Why is Asthma So Feared By Food Allergic People

Five! You have had five reactions recently that have made me scratch my head, lose sleep and ultimately come to no conclusion as to how on earth these could have occurred. There was no food eaten within one to two hours of the reactions. The foods that were eaten I fed to you again after the reaction to ensure a new allergy did not develop or there was no cross-contamination. No reactions.

I continue to scratch my head and lose sleep. I have tried identifying patterns during these reactions. A few things come to mind. Majority occurred after exercise or when a big shift in temperature occurred.  But you exercise all day everyday and there are temperature shifts all the time. Hmm, well that is all I have come up with. Wait, there seems to be another pattern, the reactions have also occurred in spaces that are carpeted, four of which were not in our house. I have always correlated these reactions to trace amounts of allergens on hands that somehow ended up in your nose or mouth. Maybe it's something else. Maybe it's not.  After doing some digging - maybe it's asthma. Something in the environment you are allergic to and then it is set off by exercise or shifts in temperature.

And now, another reaction, this time, sudden and constant coughing and then wheezing. No vomiting this time. I give two puffs of the inhaler meds that Hopkins prescribed after discussing the recent reactions. The wheezing quickly subsides and the coughing slows. After 15 minutes the coughing dissipates. Could this be that these reactions that mimic food allergic reactions are actually asthma attacks?

ASTHMA - so scary as a parent of a child with many severe food allergies. Why though? Virtually ALL of the deaths that occur from food allergic reactions are in people that also have asthma.  And now we may be in the food allergic and asthmatic bucket.  Having asthma and controlling it either with functional medicine or conventional medicine is manageable and seemingly not that scary so long as you recognize symptoms and treat it.  When you layer on food allergies, it suddenly becomes something else.

So why are the people that have fatal food allergic reactions asthmatics? I can say every one of these five reactions mimics the beginning of food allergic reactions. Sneezing, coughing, wheezing, vomiting - that's how it all starts. So at that point in the reaction, if I guess it's airway distress due to asthma and give the inhaler, and I guessed wrong and we lose time, valuable precious time, that could be the difference between life and death. This is often the case for the fatal cases. The food allergic reaction was treated with asthma meds instead of epinephrine.

As your parent, I must learn everything I can about this in order to be able to quickly and effortlessly react in an instant. I must guess right every time. I must educate myself so I can educate others, most importantly you.  Jahan, as challenging as this journey is that we are on TOGETHER, I wouldn't change any of it.  While I do not enjoy seeing you in distress, I am thankful for the opportunities that all of this has brought to me. You are helping me learn so much, you have helped our family become so incredibly healthy, you have helped both daddy and I become much more understanding towards families with special needs. For all of this, we are thankful. 

Knocking on Death's Door: Anaphylaxis

With you having your first full blown allergic reaction requiring medical intervention to derail the possibly life-threatening symptoms, I am hearing the same questions from friends and family,

• What was it like?
• Did Jahan swell up like Will Smith in Hitch?
• Was he gasping for air?
• Did it happen after one bite? 
• How fast did it happen?
• How did you know you needed to use the Epi-pen?

I want to address all of these. 

I had a conversation with your daddy on Sunday night that took me well past my 10:30pm bedtime when I asked him if he thought your reaction to a mere 281 milligrams of wheat was a wake-up call to him, would he have used the Epi-pen had I not been there? Would he have called 911, gone to the hospital, etc. etc. Daddy did not correlate the symptoms that your were having with having a severe allergic reaction. He didn't want to use the medicine and DID NOT want to go to the hospital.  Scary right? But why didn't he recognize the symptoms, why no Epi? Why skip the hospital? 

Your first symptoms included coughing, nothing crazy, but an obvious sign that there was something going on in your airway. That progressed to you vomiting, which is a great thing.   30 minutes went by and coughing began again, heavier, more frequent. Then itching, then throat itching. This is when I knew we had to intervene. There were clear signs of a systemic response and airway distress. Daddy did not agree with me. I pushed, we called and gave you the Epi-pen. Your symptoms stopped almost instantaneously. Wow - it was that fast. 

Daddy, like many people, including myself, thought that the reaction that would require medical intervention would be really fast, like in the movies, and it certainly can be, but it doesn't have to be. Daddy thought you would swell up, be gasping for air and turning blue. None of that happened, it could have, but it didn't get to that point. The reaction was slow, 45 minutes after ingestion to Epi-pen. Daddy also thought that the Epi-pen administration meant, we are in the clear, that's your parachute to safety, well sort of, but not entirely.  The epinephrine, which is the medicine in the Epi-pen, without getting too technical, helps to stop anaphylactic shock.  The medicine works almost immediately and then can wear off after 20 minutes or so and the reaction can persist. That is exactly what happened to you my love. When you got into the ambulance, about 20 minutes after you were given the Epi-pen, smack dab in your left thigh, the reaction began again. Head to toe hives, huge and small, red and clear. All. Over. YOU.

One of the hives - after Epi, Benadryl, Pepcid and Steroid. The size of my palm

Recovering in the hospital, scared, latching onto daddy

Daddy, like many, thought the hospital was more of a burden then a necessity, that was until he saw the post-Epi reaction begin.  The hospital would monitor your vitals, provide additional medicine (epinephrine, steroids, pepcid) to derail any further reactions. 

Anaphylactic shock can present itself in many ways, but a few take-aways for us, our family and friends:

• Allergies are no joke
• When giving new foods, pay attention for up to four hours for a reaction
• DO NOT WAIT - give the epinephrine before blue, swollen shut and knocking at death's door
• Go to the hospital post Epi
• Every reaction is different than the next and previous

Angel, recovering, you are so resilient Jahan

TGIF! We're in the Hospital

Some lessons tonight. You are NOT ready for wheat. We can confidently administer your meds. Epi-pen is worth every damn cent they charge. 

Here's our update on our at home wheat challenge: You failed. miserably.  Coughing occurred 15 minutes after ingesting three mini pretzels. Then a vomit. We thought that would be it. It wasn't. Coughing continued which can be indicative of an itchy throat, throat closing, swelling, etc. I got Hopkins on the phone, they said the reaction appears local, give Benadryl. We did. Coughing subsides. 30 minutes pass and I am watching you like a hawk.  You begin itching all over. Itching your throat. This is not good. Now a systemic response and it's moving around. I call 911 and tell daddy to get you on the ground flat. I grab the $600 Epi-pen and swing it into your left leg. You are not crying...yet.  A few seconds pass and I realize I had to stab you my son, I did it. Whew. You begin wailing and I know the needle went in. EMTs arrive and off we go to the hospital. On the way you had a third reaction. Giant hives head to toe. We are at the hospital and safe. You, my baby boy, are iv'd up and feeling better now. You are chatting about the fire truck and ambulance, typical for a two-year old.