Info from the allergist

* This is a duplicat post from our family blog. Because I need for my family to be aware of the food issues with Joshua and because it applies here as well. *


Joshua had an appointment scheduled for next week to see a pediatric allergist. The problem is that our military insurance covers this allergist, by my hospital insurance does not. In a few months, we won't have the military insurance anymore. So I cancelled the appointment with the allergist because this office is very difficult to work with - they only do new patient appointments between 10am and 2pm and only Tuesday through Thursday. That just isn't going to work with my schedule for the next month or so because of some stuff at work that requires my presence. Along with the new patient paperwork that came last week (that I finally got a chance to read tonight when I was looking for the number to cancel the appointment), was some great handouts with a list of foods to avoid until after allergy testing. We'll probably have the allergy testing in April with the allergist that my insurance will cover. But in the meantime, Joshua is just exhausted...his eyes are so dark, his nose runs like a faucet, he coughs non-stop all the time (especially at night) and he's so weepy. I just wish I could make it all better. Since I don't have a magic wand, the next best thing is to follow the list of foods to avoid until our appointment in April.So for now, he is to avoid -
Milk
Eggs
Peanuts
Tree Nuts
Fish
Shellfish
Soy
Wheat
Gluten
Citrus
Corn

We've been fairly successful at avoiding any MSG (otherwise known as "natural flavoring" - how deceptive is that - I'm starting to really dislike the FDA in our country.)

We also try to avoid artificial colorings. I can clearly remember having a little boy spend the night at our house about 3 or 4 years ago and his mom going crazy on me for letting him brush his teeth with Joshua's blue sparkly Spiderman toothpaste. I seriously thought she had gone off the deep end and had gotten a little too crunchy. Yup, now I'm that mom. No food colorings here, and the school thinks I'm crazy.

We've been learning about hidden HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and finding it lurking in weird places.

*Sigh* Joshua's a champ and now knows that he is absolutely under no circumstances allowed to eat anything that is not in his lunchbox.