Mallard Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) This has been a crazy year full of stress, I'm ready for this year to be over. I need a moment to vent, so here's the rundown: January. My son was just over 4 months old and on medication for an ear infection. On the 6th day of taking the meds he developed hives. We took him to the doctor and they obviously said to stop the meds and keep him on Benedryl for a couple days (since he had already been taking the drug for 6 days it would take a while to get out of his system). The next day at work I get a phone call from my wife, who had just been called by day care. He was swelling, turning blue, having trouble breathing, and an ambulance was on the way and we needed to meet them at the hospital. I ran from the vehicle I was working in back to the office, grabbed my keys and ran to my car. I had the farthest drive of anyone (by quite a bit) but I managed to beat my wife and the ambulance to the hospital (whew, no cops). I walk in to see him sitting on a bed, crying, and surrounded by no less than 12 doctors and nurses. He was covered in rashes and hives criss-crossing his entire body. He looked like a red and white giraffe. I'll never forget this image, as it scared the hell out of me. It took a while, but they got the reaction under control. He spent 3 days in the hospital. March. My son was congested and we were doing things to treat his cold, but this night was different. Around his bed time he was "grunting," which is the term the doctor used to characterize his struggling to get a breath. My wife was really scared, and he didn't look comfortable. We called 911 and he got to take his second ambulance ride to the hospital. His breathing got calmed down and was no longer labored, but for all the tests they ran they didn't find anything. Three days later (we were doing daily visits that week) I'm at the doctor for a follow-up and he says, he's developed pneumonia wrote a script for meds and sent us on our way. I dropped him off at home with my MIL and started to get ready for work. I come out of my bedroom to see my MIL watching daytime TV with my son asleep in her arms...except he's "grunting" again. When I asked how long he'd been breathing like that she said, "I don't know...30 or 40 minutes...pretty much ever since you left." Every time I take his temperature it reads higher and his breathing seemed to be getting worse. I made the call to drive him to the hospital myself. The entire ride to the hospital was a steady decline. His breathing was increasingly labored and now I'm running red lights when possible. My MIL is now crying in the back seat. We get to the ER and his temp is 105* and they start giving him meds and running tests while I sit on a bed with him on my lap. The lady drawing blood couldn't find a vein, so she poked him 4 times before getting a blood sample (twice in each arm). She comes back 5 minutes later and says the lab won't accept the sample because she put it in the wrong color bottle. FUCK. Four more needle sticks before she finds it again. He is not happy, but it gets worse. They needed a urine sample, so 3 nurses and I held him down while a 4th inserted a catheter. Again, I will never forget this moment. I've never heard him scream like that and it brought a tear to my eye. Results came in, strep pneumonia and over half of his lung was filled with fluid. He spent 4 days in the hospital and was on a crazy expensive antibiotic since they didn't want to mess with possible cross-reactivity of his previous allergic reaction. This was on my 30th birthday. Through the rest of the year he got ear infections every 4-6 weeks. Finally, in November, he got tubes in his ears. Four weeks later, the pediatrician says he has a double ear infection and insists on putting him on the medication that has a 10% cross-reactivity with his allergy and gives us an epi-pen. At this point he's sleeping in our room, we're waking up every couple hours to check on him, and we keep the epi-pen on the night stand. We didn't get much sleep. His fever wasn't getting better so we took him to a different doc only to find that he has no ear infection, just a virus, and we shouldn't be giving him that medication. Now I'm ready to kill people. All through this, my wife continues to have troubles with food sensitivity's. She can't eat gluten and now we think dairy is causing problems. Besides gastrointestinal issues and weight fluctuations she also has mood swings, so it hasn't been easy. When she's not having a reaction to something everything is great. Topping it off, just after Christmas I was in Columbus to see my family and celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday. My wife/son/I return home from shopping to see an ambulance and fire truck following us down the street and stopping at my parents house. I go in to find my dad sitting on the bed saying he had intense chest pain and he thought he was having a heat attack. My grandma is freaking out (my grandpa died of a heart attack in front of her) and now I'm holding her in my arms. Everything turned out ok (wasn't a heat attack, but he'll need surgery), but it was a pretty dreadful couple of hours taking care of my grandma and waiting for word from the hospital. Let's get this year over with. Edited December 30, 2012 by Mallard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Alex- Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Wow. Sorry to hear all of that man. My wife and I had our first this year and I panic and baby him if he gets a runny nose or the slightest elevation in temperature. I'd be an absolute mess in that situation! I hope 2013 goes a lot better for your whole family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustlestiltskin Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Hope 2013 brings you Great health and happiness. Keep being positive and everything will be fine. srs no trolling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractor Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Thankfully my problems haven't been medical, but I'm right there with you, glad to see 2012 over. May 2013 bring some calm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Chief2011647545501 Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Good God I cant even begin to imagine what that would be like to go through as I have a 4 mo. old boy myself. I hope 2013 is much better! Any Idea as to what caused all the sickness? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallard Posted December 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Thanks guys. Any slight congestion he would get would immediately result in an ear infection, since his ears couldn't drain. Hopefully the tubes solved this. It's extremely rare for a 4 month old to have a severe penicillin allergy and strep pneumonia. We were in contact with an infectious disease specialist the whole, but we don't know what caused it. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that that day in March when I had him on my lap in the ER was my 30th birthday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 My son is allergic to eggs, we found that out after he was one, we just had both kids tested at the allergist, my Daughter had been complaining of stomach pain almost every day, went to the doctor several times and they would never DO anything. Come to find out she is allergic to Dairy and Soybeans. Soybeans are in fucking everything, and she hates almond milk, or coconut milk, soy milk is out of the lineup. Fuck it's hard making a meal for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallard Posted December 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 My son is allergic to eggs, we found that out after he was one, we just had both kids tested at the allergist, my Daughter had been complaining of stomach pain almost every day, went to the doctor several times and they would never DO anything. Come to find out she is allergic to Dairy and Soybeans. Soybeans are in fucking everything, and she hates almond milk, or coconut milk, soy milk is out of the lineup. Fuck it's hard making a meal for her. I feel for ya. My wife can't eat gluten and wheat is in almost everything too. Is your son allergic to cooked eggs too? I was just reading an article in Living Without Magazine where a study found ~80% of children allergic to eggs could eat cooked products with eggs as an ingredient without a reaction. The down side is that the only way to find out is to feed it to them and stand by with an Epi-pen. There was also an article in the mag about dairy allergies and there are two different caisen proteins produced by cows. Almost all of US cows are one type, but milk in France, India, and a few other Euro nations are mostly the other type. The result is some people with dairy allergies in the US can drink milk overseas without issue. They named a couple brands in the US that have the different protein, as well as goats milk. The magazine is worth a read and some library's carry it (Upper Arlington for sure). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 He is fine with cooked foods made with egg, but feed him scrambled eggs and his eyes swell up and gets hives. Yes my daughter is allergic to caisen (protein in dairy), haven't heard about 2 kinds. Will have to read about that. We now carry epi-pens everywhere we go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Gump 9 Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Wow! My 11 months old is having a cold and teething the same time and I'm thinking its the end of the world. I can't imagine myself going thru your. Yes, 2012 is a very bad year in general. Cannot wait for 2013, lets hope it'll get better for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 I feel for ya. My wife can't eat gluten and wheat is in almost everything too. We just got through basically supporting Whole Foods in efforts to go Gluten free for 2 weeks. I did so after reading about the side effects of modern day wheat which is genetically different than wheat from 30-40 yrs ago. They believe that's why the Gluten allergies are becoming so prevalent today. Bread really sucked but the rest wasn't too bad. We noticed our blood sugar levels which we all monitored didn't spike nearly close to what they did on our regular meals. There was also an article in the mag about dairy allergies and there are two different caisen proteins produced by cows. Almost all of US cows are one type, but milk in France, India, and a few other Euro nations are mostly the other type. Interesting. Do you have the article? I'd like to read up more. The down side is that the only way to find out is to feed it to them and stand by with an Epi-pen. It's extremely rare for a 4 month old to have a severe penicillin allergy and strep pneumonia. I'm still the same way. I was about 8 when my parents found out the hard way. I will never forget my bad reaction. Scared me as a kid and still has me scared. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that that day in March when I had him on my lap in the ER was my 30th birthday.You're a baby still Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallard Posted December 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 He is fine with cooked foods made with egg, but feed him scrambled eggs and his eyes swell up and gets hives. Yes my daughter is allergic to caisen (protein in dairy), haven't heard about 2 kinds. Will have to read about that. We now carry epi-pens everywhere we go. Found the article online. http://www.livingwithout.com/issues/4_23/Types-of-Casein-3143-1.html Tim, sounds like you're a Wheat Belly convert. I gave it all up around April this year. With my wife's condition I have been reading all types of material for the last ~2 years, trying to understand why it came about all of a sudden. I came to the same conclusion, that even if I don't have any of the direct side effects commonly talked about I should not be eating it, and probably no one should. As a nice side effect, my acne has finally started clearing up, which I've batteled since my early teens. If I eat something with wheat I'll have at least one new pimple within a day or so. I also have more energy and don't feel tired in the middle of the afternoon. I'm thinking about getting the Wheat Belly Cookbook, which was just released last week. There are some decent breads out there, but a lot are gross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 I'm thinking about getting the Wheat Belly Cookbook, which was just released last week. There are some decent breads out there, but a lot are gross. I'll keep you posted on what we think. Just pulled it down for our Kindles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Thanks for the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallard Posted December 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 I'll keep you posted on what we think. Just pulled it down for our Kindles. Definitely keep me posted. The "good" thing about his book is it stays away from the other "junk carbs" most marketed gluten free foods use, which actually can spike your blood sugar even more. The downside is the ingredients may be more expensive (almond meal, coconut flour, etc.) although I haven't researched enough to see if it's much different from the other gluten free mixes. Did you decide to try it after seeing him on Dr. Oz? Or were there other motivations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Did you decide to try it after seeing him on Dr. Oz? Or were there other motivations? I was actually onto this prior to the Asian doctor on Dr. Oz a few weeks back. My brother in law from Japan is a doctor and he and I were talking about it as their family is really into things like this. I've dismissed it as just another way of thinking until I saw how he litterally transformed his entire body with food in preperation for running marathons. He lost over 50lbs and is ripped now and way, way healthier and has more energy. Ironically I did see the Dr. Oz thing while on vacation and helping my parents out at their home. I never watch the show, but mom had it on and I was stunned to see that episode. I am 190lbs and would kill to get back to my prime of 155-165lbs. I'm going lower carb but more of a variation in my diet that will allow me to transform through a more "normal" lifestyle that is actually something I can do. What I mean by that is I do believe DIET is a HUGE part of our health and fitness but with Kids, family, hectic job hours, traveling, little time for real exercise and all the other excuses that I can't escape, I'm trying in a number of ways to just DO IT or at least do something that gets me on the right track. Not sure if that makes sense.....overall though, I know I have to eat better and the one thing we don't cut corners on in our home regardless of costs is food. We spend about $1k per month at Kroger, etc..including of course other non-food things but I'll gladly spend more if need be to insure the kids eat healthy. That's already a part of why our food bills are higher. Now it's time the wife and I eat the same way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallard Posted December 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 I am 190lbs and would kill to get back to my prime of 155-165lbs. I'm going lower carb but more of a variation in my diet that will allow me to transform through a more "normal" lifestyle that is actually something I can do. What I mean by that is I do believe DIET is a HUGE part of our health and fitness but with Kids, family, hectic job hours, traveling, little time for real exercise and all the other excuses that I can't escape, I'm trying in a number of ways to just DO IT or at least do something that gets me on the right track. I hear ya. Traveling is the most difficult thing for my wife. Every meal has to be pre-planned, which is difficult depending on where you are going. However, if you're doing it for health reasons and not because your body reacts to it (diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, celiac, autism, IBS, etc.), you can "cheat" if you have to, cross-contamination isn't an issue, etc. The one thing you see that's common through most, if not all, of the low-carb diets is they eliminate wheat. Even South Beach Diet does it, but they tell you to reintroduce it after a few weeks. I think the Dr. Oz segment with Dr. Davis (Wheat Belly author) was good for getting his message out, but I wasn't happy that Dr. Oz seemed to continually push it for the weight loss aspect, when that's not what it's all about. There are a large number of health benefits, as well as weight loss, that come with it. Not sure if that makes sense.....overall though, I know I have to eat better and the one thing we don't cut corners on in our home regardless of costs is food. We spend about $1k per month at Kroger, etc..including of course other non-food things but I'll gladly spend more if need be to insure the kids eat healthy. That's already a part of why our food bills are higher. Now it's time the wife and I eat the same way. Good luck. I hope it goes well for you. I'm not large by any means, but when I quit wheat I lost ~10 pounds in 2-3 weeks without doing anything else, I didn't have afternoon-long food cravings anymore, my acne cleared up, I slept better (debateable with a baby though), I didn't get tired in the afternoon, and the best reason of all: my wife can't say I don't understand what she goes through to fiind food any more. Sounds like you have everything under control, but if you have any questions on brands of food or restaurants feel free to PM me. I know there are other's on here that were paleo (that thread went well a few months ago), which is close to the Wheat Belly Diet, except paleo says no peanuts and no grains (or certain grains infrequently), while Wheat Belly allows peanuts and some grains. For bread I would recommend Udi's or Kinnikinnik, and I've had homemade bread from Pamela's mix that was good. Although, these probably don't adhere to the Wheat Belly rules since I think they are full of "junk carbs and starches." They don't sell it in our area, but I hear Paleo Bread is good. (http://www.julianbakery.com/bread/paleo/) You can get it at these two places in Columbus. You'll have to tell me how this is too. Great Lakes Wellness Center (starting 7/26) 6797 N. High St. Worthington, OH. 43085 US 419 872 5343 Fitness and Nutrition Center 803 Bethel Rd. Columbus, OH. 43214 US 614 459 2378 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 So in reading "snowville farms" milk is mostly Guernsey cows and Jersey cows so it should be high in beta A2 casein not A1 casein. I've heard some Giant Eagle stores carry it, and also Earth Fair next to Costco carries it. The hope is around the corner Giant Eagle has it and she has no reaction. Going to try it tomorrow after we locate a half gallon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.cos Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Yes giant eagle carries it. It's also what Jenis ice cream uses for thier I e cream Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Happy to report that my daughter has been drinking Snowville Farms milk for a couple weeks now, and not one complaint of a stomach ache. In fact she had about an 8 oz glass with dinner about 45 min ago and is running around being a 5 year old. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallard Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 That's AWESOME! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 We emailed them (Snowville Farms) about their cows and our daughter and her allergy a couple weeks ago. They have been emailing us asking for updates every few days. Very surprised at their interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10phone2 Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 I hope everything gets better with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berto Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 That is crazy but I do know i've been working to long when I kept trying to figure out why you were talking about a "malfunction indicator lamp". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallard Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 We emailed them (Snowville Farms) about their cows and our daughter and her allergy a couple weeks ago. They have been emailing us asking for updates every few days. Very surprised at their interest. Glad to hear it. If you don't mind me asking, how serious is her reaction to caisen? Just GI problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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