A dressing crawling with pin-size hookworm larvae is applied to the arm for several days to make sure that the squirming freeloaders infiltrate the patient’s system.   Huh?  What does that have to do with allergies?  According to the scientist behind the study, Dr. Pritchard (immunologist-biologist at the University of Nottingham), an allergic reaction is triggered when the worms infiltrate the patient’s skin.  Pritchard asserts that “the worms have found a way of switching off the immune system in order to survive.  That’s why infected people have fewer allergic symptoms.”  Initial tests of his theory have been positive.

(T)he National Health Services ethics committee let him conduct a study in 2006 with 30 participants, 15 of whom received 10 hookworms each. Tests showed that after six weeks, the T-cells of the 15 worm recipients began to produce lower levels of chemicals associated with inflammatory response, indicating that their immune systems were more suppressed than those of the 15 placebo recipients. Despite playing host to small numbers of parasites, worm recipients reported little discomfort.   Trial participants raved about their allergy symptoms disappearing …Some allergy sufferers cannot wait (for a larger-scale version of the initial trial). The moderator of the Yahoo group, Jasper Lawrence, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, has started a clinic in Mexico, to offer the unproven therapy (a basic worm “inoculation” costs $3,900).

Even if this is the safest, most successful treatment on the planet — can you imagine telling an allergic child that you are going to put crawling worms all over their skin?  And doing it?  I have gone to great lengths to tell my child that having allergies is not her fault — nothing that she is being punished for.  This cure seems contrary to my teachings.  Seems like more of a CBS Survivor Challenge than a medical cure.   I’m not even sure that this trial applies to food allergies or to kids.  Even if it does and it goes mainstream — we’ll be running the other way.  And fast.  And with my luck, my kid’s allergic to worms too.

My family stays away from the larger chains.  We feel more comfortable frequenting mom-and-pop restaurants and ethnic restaurants.  Better food (subjective, I know). Chefs and wait staff seem more knowledgeable about what is in food and how food is prepared.     Less turn-over in wait staff/chefs.  Chefs have been more accommodating.   The Nut-Free Mom also shares her positive experience with ethnic dining and reminds us to praise (and reward) understanding wait staff.  Good point.

Before our last round of blood tests — there were 3 restaurants where we could dine with our daughter.  All ethnic: Greek, Lebanese, and Japanese.  Since discovering our daughter’s garlic allergy — we have reluctantly cut out the Lebanese restaurant.  We’re down to Greek and Japanese.

A Japanese restaurant is a strange and risky choice for a little girl with a severe salmon allergy.  But when the head sushi chef sees her coming — he cleans his knife, takes out a fresh bamboo mat, smiles and says “no sesame, right?”.  Once, he saw a speck of roe that had mistakenly gotten on to her cucumber roll.   Before I even saw it, the chef confiscated the roll and made her a new one.  It pays to be a regular customer.

I had been feeling pretty euphoric since the egg challenge. I had let my guard down a bit and been optimistic for the first time in years about the prospect of my daughter outgrowing some of her food allergies.

Wednesday went by without incident. Yesterday too. Eggs, blintzes, and potato latkes — everything was fine.

This morning, I whipped up some French toast. As I try to hurry my little one out the door for a playdate, I look at her face. Her right eye was swollen. Her mouth red welts around it. It couldn’t be. But there it was staring me in the face. An allergic reaction. Albeit mild — no epi-pen required, just benedryl thank goodness — but an allergic reaction nonetheless.

The physical reaction passed within 20 minutes. But I’m still frightened 6 hours later. I had no idea that it was possible to have an allergic reaction days after successfully passing a food challenge. After several frantic calls from me (and my husband) — I talked to the allergist who acknowledged that sometimes this happens. We’re going stop giving her foods with high concentrations of egg over the next 48 hours — but we are advised to give her foods with small concentrations of egg in it (bread, cookies, pancakes) and see how she fares. Wish us luck. We’re not out of the woods yet.

And boy does she love eggs. When the allergist left the room after her initial dose (1/8 tsp) — she tried to eat the whole plate. My kind of kid.

As to garlic — we’re going to take a pragmatic approach. We’re not going to give her food with garlic in it, but we’re not going to worry about trace amounts either.  In this way, she’ll be able to continue eating the foods she has safely enjoyed for years. We’ll see how it goes.
If any of you have garlic allergies (or garlic allergic children) and can offer any tips — I’d love to hear them.

I’ve tried literally a half-dozen recipes.  All have failed miserably.

But the blogger 3 for Me recently posted a dairy-free, egg-free brownie recipe.  It looks really great.  No mashed bananas, prunes, tofu or applesauce.  Just regular ingredients that *should* be in ooey, gooey chocolate-y brownies.

If we fail the egg challenge tomorrow, I just might try it.

If we pass, I’m making French toast and brownies.

A win-win scenario, either way.

The less great news from the blood test is that we have swapped one serious allergy for another.  Our newest kryptonite: garlic.  At first blush, it seems like no big deal.   So, we won’t put garlic in meatballs and use my favorite chicken marinade.  But the more we thought about it — garlic is really in a lot of things.   Those that will hurt us most: spaghetti sauce, barbecue sauce, and ketchup.  Yes, ketchup.  Chicken nuggets will never be the same.   I look forward to talking to the doctor tomorrow to see what this all means.

If you want a good cry, click here.
The Delicious Baby Blog is a great resource for tips on traveling with kids.  Though the author’s two children are not food allergic, she writes eloquently about why parents of children *without* food allergies should think twice about bringing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on airplanes.  Gold Star!

My other tearful moment was at the playground.  We were playing with a family we don’t know very well.  The boy (5 years old) asked his mom if the pretzels she was offering him had peanut butter in it.  Puzzled, the mother asked why he wanted to know.  He quickly responded that he wanted to play with a friend of his who was across the playground.  But that, since his friend was allergic to peanuts, it might not be safe for them to play together if he was eating peanut butter.   I felt like hugging the stuffing out of this little boy for being so considerate.  It gave me hope …

Van’s frozen waffles. They make both wheat free and then original Belgian waffles which my children eat. We also eat Ray’s NY bagels which are frozen.

Frosting – I use the vanilla Pillsbury supreme white. It has soy lecithin in it but nothing else. Then I use food coloring to decorate.

Candy – Wonka assortment bags are ok. They have nerds, laffy taffy etc. I also buy extra bags of anything that my kids can have when its seasonal – Halloween and valentines day – to send to school for alternative treats.

Snack bags – wheat thins, pretzels (I just discovered rold gold individual packs), teddy grahams, oreos.

Quick lunch – if your daughter will eat it – tuna fish in a pouch is a easy grab lunch. Mine has taken that to girl scout camp outs & tae kwondo tournaments since it also doesn’t need to be refrigerated.

Any additional guidance toward shelf-stable snacks or healthy and convenient fare for food allergic little ones would always be welcome! Just drop a comment.

Last week — I had my first meeting with the principal and kindergarten teacher of my daughter’s new school.  I was pleased by how productive this meeting was.  I left reassured that the school would make reasonable accommodations in order to provide a safe environment for her.

My husband recommended that I post the discussion outline that I prepared that set the stage for this school meeting, in the event that it might help someone else.

Meeting Objectives:

1. Prevent food allergy attack by minimizing the risk of allergen exposure
2. Recognize signs/symptoms of food allergy attack and be prepared to execute emergency medical plan
3. Create safe environment in which food allergic child can have normal school experience

Wish List:

1. Minimizing risk:

A. Understanding the allergens:  What are they?  What range of reactions can occur based on contact or ingestion?
B. handwashing - entering school and after eating
C. nut-free classroom (since kindergarten students have snack in the classroom)
D. food-free art/science projects
E. principal/teacher letter to educate parents

2. Executing Emergency Plan

A. How widely distributed?
B. How knowledgeable about food allergies are teachers/staff that are responsible for FA child? Are they trained to administer epipens in an emergency?
C.  What about substitutes?
D.  Where are epipens stored?  If stored in nurses office (not classroom), how accessible is this office?  What happens if office closed?  Is emergency medicine brought on playground or on field trips?  Who is in charge in these environments?

3. Creating safe/normal environment

A. Birthday celebrations and class parties - predictable schedule with advance notice so parent can provide safe snack for FA child
B. Desire to keep child safe without putting any additional limitations or restrictions (other than those recommended by her allergist) that make FA child feel excluded from group activities
C. What are the bus procedures/protocols?  Can child self-carry epipen?  Will bus driver carry epipen?  If answer to both is “no” - how can FA child be kept safe on bus?

I hope this is helpful.  If I’ve forgotten something — or if you’ve have had positive/negative experiences in meeting with school officials that you think would be helpful to share — please  leave a comment.