Allergy Testing by Blood

Hello G.,

Hang in there! It will get easier with time. There are a lot more alternatives in the market today than a few years ago.

For now, start with a simple diet and cook it yourself. make a list of the things she CAN eat first.

rice, beans, veggies,
chicken, beef, fish,
fruits, corn, quinoa,
millet, amaranth, oats,
rice milk, oat milk,
potatoes, peas, lentils,
buckwheat (although it has 'wheat' as part of the name, it's gluten-free)

look into asian/caribbean/mediterranean recipes/foods. BTW, soy sauce has wheat...need to find the gluten free one.

~~~from now on you need to
________ READ ALL the labels EVERY TIME ________
companies DO change ingredients from time to time.

. You'll need to learn the different names of wheat, milk products/derivatives.

. go to http://www.celiac.com/ and read about it. although your daughter has not been diagnosed as having celiac sprue, you still need to avoid wheat in all its forms. That website has great info.

. go to www.nomilk.com -- find recipe links

Your daughter needs a
gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and nut-free diet.

check out: http://www.reallygreatfoods.com/ They have AWSOME CAKES and you can use EGG SUBSTITUTE to bake them.

for some things. do read all the ingredients before buying to make sure there is no dairy on it.

even rice packages have wheat added to it.
even shampoo and conditioner and lotions have wheat products.

You will have to bring her snacks wherever you go (at first while others learn what she can have). when you go to birthday parties, bring her own gluten-egg-nut-free cupcake.

You'll have to train your friends and family. Some people donot realize that 'flour' is from wheat unless otherwise explicitly listed.

They have lots of products at wholefoods and sprouts.

. look into getting her a bracelet that lists her allergies.

. talk to her about her allergy and what she can and cannot have. tell her that some foods make her sick and tell her which foods and that you'll have to figure out what she can have. when you find crackers/cookies she can have, tell her what ingredients are in it and that it doesn't have wheat, milk, eggs, peanuts, etc. she needs to know too.

Good luck! PM me and let me know if you have any questions.

~C.~

All the blood tests that I'm aware of have a note that suggests if wheat is an allergy that you should be screened for celiac. YOu can get tested here: www.enterolab.com
Note, this is not an allergy, it is an autoimmune condition and should be taken seriously because long term untreated can lead to GI cancers and other autoimmune diseases (both myself and sons have autoimmune thyroid disease). Also, research shows that untreated gluten intolerance can manifest as behavior issues (it should be a mandatory test IMHO before putting any child on meds) and other neurological related problems.
Also, if your daughter is primarily having the skin reactions to gluten, then any standard blood tests will likely be negative - the stool test usually is not as it goes to root of where the gluten antibodies are produced.

My family are all gluten intolerant and allergic to dairy and soy. I am also allergic to eggs. You can find good dietary recommendations for a gluten-free/casein-free (GF/CF) diet here:
http://www.gfcfdiet.com/
A gluten free diet will always be a wheat free diet. The inverse is NOT true. Sprouts and Whole foods carry brands of snack foods, breads, pasta, etc. that are gluten free. There's one brand that is also nut free - many of the others are not. So, you may find that you need to prepare alot of this stuff at home. It is difficult the first 6 mos, but becomes second nature after that. The big issue will be cross contamination if the whole house is not GF/CF. For my family a small amount of dairy is not so bad, but ANY trace amount of gluten is very serious - I'm ill for a week and my younger son gets the rashes/hives.

My daughter and son have had the RAST blood test. This test is about 85% accurate. Since she did test positive, I would take your kiddo to an allergy specialist. We see Dr. Fawcett in Southlake. She prefers a specific lab, she uses quest not lab corp, i think. She may have you do skin testing at some point. Most importantly she can explain to you how severe your childs allergies are and what you need to do. I have another friend who's child has similar food allergies and once you are educated and your child is educated you will feel much better! Good luck!