Living with Food Allergies, 2013 and on

[Macabre]

Me, too.

I've been thinking that the confluence if events seems a bit too related. So I'm wondering if they really are. The car thing is really surprising. How long have you noticed a sensitivity to it?  Not until after the challenge? You'd think it would have been a problem before that--unless adding the egg just made her cup overflow and what she had been able to hold in check she didn't have room to after having egg.

[CMdeux]

That's precisely what I think-- because she has had the occasional issue with this cat in particular-- that is, her cat tolerance is pretty high.   I think that what caused the overflow is:

cat (THIS cat)
+
smoke inhalation from a grass fire (which caused a major asthma attack even at the time-- and this was three days prior to the challenge)
+
massive egg exposure

I think that the combination was WAY too much, and asthma has been the result.  I mean, no question, the air quality has been not-awesome-- but no worse than she has tolerated without issues in the past (burning is a thing here this time of year-- so it's an annual issue). 

Popping hives and sniffling when an additional egg exposure was attempted (when we could finally get her asthma into the green zone at least with meds, I mean), though-- that indicates to me that egg is at least part of this larger picture.

So we have a choice, as I see it--

get rid of this cat, or give up on egg for now.  Keeping both makes the margin too thin, and illness is going to result in asthma exacerbations that probably cannot be controlled, which is unacceptable.

Well, at least I hope that we have that choice.  But the alternative is that we're now dealing with asthma which is reactive, and we'll have to choose "neither" if that is actually the case.  The prudent move is still getting rid of the cat, though.

[PurpleCat]

That's really sad.  I hope there is a way to keep the cat.

Also why I don't want pets in the house.  I had a cat for 21 years and now we have no pets.  DD was 5 when my cat needed to be put down.

DD blood tests low for cat and a bit higher for dogs and higher for rodent type pets.  Skin test is negative for cat and positive for other pets.  The doctor has said she's not sure if they are false positives because DD's high total IGE.  That's why we've decided to try allergy shots starting next month.  If over time her total IGE drops, can she tolerate more things.

She wants a career working with animals....of course she does!

[YouKnowWho]

DH is off the charts for dogs and cats.  After three rounds of shots - two short courses in FL, one very long in GA, he can now tolerate certain breeds of dogs (aka the designer lower allergenic varities like our terrier mix) but he can tolerate others.  He struggles still with cats - it even played into our house search.  He could not be on the lanai for long periods when we moved in.  Three years later, we have steam cleaned the indoor outdoor carpet numerous times and it's tolerable.  Good thing as he will be moving his office out there sometime over the spring unless we put this house on the market to find a better solution.

[becca]

Dd is also very allergic to cats, but moreso if she touches them or in a multi cat household.  She can cat-sit, like, run in, dump some food, pet the cat, come home and wash up, and is ok.  But in our friend's home, with several cats(it fluctuates, she is a rescue person) and dd is congested, flushed withing 30 mins without antihistamine.  So, we can never get a cat, and she and I like them.  She also wants a career in animals.  Oh, she has reacted after 5 minutes in a large Petco around here too, where they board pets, including cats.  The only visible animals of any kind were behind glass, seperate from the store, but clearly on the same air system.  We had to leave. 

CM, she always tested postive, but as long as we owned the one cat she was with since birth, until 3yo, she never reacted.  Reactions began a couple fo years after that daily exposure was over.  Makes me wonder if she is a good candidate for allergy shots, as she is now developing nasty other EAs.

I hope it all calms down for oyur dd, CM, and you can keep the cats for their natural lifetiimes. 

[GoingNuts]

A new employee had a minor reaction at work yesterday, after someone opened a Chinese Food takeout container of shrimp.  We bonded over a discussion of epipens, the hazards of dining out, etc. 

She is a 20-something that doesn't always carry her epipen.   My mission is to change that. 

[Macabre]

Oh, that airborne shrimp is awful. Glad you are there for her GN.   

[LinksEtc]

Playing detective for stomach ache issue with help of doc ...

interesting little tidbit ... stomach ache & sore throat can be strep.

[YouKnowWho]

Playing detective for stomach ache issue with help of doc ...

interesting little tidbit ... stomach ache & sore throat can be strep.

DS1 without fail - barf, fever, complaint of sore throat within 24 hours.  First time he complained of stomach hurting, pre-barf, I was afraid his appendix ruptured.  Dr. Dinosaur looked at him and said nope, it's strep.  (Obviously his name Dr. Dinosaur implies that I have been less than happy with his services prior).  I rolled my eyes and was shocked when he was right.

[LinksEtc]

LOL  about Dr. Dinosaur.

[becca]

Playing detective for stomach ache issue with help of doc ...

interesting little tidbit ... stomach ache & sore throat can be strep.

Oh yeah, one of the only two times dd has had strep, she projectile vomited while on the exam table in the docs office.  Ugh.  Hope you feel better.  We both had to go home in hopsital gowns...

[LinksEtc]

It's dd again ... seems like it is always some health issue with some member of the family.  At least I have FAS to vent about it all.  It's kind of on-topic ... after all, it's important to remember that not all stomach issues are FA related  .



FAS ... "what it's really like to live with food allergies" ..... "and a bunch of other stuff" ...
"your one-stop learning, support, & venting place" ... aka the SOAK   

[CMdeux]

Yup.

"It's not ALWAYS food allergies.  But you can't afford to think that first."

   

[Janelle205]

Man, I am SO glad that I never had the vomiting symptom of strep.  Because I had a TON of strep until I got my tonsils out at 17, and I hate throwing up.

[PurpleCat]

My kids too!  Headache and stomach always beat the sore throat....I'd take them in, doctor on call would roll eyes at my insistence of a strep test and then smile sheepishly writing a script later for an antibiotic.