Peanut death in the news.

Another account of lack of vigilence leading to the death of a food allergy sufferer.

A 13 year old school boy attending cadet camp was given army rations containing peanuts (satay for goodness sake!!) After CPR and 4 Epi-pens, he was pronounced dead on arrival at the Royal Childrens Hospital. Full story here.

And people think we are over-protective when we closely manage our children’s food.

Allergies – In the News

This morning I noticed this article on news.com.au. By the time I got home from work, it had vanished from the website. I had to search the site to get the story up again.

I then went to the age website and had to search to find the story there.

This is the level of emphasis food allergies receive in the Australian news. Virtually zip. If the “Brisbane woman” had died from just a shark attack, or mad cow disease, we would have heard soooo much more – and the chances of someone dying from either of these is low. 1 in 30 million for a shark attack and 1 in 40 million for mad cow.

The chance of dying from anaphylaxis – 1 on 200 thousand. OK, relatively low compared to heart disease and cancer – but hard for the media to sensationalise – cos you either suffer from allergies or you don’t. Any ocean swimmer can get eaten by a shark, but only those who live with the reality of food allergies day to day could die from food.

What I find most annoying about the lack of media focus is, if this had been a story on Posh or Paris… it would still be front and centre. Obviously these celebrities add so much to our lives – how would we know what sunnies to wear, or what our children should aspire to look like?? Our media have a lot to answer for!

Of course, we, “the public”, are our own worst enemy. If we didn’t flock in our millions to read the celebrity rubbish, the media would have no interest in reporting it.

Raising awareness of the increasing incidence of food allergies is vital to many. Saving one Sabrina, or “unnamed Brisbane woman” (young woman – she was only 25) is worth the effort. Getting the pubic and restaurants in particular to take food allergies seriously is important to the safety of severe allergy sufferers.

The Parent’s Guide to Food Allergies

I found a terrific book at the local library – “The Parent’s Guide to Food Allergies” written by Marianne S. Barber with Maryanne Bartoszek Scott MD & Elinor Greenberg PhD. (618.92BAR)

It was first published in 2001 – just a little too late to help when Bella was diagnosed with food allergies. Reading it in hindsight, I realise what a great resource it would have been. I searched in vein for a book just like this. I found VERY heavy medical texts, and fluffy/new age/self-help/naturopathy type books that refer to intolerances as “allergies” and offered very inappropriate advice. (Don’t get me wrong – I think Naturopathy is great and helps with all manner of ailments.)

This is the book I really wanted!

It is very comprehensive and practical in its approach and advice. My only issue is that it is written in North America so it doesn’t reference local organisations and systems.

The introduction explains the inspiration for the book, the authors own experience with their child’s first and extremely scary discovery of food allergies.

If you go to Amazon you can see the index and first couple of pages.

In terms of a reference book – this one covers off all the important areas, provides clarity and serves as a valuable resource to parent’s of food allergic children.

Very broadly, the book covers:

• an overview of food allergies and explains the differences between intolerances and true allergic reactions;
• allergy testing;
• food challenges
• compensating for food that cannot be eaten
• explanation of anaphylaxis
• treatment of anaphylaxis
• action plans
• details of the typical food allergies – milk; egg; wheat; peanut; tree nuts and seeds; soybean; fish & shellfish; unusual allergies;
• hidden allergies
• reading labels
• shopping at the deli; grocer; butcher; ice-cream shop
• eating at restaurants
• dealing with  health care providers (This is very North American centric)
• a recipe section
• a raft of emotional issues
• dealing with holidays and special occasions
• travelling
• going to school
• asthma and environmental allergies

I highly recommend this to other parents of children with food allergies.

Egg Free, Dairy Free Banana & Date Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/4 Cup plain flour
• 1/3 Cup Raw Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Bi-Carb soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Cup Soy milk (can use Rice)
• 140g tub of Apple Puree (I use the Golburn Valley ones)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla essence
• 2 Mashed Bananas
• 1/2 Cup Chopped dates

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius
• Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl
• In a separate bowl, whisk milk, applesauce, and vanilla
• Add milk mixture to dry ingredients, stirring until just combined
• Gently stir in bananas and dates
• Divide mixture into twelve muffin cups
• Muffins take about 20 mins to cook. To check - poke a toothpick into the muffin- it should come out clean
• Cool on a rack

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Diary of Isabella’s Food Allergies – Part 2

After Bella was diagnosed with food allergies, my diet was adjusted so that I was no longer eating her trigger foods (I was still breastfeeding). Initially she reacted to Egg White, Wheat and Milk. That made my life “fun” food wise, but boy it made a difference to her excema. Within days it improved looking far less angry, and within weeks it was scarcely noticeable. I was amazed that something so simple could make such a difference!

We were cruising! We gradually introduced solids, each time with enormous care, and each time with no ill effects. She scoffed the fruit and vegies.

At her next series of skin prick tests (about six months later) her Wheat welt was down significantly and Doctor suggested a Wheat challenge. At the Food Challenge, the child is fed the allergen in a controlled manner, under medical supervision. They begin with touching the food to the child’s inner lip, then feeding 1/8 teaspoon; 1/2 teaspoon and increasing intervals until it is determined that there is no life threatening reaction or other ill effects. We breezed through the challenge and Wheat was able to be added to her diet – and mine! (I actually find I feel much better in myself and look “well” when I exclude wheat from my diet… but I’m a sucker for Brown’s bread and puddings )

Life was pretty uneventful from an allergy perspective. We had to watch her in social situations. Obviously, Isabella did not understand she couldn’t share food with the other kids. This had the most impact as she grew older and realised that other kids were getting treats she couldn’t have.

Our next misadventure (and my timing on these events is a little hazy these days - but I would say 8 or 9 months old) was during her regular morning nap. To say Bella was a poor sleeper would be an understatement. Even today she resists going to sleep, often awake after me - a real night owl.

As usual, she played up, carrying on and refusing to go to sleep. However, there was something different about her cry, more urgency?? I’m not sure, but I decided to check in on her and ignore the “controlled crying”. This is what I found. 

 

I grabbed her and ran straight to the Dr. The drive took forever. I can no longer recall what we did, probably phenergan? 

The eyes gradually unpuffed. We never discovered what caused the problem, it didn’t seem to be any food she had come in contact with. I suspect it may have been the cat. She had been playing with Pippi before going for her nap. Without rubbing cat spit in her eyes to test, (and of course we don’t do that!!) I guess we’ll never know.

Allergies and Excema – its not all over yet!

Bella is supposedly ok with eggs now, although she did complain of a tummy ache at her egg challenge, and her behaviour changed, but the hospital dismissed the symptoms – as they are subjective. So we have been working on the – all clear theory.

Last night our dinner was fairly egg intensive.  Pete made crepes – with egg, and some Asian style scrambled egg, to use with other fillings in the crepes.

Bella made good headway into the meal, but about half way through said she didn’t feel like any more. 10 minutes later she began complaining of a stomach ache. This got progressively worse and she began crying, and moved into her bedroom – away from the yucky food. (“I can’t look at it mummy”). Then she threw up.

There were no signed of hives, swelling, or other allergic reactions. I gave her some phenergen anyway – I figured it couldn’t hurt. We cuddled on the couch and an hour or so later she had something else to eat.

A few point here:

1. Bella has eaten egg many times. Usually cooking in something – probably in fairly small quantities.
2. Often, I imagine, the eggs she is exposed to are battery eggs, non-organic etc. - cheap and not “real” in old fashioned sense – used in production
3. Last night Pete bought beautiful, fresh, hard shelled, organic, bio-dynamic eggs from Macro. The yolks were bright, bright yellow and they truly tasted like egg!
4. Bella hates bio-dynamic milk – but will drink Rev. The purer form (that tastes like the milk we drank when they made you drink those small bottles of milk at school) is too “milky” for her.

So I wonder whether the highly processed versions of her problem foods are better tolerated than the less processed? It makes sense that the processing reduces the quality. Or perhaps their is something specifically in the egg that is more abundant or concentrated in bio-organic eggs?

Don’t think I’ll experiment on her to find out

It will be interesting to see what happens with her skin in the next day or so. I’ll get some pictures of the excema if we get a flair up.

Thai Carrot Soup (Contains Milk)

YUM! And low fat!!! This one is great (thanks Michelle)

Ingredients:

• 1kg carrots sliced (can use sweet potato and or pumkin as part or total replacement for carrots)
• 1.5 cups diced onions
• 2 teaspoons red curry paste
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 tablespoon of Massel Chicken stock powder
• 1.5 litres of water
• 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• (can add 1 teaspoon of fish sauce – though we left it out so Bella could eat the soup)
• 1 x 375ml can evaporated light milk
• 1 x teaspoon imitation coconut essence
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

Spray soup pot/saucepan with cooking spray (or a little oil if you don’t have spray) and saute carrots, onions and curry paste for about 3 minutes. Add the other ingredients, EXCEPT milk and coconut essence.

Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 45 mins. Add the milk and coconut essence and bring back to boil. Puree soup and add pepper to taste. Serve.

This is great with crusty bread, or naan.

Bella – Allergy Free – well almost!!

It’s only two weeks to Christmas! Where did the year go?

In the past couple of months, Bella has had both a Milk and Egg challenge. And passed!

Her milk challenge was a breeze, and she has been regularly consuming milk and other diary products ever since.

Her Egg challenge was also considered successful – no wheezing, blotches vomiting or other physical side-effects, but I noticed some rather uncharacteristic behaviour, and she complained of a sore tummy. The GREAT news is that egg and milk are no longer life threatening, which makes our lives immeasurably easier. Free to shop without checking the labels, free to eat at restaurants, free to go on holidays and eat resort food, free to eat at friends without bringing our own food, or checking their labels, free to drop Bella at a friend’s house for a visit or party or sleep over without worrying about her food.

PHEW!

Bella has been delighting in trying all the foods she has been denied: Icecream; Donuts; Birthday cake; chocolate; twisties; and the list goes on (all health food, of course )

So here’s to our new life without milk and egg allergy!

Google Image Searches – why have they changed??

I used to get 100+ hits a day on my blog, now I am down to about 30 to 40. The majority of hits  came from people searching “excema” in google images, which brought up this image of Bella, from where they surfed to the blog. Suddenly, this picture stopped coming up in the google image search results!!

If I google image “bella excema” I get three other photos of her… but not this particular one!

Why would it have been removed?

How do I get it back there?

Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.

Surfing the web it appears that I am not the only one that has had their images disappear off the search results. But I haven’t found any suggestions as to why.

Egg Free, Dairy Free Rice and Sultana Pudding (also wheat free)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Tablespoon Soy Flour
• 1/2 litre Water 
• 25 g dairy-free Margarine (I use Becel)
• 3 Tablesponns uncooked brown rice
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Sultanas 
• 1 drop Vanilla Extract (or a few drops Vanilla Essence)
• Powdered nutmeg to sprinkle

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 140C 
• In a saucepan, mix the Soy flour with a little water until smooth 
• Add the rest of the Water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 5 minutes.
• Add margarine and stir until melted.
• Put the rice and sugar into an ovenproof dish and pour the Soy flour mixture over the top.
• Add the Sultanas and Vanilla then stir well.
• Sprinkle Nutmeg over the top and bake for 2.5 hours
• If it appears to get a bit dry during cooking – add a little hot water.