I had a Dr. House moment the other day. My oldest child was covered in hives for the second day in a row. Clearly she is allergic to something and I'm fairly confident, despite the lack of an MD degree, that it is not, as she suggests, an allergy to her brother. And then it hits, AHA, the new sports laundry detergent that has such a fabulous scent. After rinsing her clothes in water she is now hive free!
So now I tackle my greater pediatric mystery and the reason for deciding to blog. My youngest has had reoccurring gastric issues for a year. Constipation, stomach pain, anxiety and several laboratory tests to try to get to the bottom of his discomfort.
Thankfully we have ruled out major, life-threatening conditions. However, his continued discomfort is affecting his school attendance and his confidence as more than one doctor suggests he just needs to deal with it.
I had previously disregarded celiac/gluten intolerance, however, I am now revisiting this theory after several hours of online research. Unfortunately I wouldn't be in the dark if the phlebotomist hadn't botched his latest blood tests but as I am reluctant to take him for another "poke" I am still unsure. UNTIL I found the home celiac/gluten intorerance test. Way to go Biocard, a Canadian company who provides at home test kits for $50. Can't wait for the Snowbirds to arrive so we can move forward with this test.
Although a gluten-free lifestyle would be restrictive I am excited about the prospect of finding out what is causing his pain and relieving him once and for all.
We are a scent-free, dye free household for the most part. Those sensitivities can cause all kinds of problems. Downy and Cheer have great scent-free options. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm Mandy, Lanie's BFF. I make our my laundry detergent.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if she told you or not, but my youngest (I have three boys) had major constipation issues that were eliminated when we eliminated milk. Not only was he severely constipated, but he couldn't talk. At 4 1/2, I took him off of milk for 2 weeks. His digestion became better. He still had really big poop, but we didn't have to dig it out of the toilet anymore in order for it to flush.
After the experiment of removing milk, we found that all of us in the family have one problem or another with milk. We ruled out celiac, but it is impossible to rule out some sort of milk allergy as there are over 60 components (or so we were told four years ago).
I think it may be cumulative. It wasn't until about six or eight months after we took the boy off milk that his digestion regulated completely.
ReplyDeleteALSO! If you want to email me we can do an exchange of phone numbers if you want to talk to a real live person.
ReplyDeleteauntiemandysgoodchoices@gmail.com
oh no, don't cross the l ine. You know I hate it when my worlds collide. Damn, what was I thinking? Now Mandy has to come over and knit with us tomorrow. Bring Pepsi.
ReplyDeleteTrust her - she knows all about poop.