Thursday, January 5, 2012

I haven't been here for a while


I know that I've been gone from this blog for a long time now. But, I figured I'd at least give an update about my son.

Jack is now FIVE! Can you believe that? Time goes by so fast. He also has a little sister named Sara who is almost two and a half.

Sara is allergic to rice, barley, soy, corn, fish, cinnamon, and I am sure a few other things.

Jack now has very few safe foods at all. He loses a few foods every year. He no longer has soy, corn, any legumes, most fruits... the list goes on and on. He basically has around 14 foods we still *think* he isn't allergic too (or at least not enough that he reacts when on his daily antihistamines and mild steroids), but things happen to show us we're wrong on occasion.

Jack was also diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis in 2010 and sustained some pretty not fun joint damage before it was diagnosed. However, we are pretty confident it is not the typical JIA like they initially lumped him into but instead "Allergic Arthritis." Once we realized it was a reaction to foods he had been eating more of at that time, we were also able to realize he was getting joint inflammations even from contamination reactions and minor food trial exposures to known mild allergens. So, the arthritis symptoms actually helped us pin-point some of his other food allergies. We then had the allergist confirm them. We're very lucky that even Jack's joint issues seem to resolve themselves without the need for medication within a week as long as the offending food or contamination is totally removed. Which is good because he is also allergic to NSAIDS. Or at least the corn most children's medications are compounded with. ;)