Salsa!

Have you ever seen anyone actually drink salsa?!  Well, I witnessed it today as my kid now loves the stuff.  Last night he got his first taste of it and of course he wanted more today.  He then proceeded to drink it out of the bowl.  The best part--no reaction!! Seems as if the tomato treatment is holding, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Peanuts Scare Me

I've become quite terrified of a little peanut.  Maybe I read too much, but knowing that my kid is a level 6 on the RAST test to peanuts scares the hell out of me--that's the highest one can show allergic to.  Oh yeah, and the fact that I've seen him go into anaphalatic shock after he took a supplement containing peanut (before the RAST test.)  It caused him immediate asthma and diarrhea.  I also recall reading in Dr. Kenneth Bock's book Healing the New Childhood Epidemics:  Autism, ADHD, Allergies, and Asthma (which I highly recommend) that one of his colleagues had a daughter that could immediately tell if a peanut was in the room, as her chest would tighten and she'd have trouble breathing.  That poor child passed away after an anaphalatic shock to nuts.  How heartbreaking.

So yesterday as we're on the airplane, just as our tires start to roll to take-off, the man in front of me & my son opens a bag of peanuts.  My heart sunk.  They had such a strong aroma.  We were going to quickly learn if my kid's peanut allergy was the airborne type.  Thankfully it wasn't, but those few minutes were shear terror for me.  There's only so much protection you can provide your child, and it's a constant up hill battle.

Taking a Break

We're taking a break from our hectic everyday life and heading out of town for some fun.  We all need some mental rejuvenation in our quest to extinguish eczema, although it's impossible to really escape it at least we won't be running to and from doctors.  I got a glimpse last night as to what it would be like to not have to deal with the horrendous itch that rears it's ugly head at bedtime most nights.  My kid fell asleep in the car and never woke back up.  I had three hours to myself without him screaming how itchy he is and how he needs cream and oil rubbed onto his forehead and eyebrows.  I know some of it's a ploy to get mom's attention and for him to stay awake a bit longer, but I also know he does have a medical condition.  I keep telling myself to cherish this rare occasion, but part of me is so envious of others as this is how it should be every night.  It saddens me that he suffers, and I wish it didn't take such a toll on me as I'm so exhausted by the end of each day.

Enough of 'woes me.'  Our last couple of NAET treatments have been interesting, yet frustrating.  We've gone back to work on eggs and are struggling with them.  Today we had our third treatment for whites & yolks along with certain emotions--frustration, upset, anger, and sadness.  I know I've mentioned this before, but eggs were the second treatment we did back in December.  My son use to have this horrible rash on his torso, basically covered in hives that would not go away no matter how much steroid cream was applied or changes in diet we tried.  And the rash was there for at least two years.  Well, the morning after his first egg treatment the rash vanished and has never reappeared. I kid you not.

Before I knew anything about food allergies, his Ped was pushing me to fatten my son up with dairy and ice cream.  At nine months his first taste of ice cream was followed by projectile vomiting.  Turns out there were eggs in the ice cream.  Eventually he had a RAST test (IgE blood test) done and rated a level 3 for both yolks and whites. RAST tests though can be very misleading, as they deal more in the probability of a reaction--so reaction always trumps any test. Given our history with eggs, I have been extremely reluctant to allow him to try eggs even though NAET said he originally 'passed' them.  But he did ingest some recently by accident, as they were in some soup that I was unaware of at the time.  And the only reason I know this is because he had a little breakout above his eye (his main trouble spot) that made me inquire further.  But that was the extent of it, just a small rash.  So if NAET can get us to the point where every food isn't life threatening, I'll take it.  But I definitely would recommend working in conjunction with your allergist when it comes to testing foods that have been real troublesome.

Organic Delivery Service

With the importance of avoiding food triggers and chemicals, my house has transitioned to eating organic whenever possible.  Aside from my weekly runs to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, I also frequently use an organic delivery service  called Door-to-Door Organics, http://www.doortodoororganics.com/.  This company operates in only a select few states, but there are other services and co-ops out there once you start searching.  It's so nice to have fresh produce delivered to our house, especially with all the running to and from doctors!  We're now going to NAET twice a week, it's definitely a time commitment that's for sure.

We had a treatment yesterday which I'll write about soon.  It was very unexpected and I'm still mulling over as to how exactly to express it in words.

Tomatoes!

Well, tomatoes seem to be a success!!  I made a pasta sauce with homegrown canned tomatoes, as I wanted to get as close to pure as possible.  We started slow, but after 30 minutes there was no sign of a reaction so my little guy proceeded to eat 2 bowls of pasta with tomato sauce!  The whole time he kept saying how much he loved it, and how he wished his dad was home to see him eat =)  Even cuter was when he woke up the next day asking for tomato sauce for breakfast.

It Worked!

The pork treatment worked!  To my amazement, he ate another pork sausage after completing his pork treatment and it really seemed to work.  His skin remained beautifully smooth around his eyes and forehead.  He did seem to have a little itching under his neck, but it was minimal.  How wonderful if NAET holds the answers we've been searching for.  We'll be trying tomato this week to see how his body will deal with them. We also did a citrus treatment this week, at the request of my kid.  He's craving oranges but they don't agree with him, so we shall see how that trial goes, too.

Healing Power of Probiotics

An interesting article on the healing power of probiotics.  We use one by Klaire Labs.  He was originally prescribed 100+billion CFUs/day in the powder form, but since he's learned to swallow pills he's only getting 50+billion.  They're just so expensive and to take 4 a day would cost a fortune!

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/10/11/probiotics-healing-power-impresses-researchers.aspx

And Our First Food Choice Is. . .

Tomatoes!  We treated for tomatoes today. Why?  Because I think we can get a lot of bang for our buck if my kid can eat tomatoes again without breaking out in hives.  Oh the pasta sauces, soups, BBQ, chili, and salsas! Not to mention ketchup.  This poor kid doesn't even know what ketchup tastes like!!  Plus tomatoes shouldn't require all the work that wheat or dairy will need.  So my plan is to get him eating more variety and then we'll tackle the biggies.

On a related note, I once again watched my child's perfectly clear skin breakout before my eyes.  This time it was while eating a pork sausage.  His eyelids and neck immediately became dry, red, and peely.  About a week ago this also happened with a pepperoni stick from Whole Foods.  Could it be pork?  Yes, according to the muscle testing.  It was quite amazing during the test--using me as a surrogate I held the 'pork mix' vial while my son touched the top of my hand.  The doctor then proceeded to test the strength of my other arm.  She could have used a feather, my arm had absolutely no strength in it what so ever.  So our next treatment will be Pork.  Then we'll work on eggs and soy as there's more work to be done there.

NAET Recap, Where we are today

We are now 9 months and 41 treatments into NAET.  It's been a very interesting experience to say the least.  Although I am cautious to give NAET too much credit, I can't deny that today my kid's skin looks and feels wonderful.  It's smooth and creamy in color, just beautiful.  I also know that the itch remains, but it is starting to subside "a tiny bit" as he would say.  It could be just NAET, but I'm inclined to think that the cooler weather has something to do with it as well.

We're at the tip of the iceberg, as we still have yet to work on food allergies.  We've spent a lot of time trying to conquer environmentals and other issues up to this point.  I think Monday starts foods, and I can't wait.  Since the basic 15, we've completed organs, fish mix, cotton, pool water (chlorinated and bromine), hypothalamus, heat, adrenals, probiotics, asthma, grass mix, mold mix, tree mix, staph, me, and virus.

It's a long process, but I do whole-heartedly believe his body is processing nutrients better.  He's gained 5 pounds and 3 inches since starting NAET.  This is huge for a kid that had fallen off the growth charts just one year ago.  So we'll continue on this journey, and hope for the best with foods.  I dream of the day he can enjoy pizza and ice cream.  I know, unhealthy but he has worked so hard and this would make him so happy.