That Dreaded Call

It's been a week. A week since your  last blood draw, probing for the latest and greatest, ok maybe not the greatest.

This is pretty standard protocol for someone with food allergies. Test the patient annually for new trends in the numbers, expose new allergies and sometimes, but not all that common, drop some allergens off the list.

This call for us has only ever been bad news. Actually all results from any doctor you have seen has always been bad news. More allergens should be added to the list. Avoid more foods. Your immune system is working on overdrive all day every day.  It's exhausting and temporarily depressing.

Daddy and I are curious where your numbers are now that you are two and your immune system is more mature and has been getting massive boosts from Dr. Wong's supplement protocol.

It's now been a week and a half. Friday morning, the phone rings and I know it is Hopkins because there is no caller ID. I answer, it's the doctor's scribe. The scribe takes all the notes and makes all the calls. She is also an MD.

She starts with, "La-Tasha, there are a lot of numbers, where shall we start?"

My heart is pounding, I'm thinking, "shit, what now?"

The scribe proceeds by asking if I have been giving you seeds like they suggested. Chia seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc.  No, I have not because I am SCARED! I am scared to give you anything new. When we give new foods, it must be on a weekend about midday. That way if you react, we are home and awake and can manage. She tells me I have to try the seeds, today. Once you have tried all of those seeds, try sunflower because that number came back low. Woohoo, small win there since we thought sunflower could be a new allergen. Now we have homework.

Then she tells me that coconut came back very low and there is likely no allergy anymore. We have been avoiding coconut like the plague for a long time. I am beside myself with glee, just imagining the possibilities with adding a new food. Coconut milk, and water and oil and yogurt and ice cream!  She tells me to try it at home and the medical team is confident you will tolerate it with no reaction!  More homework.


Next she tells me, you will need to come in within the next year, to Hopkins to challenge peanut! Your numbers are so low and following overall decreases to most allergens and because of risk of anaphylaxis they will feed you peanuts in the hospital setting while monitored and under the doctor's care.  The good news keeps coming - This. Is. Unreal.

We chatted for a few more minutes and concluded the call with a summary. Your numbers are decreasing for many items, but he is still highly allergic. Seeing overall reductions in a two-year old is a trend that points to a high likelihood of outgrowing many of these allergens.

I hang up and just sit there.  That dreaded call wasn't. It was delightful.  A flood of emotions continue with all this amazing news.  This is the first time that I feel real hope that you will be ok. We will get thru this.

Now it's time to try our new foods! Coconut, we are coming for you! 

Super Foods - Part 1

As Hippocrates once said, "let food be thy medicine."  Despite Jahan's multiple food allergies, which will all be treated starting in the next 24-30 months using OIT, food is the best option for medicine. Food will address the most pertinent issues (excluding the allergies) currently plaguing his two year old body. Leaky gut, inflammation, the presence of pathogens, unacceptably low levels of of good bacteria and eczema can all begin to heal by eliminating the inflammatory foods, ingesting a diversity of fruits and vegetables and taking daily vitamins and supplements.

While none of us are doctors, my husband and I have consulted with multiple functional doctors, functional/holistic dietitians, allergists and dermatologists and we have compiled a list of some of the best foods to help obtain optimal gut health based on their recommendations and our personal results.

Getting your two year old to actually consciously eat these foods or any foods other than juice, pasta and milk is an entirely separate and equally challenging endeavor.  Consider yourselves extremely blessed if your toddler is eager to eat and try new and different foods.

Here is part 1 in the Super Foods Series

1. Jicama - If an apple and a potato had a baby, Jicama would be the result.  This starchy tuber is packed with vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin C. Vitamin C is great for boosting the immune system of which a whooping two-thirds is located in the gut.  Jicama contains a prebiotic called inulin. Probiotics seem to get all the love these days, but prebiotics are ultra important too because they are food for the good bacteria.  If you don't feed the probiotics, they go away. Prebiotics promote the growth of the good bacteria in the gut. Jicama is refreshing raw sliced in a salad, added to a smoothie or cooked like any style potato you may fancy.  
2. Sweet potato - This starchy tuber is the gift that keeps on giving. Sweet potatoes provide high amounts of sustained energy without causing the body to spike.  Sweet potatoes are a also a prebiotic, so the good bacteria feeds off of these. Sweet potatoes are delicious baked, steamed or fried. 
3. Turmeric - This spice is used daily in our house. Turmeric is very commonly used in Indian cuisine, but word is spreading about this 8th wonder of the world. Turmeric is known for it's anti-inflammatory properties and can be used to treat a wide variety of digestive inflammatory diseases including Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and indigestion.  Turmeric can be added to smoothies or sprinkled on potatoes.  We simply add to our toddler's milk at each serving and he gladly downs it. 
4. Salmon (wild caught) - All salmon are NOT created equal.  Farmed and wild salmon may look similar, but farmed salmon are loaded with antibiotics, which are extremely harmful to the gut flora's environment.  In addition to that, wild salmon has more protein and less fat per serving, less toxic compounds and lacks the artificial coloring that farmed salmon contains.  Oh and the taste, there is no comparison.                      
5. Plantain - A resistant starch. What does this mean?  Without getting too scientific, plantains resist being absorbed as sugar, instead, these starches travel to the small intestine where they are turned into a short-chain fatty acids, which provide energy to the cells in the colon.  Inflammation reduction also occurs.  Green plantains are delicious fried. This Puerto Rican version is similar to how I cook them at home. 

Stay tuned for more posts in the Super Foods Series. 

The Scratch that Itches and the Itch that Scratches

Jahan's eczema at seven months old

The correlation between eczema and food allergies although undeniable, is often not common knowledge to all.  Jahan's food allergy journey began shortly after birth with full body eczema covering his tiny body by five months old. Weeping, bleeding, itching, repeat. It's the scratch that itches and the itch that scratches.  We have had ups and downs, learning a lot along the way, but around the age of 14 months old, Jahan's baby skin was finally just that, soft and supple, like it's supposed to be.

This lasted for six short months and then a chest to knee flare began. Wet-wraps, diet revisions, elimination diets, creams and ultimately steroids. Ugh, that feels like the ultimate fail, having to resort to god awful steroids on my toddler's young and still thin skin.  All to end up back with an unwavering flare.  We opted to see our functional doctor, think east meets west, a holistic, natural MD.  The marriage of the two had produced some amazing results in the past, so I thought, lets get in to see Dr. Wong.

As we meet with Dr. Wong, Jahan is fearful, he must be thinking what will this doctor do to me. He has seen more doctors in his short two years of life than I have in my 32 years.

Right away Dr. Wong takes a look at the eczema and then scans Jahan's tongue and suggests eliminating cow diary. That's all milk, cheese, yogurt, mac n' cheese, string cheese, pirates booty, milk chocolate and the list goes on. We will switch to goat dairy, no problem since we live in an area where we have access to these foods and Amazon basically delivers same day now.  Dr. Wong also reminds us that Jahan's eczema is his body's way of showing the internal inflammation and suggests we complete a stool sample to see inside of his gut, where two-thirds of his immune system lives.  We agree.  Then Wong as Jahan calls him tells me that I have to prepare the samples at home, FedEx them overnight to the lab and wait.

Eczema flare at 22 months old before dairy elimination

So off we go.  Waiting for Jahan to have a bowel movement was our next step, which thankfully was only the next day (Saturday).  Jahan does his business and quickly I start in on this home scientific lab.  This was not fun.  Spooning fecal matter into various tubes, mixing and smoothing, repeat. They should really consider sending a mask home with this sample kit.  Not one of my finer mothering moments, but someone had to do it.

I package it up and off the stool goes to the lab for testing.

The results are in and right away from them I can see there are issues that need to be addressed. Inflammation. Leaky gut. Dysbiosis. Minimal bacterial diversity. And worst of all, two pathogens. Shit, how did this happen to my little guy? He was born vaginally, solely breastfed for 6 months, no antibiotics for the first year of life, probiotics from birth. He's only two!

Jahan's eczema and gut resolution regimen 

We circle back with Dr. Wong and he confirms everything from above.  Mehul and I are not interested in putting a "band-aid" on Jahan's symptoms, we want to solve the problems at the root. Wong knows this. He works to find "safe" supplements for Jahan's issues. This is quite the task given all of his food allergies, but ultimately we go home with our list of supplements and prescription to remove all dairy, even goat. So now Jahan is dairy free and ingesting 11 vitamins, supplements and herbs multiple times daily in hopes to improve the gut.

With this routine, the eczema has dissipated entirely with the exception of one stubborn patch.

And now we will continue the routine for eight weeks and then I get to spoon, smooth and smell the fecal matter of my adorable two-year old....again all while hoping we can stabilize Jahan's gut and entirely eradicate the scratch that itches and the itch that scratches.