Our Crash Course in Food Allergies!

I wanted to share more about my allergy to give you some background. I was diagnosed with a life threatening food allergy to Dairy at about 7 months old while my family and I were stationed in Germany. I was breastfed for the first seven months but I would consistently spit up and my parents and Doctor thought I had reflux. My parents both have a history of asthma and allergies so they were nervous for me to try formula. The first time they gave me formula (milk based) I had a reaction several hours later, I threw up in my crib and one of my eyes was swollen shut. My mom being a first time parent brought me to to the doctors worried it might be an allergy to the formula, but the Doctor told her it looked similar to a "bug bite". They didn't think it would be an allergic reaction because it would be "both eyes". However, they did advise my mom if it happened again to bring me right to the hospital.

The second time I tried formula my mom was very cautious and only gave me a few sips. Immediately, hives start popping up everywhere! Living in a foreign country, the closest hospital was a local German hospital. It was there that I was diagnosed with a milk allergy. The hospital was a teaching hospital and they wanted to inject me with milk protein the next day to observe how my body reacted to the allergen. My parents politely declined the offer and ran out of there with me. My Mom flew back to the states with me a few weeks later to get more testing and direction from my pediatrician. During this time frame, I also developed severe asthma, and was being treated often with steroids.

My results showed, that I was allergic to the protein in milk. They suggested alternative formulas (soy based) and suggested that most children grow out of this milk allergy. There are some scenarios when kids grow out of allergies they have when younger. I however, twenty-eight years later unfortunately did not! I am the oldest of four children and the only one with life threatening food allergies. My mom likes to explain to me that this is because I could handle it! ( now when I think about it, it was probably just a nice way of saying... I have no idea how that happened but you got this). Later I was diagnosed with more allergies but we will get to that another time!