going on, as I was
breastfeeding (and supplementing with formula) and could tell a slight
difference in McKay's reaction to different things I ate and drank. I had
already cut out dairy and was drinking soy milk but that was not enough and I
didn't know what else to do. Brian and I had tried just about every
formula known to man and none of them gave McKay complete relief. Brian
and I took shifts every night for months, walking laps in our house with McKay
strapped into our front baby carrier with her leaning forward so pressure was
on her tummy. Until 6 months of age, we swaddled her so tight we thought
she'd pop (but she absolutely loved it). While swaddled, we would put a
homemade heated rice sock on McKay's abdomen while we rocked and bounced her
vigorously in the rocking chair with the white noise blasting from the
computer. This was our life. Happy baby during the day and a
screaming miserable baby at night. I just knew in my heart it wasn't
colic but the doctors would not listen to me and I was lost and felt defeated.
Thank God we had found our liquid gold in levsin drops (we affectionately
called "baby crack") when she was 3.5 months old. Brian and I
religiously gave McKay the "baby crack" every night to help ease her
pains and her screaming. By 7 months, we had found our solution in a
hypoallergenic baby formula as my breastmilk had dried up (due to undiagnosed
hypothyroidism). Within two days of giving her this new formula, most of
McKay's symptoms disappeared. Within a week she was a new child. It
was a miracle!! Then we began seeing problems when we introduced solid foods
into her little system at a later date.
When
McKay was 12 months old, we found the most wonderful doctor who began working
with us and I had a glimmer of hope. Around 18 months old McKay was
officially diagnosed with food sensitivities. Brian and I had been
introduced to a whole new world and it was more expensive, confusing and
mentally exhausting than we had anticipated. We managed, but never really
mastered it because one year later when McKay was retested many of her
sensitivities had changed and she could now eat things she had not been able to
eat before; however, at the same time, she could no longer eat many things she
had been allowed to eat a year earlier. Everything seemed topsy-turvy.
I was so confused and frustrated. Brian had all but lost what
little faith he had in this whole food sensitivity diagnosis and I was
beginning to doubt it, too. The dietary counselor from the lab had called
it Leaky Gut Syndrome. We were now expecting our son, Mason when we
received this news and it was quite overwhelming. I felt so alone and
lost. However, I trudged on and continued to follow the doctor's suggestions
for McKay's new diet while researching as much as I could on Leaky Gut Syndrome
and food sensitivities.
Then
Mason came along in December 2010 and quickly began showing some signs of food
sensitivities. Of-course, Mason's trigger foods were different from
McKay's. Mason was exclusively breastfed, so I changed my diet to attempt
to meet his needs. However, because we did not have him tested, it was
still difficult to tell what the true sensitivities were. (At the time,
McKay's doctor could not see Mason as a patient until he turned one year old).
So, we did the best we could from the knowledge we had gained through the
previous years with McKay.
Now
we move foreword to last June 2013, we needed to have McKay retested and have
Mason tested for the first time as we were having new symptoms from different
foods, once again. I was at my all time lowest in feeling the worst I had
ever felt in my life. I had just finished my first year as a
stay-at-home-mom and had homeschooled McKay in pre-K 4. I was exhausted,
napped at least two times a day, suffered daily headaches along with periodic
migraines. No energy to exercise outside of chasing my kiddos around.
My joints ached and were stiff and swollen and nothing I did changed it.
My fingers were so swollen I could no longer wear my wedding band. I
craved sugar like a wild animal and would accept it in any shape or form
whether it be in sweets, carbs, or fruits. I was so irritable and always
felt like I could never lose weight. I had been on weight watchers for 4
months and had lost no more than 5 lbs that I would yo-yo with and eventually
ended up gaining more than my original starting weight. (I had tried
Advocare the summer of 2012 and had felt some success in my symptoms.
However, I did not loose more that 7 lbs and I began to see the weight come
back on when I slowly re-introduced gluten and dairy after the 24-day challenge
ended. But within those 24 days, I had seen a different side of me.
I could wear my wedding band most days, I had tons of energy and was
enjoying exercising.)
In May of 2013, I had been tested for all sorts of illness (lyme disease, Mono, you name it,
they tested me for it). However, when my
test results from my PCP came back as 'normal," I truly felt like I had
hit a brick wall. After the kids food sensitivities results came back, I
told Brian I was going to go on the yeast-free diet with the kids and see if
that helped. That is when Brian suggested I have the food allergy test.
So my plan was to get tested ASAP, and in the meantime begin the
yeast-free diet with the kids, and wait for my results to come back in 2-3
weeks.
My results came back as having allergies to the following foods:
Beef
Chicken
Egg White
Cow's
Milk
Orange
Peanut
Soybean
Tomato
Wheat
I also
tested positive for multiple food sensitivities, yeast being one of the
highest. But my doctor wanted me to initially focus on removing all the
allergies as well as yeast. So, a new chapter in my life began with new
challenges and new successes. We finally had a name for my aliments and
I was so relieved. Now it was time to
begin healing and that is just what I am doing, through imperfect progress. :)
