Stupid, stupid milk!!!

I think I may have found an additional culprit to Ethan's exasperated state of discomfort and pain...

In addition to being outdoors all afternoon during the worst allergy month of the year, in addition to eating chicken that contained fragments of Ethan's major allergens I have also just read on my Wilderness Family Naturals powdered coconut milk that it CONTAINS MILK!!!!

Dumb, dumb, dumb people!! Why on earth do you have to add MILK to coconut milk powder??? And dumb dumb me for not reading the label! For assuming that if it says "coconut milk powder" that this is all it will contain! I am so livid with myself. All those stupid hours and hours of reading labels and I forget to read this one???

I had made a cauliflower curry dish on Tuesday for lunch and used that coconut milk powder. However, I also use that powder when I make my butternut squash and pear soup, which I had noticed seemed to aggravate him but no flare ups that equaled this one.

So is it the powder alone or the combination of all those factors mentioned above?

We are introducing organic tapioca today certified gluten-free & vegan so we don't have to worry about his top allergens. Duane is feeding it to him as I type and he loves it. But the clincher with allergies is that you never react the FIRST time you eat something... your body makes a note of the new protein by creating antibodies the first time you eat it. Any subsequent times the allergen is eaten, the body recognizes the protein as a danger & reacts to it by creating a ton of histamine. That's why it takes 4-8 days to introduce a new food before ruling it out as an allergen. And even then, allergies can develop down the road.

But let's hope that Tapioca will be one he can eat because at least I feel safe with that company's certifications. I have also just subscribed with Canadian Food Inspection Agency to be emailed ALL notifications regarding allergy alerts for dairy, gluten, soy, nuts and fish.

There is so much to research... Ethan has issues with any and all fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K which leads me to the gull bladder (which Duane's father & sister had removed... a hereditary possibility?)... allergies can be linked to Vit B12 deficiencies which directly correlate with the inability to process those fat soluble vitamins... Histamine is a neurotransmitter manufactured from the amino acid histadine, and histamine secreting nerve cells are located in the hypothalamus, a suspicion my sister had early on. Increased levels of histamine can also be due to a vitamin C deficiency which I recently found out that high doses of vitamin C during pregnancy (which is what I was taking) creates a high need for the neonate post birth.

ARGH!!!

I can't read fast enough, I can't find enough free time to make the necessary links and it feels like with every second that I am NOT piecing this together, Ethan gets worse.

Anyways, it can take up to two weeks for milk to clear a person's system so I have a feeling that we're in for a rough couple of weeks. I will keep you all posted on whether there is great improvements or set backs along the way.

At least we have discovered a new culprit and can rid our house of it, too. Dumb milk in coconut milk powder... so not-smart! Ethan has just been put to bed as has Anika (bless Duane for looking after the little ones while I research & update) so I will continue down this long road of endless research.

Wish me luck!!!