Seeking Advice & Recipies for Allergice Son

I would suggest going to see an allergist. My daughter had the same thing happen. We ran a panel for peanut butter and it came up showing sentistivity to pets, milk, and wheat. She was drinking milk 2-3 times per day, eats bread, and we have a dog with no reactions!! The allergist told me there is a difference between sensitivity (which shows up on the blood work) and symptoms. As long as there aren't any symptoms, it's okay to keep her on those foods (the peanut butter was a different story - none of that allowed). You might want to go see an allergist and see what they say....

That is strange. No reactions? You can try the Glutin Free Casien free diet. All Mommys with Autism swear by it.

I would definitely get a referral for an allergist. My son tested high for milk, and wheat alleries. We know he is allergic to milk, but eats wheat all the time. The allergist said that the blood tests often show a "false positive" result. The may be able to put your mind at rest, or give you ideas of how to handle it.

I would check out gfcf (gluten free, casein free) sites online. They have a lot of good ideas.

I don't know much about the food allergies but I do know that Trader joe's has lots of breads and noodles and many other things that are wheat free. I would also check out Whole Foods - they have books as well as the different foods that you might be looking for...Good luck - J. W

You can test high for these antigens without actually having an allergy. Since your son doesn't have any symptoms I would take a wait and see approach. Don't completely remove these things from his diet but make sure he knows what the symptoms of an allergic attack are. Also people often grow out of these allergies. It could be that he was mildly allergic as a child and no one noticed. Now he's grown out of the allergy but still has these antibodies in his blood. Try not to worry about it.

I have a 13 year old son and I think the world would come to an end if that kid was allergic to anything food-wise. The only thing he will not ingest willingly is a glass of buttermilk. Loves it on salad dressing, etc, but just to drink it, no thank you. I know what you mean about eating you out of house and home. Believe me.
I would see an allergist or someone who can help you interpret the tests. My daughter was tested at about 8 and they said she had all these high scores for things in her diet, but they were all things that she ate on a daily basis with no problems. (I wonder if they show up more because they are ingested more?). However, there was no reading for animal allergies and at 22 years old, to this day, she is so stuffed up and her eyes are swollen about shut if she gets within 10 feet of a dog. (And she loves dogs more than anything, but they make her sick every single time). But none of that registered. If she is around someone mowing a lawn, it just about kills her, but no allergens to grasses or pollens registered on her tests. I cut out all the food stuff just to be safe, but it didn't change any of the things that really made her sick. Your situation may be different, but the food stuff didn't affect my daughter one way or the other. As an adult, she only drinks soy milk because drinking milk from a cow creeps her out. But she eats yogurt and dairy with no ill affects which they said she absolutely could not have.
I'm not saying to disregard the test results, but you obviously have questions about it and I think you should have someone else go over the results with you. There are so many milk and gluten free products out, you should be able to adjust fairly easily. There is a difference between an allergy and an illness, so I would make sure just what you are dealing with.
Best of wishes.

We just recently eliminated wheat from our diet because one of my sons was showing signs of an allergic reaction. Once I started looking at all the meals and snacks that we were eating I realized that there was an abundance of wheat in our diet. So, I looked for non wheat replacements to the foods that he just loved. He was sad about it at first and craved wheat products but after a couple of weeks he became satisfied with our new food choices. We now eat rice noodles, quinoa noodles (Ancient Harvest), corn tortillas and almond rice bread. For snacks, we try fresh fruit first but for a crunchy salty snack we do nuts, rice crakcers and almond nut thins by Blue Diamond. With growing boys, I find that I can't make everything from scratch because of the immediacy of their hunger and I would never leave the kitchen. Here are some of our other favorites: Arrowhead Mills Wheat Free Hot Cereal
Newman's Own wheat and Dairy Free Cookies
Bob's Red Mill Chocolate Chip Cookie mix
Annie's Rice Pasta
The trick for me is that I can't do all my grocery shopping at Safeway. I go to whole foods, Oliver's and Trader Joes.
They have quite a few options to choose from. Good Luck
K.

he does not show any signs or symptoms- then I would not worry and go changing his diet unless he wants to- what did the dr say about his diet?? there are alternatives to wheat bread- you can try sprouted wheat found at health food stores, and maybe soy milk- yogurt and cheese should still be okay, especially since he shows no symptoms. there are many diet and recipe books outh there but I would not go too indepth since it is not bothering him
good luck

Just because your son "tests high" for food allergins, doesn't mean has has to stop eating them all together.

My son just turned 8 on July 7th and has been allergic to most food since he stopped nursing at 7 months old. His allergic reactions were almost instantanious once the food passed his lips. Itchy ears, red, watery eyes, scratchy throat, then projectile vomiting of mucus and food bits. (of course, it took us a while to figure all of this out.) Many blood tests and hospital visits later, we found out that everything we were feeding him from his formula to the mashed peas we making him sick. (Talk about feeling like an awful mother!)

He has since outgrown most of these food allergies. He was unable to have any milk based products, soy based, including hydrogenated soybean oil, seafood, eggs, or anything with any kind of nut products.

He still "tests high" for peanuts, eggs and fish, but he can actually have salmon, shrimp, crab, and halibut. He tests low for these particular foods, and doesn't have any kind of reaction to them. We haven't tried the peanut allergy test with the allergist yet, and just avoid peanut based products all together. He can actually eat eggs if they are cooked in a cake or something like that. He even ate part of a scrambled egg for the first time this weekend. His fear of having a reaction has kept him from trying new things. He always asks, "Can I have this? Am I allergic to it?"

If your son is not having any sort of reaction with milk or wheat based products, then find out what your allergist might suggest with regards to diet. If your son is used to having milk products and wheat based products, then it will be a bit harder to change eating habits cold turkey. Does he have certain foods that elicit a reaction? Certain people can build up a tolerance for certain foods that they are "allergic" to.

Switching to foods that do not have milk bi-products, wheat bi-products or enzymes in them will require A LOT of reading labels on your part. The best way to do this, of course, is to only buy fresh food and prepare it yourself. While this can be done (been there, still do it for certain things) it's not the easiest or quickest, or even the most cost effective depending on where you live.

The internet is a wealth of information for recipes and suggestions. I've spent many hours pouring over recipes for icecream without eggs!

Type in "food allergies to milk and wheat" and Google it. You'll be amazed at what is out there. Good luck!

An allergy to wheat is called celiac sprue or celiac disease. The small intestine cannot break down the gluten in the wheat and will then attack itself by destroying the villi in the small intestine. The villi are needed to absorb nutrients. The next step for your son is to meet with a gastroenterologist and have an upper endoscopy done to look at the existing damage to the villi. Hopefully he is catching this disease early.
I was diagnosed one year ago and my endoscopy showed minimal damage. (The endoscopy is quick and painless by the way). Someone with celiac disease has to strictly adhere to a gluten free diet. No wheat, oats, barley. No big macs etc. It is a complete transformation but there are more and more people being discovered with this disease that there are lots of food now being available gluten free.
The internet will have a lot of information on celiac sprue. What is important is you caught it now. It is also hereditary so both you and your husband will need to be checked. Don't blow it off because it is serious and many other diseases can result. Good luck to you. The internet is a wealth of information. I am 40 and for me it is easy to do now that it has been a year. I feel for how challenging the tranformation will be for you with a teen. But there are so many food options now.
Good luck.

Hi L.,

My 5 year old daughter is allergic to wheat and dairy, also. She has been dairy-free since one-year-old and wheat-free for about a year. It took me several months to feel comfortable with the wheat-free aspect.

First, I would suggest understanding whether your son has a wheat allergy or whether it is celiac disease. It is my understanding that many people use these terms interchangeably; however, celiac disease can result in serious long-term health issues if wheeat is not avoided, whereas wheat allergy is more likely to result in short-term symptoms. I would recommend looking at www.celiac.com. It contains a lot of valuable information, as well as chat boards, etc.. Among other things, I learned that the damage caused to the intestines of celiacs who are eating wheat makes them unable to digest milk. Once they are off wheat for several months, allowing the intestines time to heal, milk products can be tolerated again. Now, after years off milk and only one year off wheat, my daughter can tolerate milk in baked goods.

Next, when my daughter was diagnosed with wheat allergy, we lived in New Jersey. Our local whole foods provided a "tour" of the store, in which a representative reviewed, aisle by aisle, which products were safe. Whole foods also has a gluten-free bake shop now. (Be careful, though. Many of their gluten-free items do contain milk products.)

Finally, I have learned to bake gluten-free. I started with mixes - Gluten Free Pantry is good as are the Whole Foods mixes. I then bought a couple of cookbooks - beginning with The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread, and The Gluten Free Gourmet Makes Dessert. Both were very helpful. They describe all the gluten-free flours, how their properties differ from wheat flour and how this affects your baking. I have since found several gluten-free blogs that contain some good recipes, including glutenfreegirl.com and glutenfreegobsmacked.com. With respect to baking, gluten-free items have a shelf-life of only 2-3 days - they lose moisture quickly and get stale. I generally bake and then freeze individual servings so things are easily accessible when needed.

Finally, within a week or two of going cold-turkey off wheat, many of my daughter's worrisome behaviors disappeared - she became less anxious, more social and outgoing at school, less hyperactive, stopped complaining of daily tummy aches. (Going cold-turkey does result in several days of withdrawal type symptoms, primarily headache and fatigue.) And now that our whole family is essentially wheat-free, my husband and I both have noticed that we experience stomach upset and minor intestinal issues every time we do eat wheat.

My appologies for the lengthy response, but I hope it is helpful. I know how overwhelmed I felt going wheat-free for my daughter; but, it has become routine.

Good luck!
C.

Hi L.,
I'm a grandmother now, but when my boys were young, ages 2 & 3 I found out that my oldest was allergic to dairy and wheat. One of my brothers is also allergic to the same.
It was easier for my parents 60 years ago, we got a goat, and my mother baked "wheatless" breads....etc. In my case, I put my son on soy milk and looked at labels, etc. At 44 now he's only experienced a sinus post nasal problem once in awhile. He said he watches his wheat intake and keeps dairy at a limited amount.
I find a farm here in Oroville and buy fresh goats milk and drink it myself, and feed my animals. I have always preferred
goats milk since my childhood since it's not processed and the cow's milk really isn't good for us anyway. I use it for cooking and for my coffee.
Find a goat farm and make a new friend !! Your boys will like it too I'll bet......lol

Good luck, sounds like if he's 14 it's not to severe, but he'll be able to keep an eye on the things he eats to keep it from getting too bad.

D. A

Hi L.,

My son was diagnosed with a wheat/ milk protein allergy as well at 6 weeks old. Fortunately I was nursing so I was able to change my diet to accomodate him. There are quite a few things that you can substitute for milk and wheat products. It's ben a while but I think that I can find the fact sheet on what to/or not to eat.

Some quick substitutes for dairy are rice milk or almond milk. ( There are chocolate and vanilla flavors too) Children tend to enjoy them. Look for veggie spirals for pasta and make sure to pay special attention to nutrition labels. When I find the menus again I'll be sure to let you know.

D.

I am also allergic to wheat and have a lactose intolerance. I would first find out if your son is allergic to milk or if he has a lactose intolerance. If it's just lactose, than you can purchase many dairy items that are lactose free and taste the same as regular dairy. You can also have him take lactose pills before he has dairy. If it's the milk itself, than he will unfortunatly have to avoid milk products. But if he has not had any symptoms than it is probably just the lactose (usually the biggest symptom of that is extream gasyness).

As for the wheat, the only indication I had of my allergy or intolerance is that when I eat wheat or gluten products I get really tired and have trouble focusing. So his symptoms may not have been totally apparent to you. But this is much easier to deal with than you might think. In the natural foods aisle should have a variety of gluten free products, from cookies to pizza dough. I have replaced my pasta with rice pasta. If you can find the Tinkyada brand that is the best, you can even give it the whole family because it has the same texture as regular pasta. The only thing is it doesn't make very good leftovers (no rice or corn pasta does). Depending on the type of wheat allergy your son has, you may be able to replace his bread with spelt bread. If you have a Great Harvest Bread store near you they have the best spelt bread I've found. I also replace spelt flour in any recipe that calls for flour, you just have to add a little more moisture to the recipe if it's something you are baking because spelt tends to be a bit dry.

Hope this helps :).

After much speculation and experimentation I determined that I am cow's milk intolerant and probably wheat-intolerant too, so, I have spent a lot of time working on this. Trust me, life goes on, it's mostly just difficult accomodating at restaurants. For ex, I never even bother going to an Italian joint, there's nothing there I can eat. For a young person, you have options. The older people get, the more ingrained the eating habits. I bake scone/cookies which are wheat free and taste great, but they're a four hour project (I freeze about five or six dozen of them and thaw them in the microwave for 12 seconds.) Great flours: millet, amaranth, oat, coconut, all mixed together in various ratios. Find out if your son is allergic to casein or lactose. I assumed lactose and then discovered I could tolerate Goat's milk and cheese, this is really a boon. I've used soy milk on granola for years. I eat a wonderful millet bread from the freezer section of the natural food store. You can find tons of recipes if you google "wheat-free recipes" or "gluten-free." Good luck.

I would also try http://www.glutenfreeclub.com/Home.aspx to get recipes and also to check out the forum on the site. There are lots of people who post answers to questions, restaurant lists (places that have a gluten free menu) and many other pages to visit.
I think there may be a yearly fee if you want to post anything yourself. (I'm not sure, I paid a one-time fee back when it first started).
Good luck and hang in there - it gets easier with time.

I agree with what people are responding here about celiac disease and about not ignoring this! Other conditions can result if your son continues to eat things he is allergic to. Sometimes we cannot clearly see the signs! I ingored my allergy test result for many years because the Dr. told me if I didn't have reactions I shouldn't worry about it. I am sorry that I listened to him. After a while, gluten and dairy made me very tired and I had a great deal of difficulting concentrating. I didn't realize it was the foods. My immune system was compromised. I then developed a thyroid problem (auto-immune) and vitamin and mineral deficiencies (B12, iron, etc) that caused eve nmore symptoms. I finally went to a nutritionist who recommended I go off gluten and dairy to help with the auto-immune disorder. Please read all you can about gluten or wheat and dairy intolerances so yourson doesn't start to have real problems!!! Allergies and intolerances are different. Many people with a gluten intolerance develop a lactose intolerance later on due to damage to the digestive system. This article is long but full of information:
http://mercola.fileburst.com/PDF/Gluten.pdf
here's another helpful article re: allergies vs. intolerances: http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/Factall...

Just Google combinations of words like "wheat, gluten, dairy, symptoms" and you'll find tons of info.

Good luck!

Hi, L. -

I read some of the responses and the last thing you want to do is ignore it just because your son doesn't show any visible symptoms. My daughter was just diagnosed with Celiac Disease, which is an intolerance to wheat. (There are intolerances, which can be deadly, and allergies which are irritable.)

Anyway, she had opposite symptoms of the "typical" Celiac in that she gained 13 lbs in 2 months at 7 yrs old. Celiacs usually lose weight because the digestive system can't absorb nutrients. She gained weight because her small intestine was swelling so badly from the damage from the wheat.

Ask your doctor for a Celiac Sprue test. This will tell you if he is Celiac or just has the allergy. If he does just have the allergy, yay, and then shop for gluten free items. It's getting much easier for me to find them now that I know what I'm looking for.

Whole Foods has an incredible gluten free stock of food and the shelves are clearly marked so you don't have to go reading every label. Raley's/Bell Aire/Nob Hill also have a good selection.

But don't ignore it. Talk to an allergist and a GI specialist if it is in fact Celiac. Catching it now makes all the difference. And you get tested, too! I tested negative for Celiac but positive for the allergy.

Good luck!

Here is a fantastic site for gluten and dairy free cooking that can really help:

www.tfrecipes.com

they have a lot of info about gluten free lifestyle, how to convert favorite recipes, sources for ingredients, etc. plus a menu mailer you can subscribe to if you want your week's meals already thought out for you! And there is a forum for discussion too.

What I like about it is that the recipes are really "normal" food so that you could actually serve them to anyone and they would never realize they are gluten and casein free.