After our Christmas 2008 vacation at my parent's place, I think I was a bit in denial. I didn't want my daughter to have to go through what I had gone through as a kid. My allergies defined my childhood. A good portion of my childhood memories revolve around me having to avoid foods, or trying to sneak them past my mom because I wanted so badly to be like the other kids and eat all the wrong things.
So even though I had empirical evidence that Nora was starting to show signs of allergies, I hoped that it would be only something small. Something easy to avoid. January passed and Nora only had occasional outbreaks of the red cheeked rage reaction which was easily enough controlled with Dye-Free Benedryl.
Why oh Why does Benedryl only make Dye Free in Liquid? Nora LOVES those chewable tablets the the dye in them just makes the reaction worse until the Benedryl really kicks in.
Well, in early February Nora broke out in a rash that looked like Scarlet Fever. The doctor tested her and said that it was most likely just a fever rash and to let it run it's course. Her whole body was raw and red and she peeled for 2 weeks after the rash calmed down. Then the itching started. Within two weeks she had obvious areas of her body that were more itchy that the rest. The base of the neck, her forearms, her stomach and legs. We took her back to the doctor and were again told to let the virus run it's course. Another two weeks passed and she was now waking up in the middle of the night. The final straw was the night she woke up screaming in pain, trying to scratch the skin off her body. Nothing we could do made her feel any better. We rushed her to the ER where she got steroids and antihistamine administered.
The steroids really helped her skin and she was seeming to get better even after the steroids got better. When we visited my mom's house she broke out again and of course through all this time we were dealing with food allergies that were causing a rage reaction.
We changed laundry detergent, and tried eliminating triggers in her diet, but we haven't figured out what her triggers are except for food dyes and preservatives.
This past week we got an emergency appointment with an Allergist. He had a great bedside manner, and they tested her for allergies to Eggs, Milk, Wheat, Soy, and Corn. They also tested her for allergies to Cats, Dogs and one mold. Her skin was too raw for more testing. Luckily she tested negative for all those.
The Allergist asserted that dye allergies are extremely rare, but as my mom and I put it- Because they exist- someone has them. It is our unfortunate selves that we happen to be in that percentage that does have them.
We had to stand up to what we know to be true- that we have seen Nora go in less than 20 minutes from happy and cheerful with pale peaches and cream complexion to screaming-fit-throwing with fire engine red cheeks. He didn't say much about the rage reaction and how common that is, but he did mention that acting out might be because allergies were causing gastric distress. So my mom and I both had to describe in detail how my allergy attacks progressed and how they felt for me. He didn't say much after that.
So my advise is- if you or someone you love is suffering from an atypical reaction, be sure to let your allergist know. And if they have a hard time believing that you might be one of the small percentage out there- stand up for yourself!
Now our journey continues as we are going to be journaling Nora's food exposures and her reactions to try to narrow down exactly what is causing the red-cheeked-rage reaction.
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