How and why we walked away from the allergists...



What did you eat?!

 A reader asked how I was brave enough to stop taking asthma drugs, or rather to have my kids stop. Asthma is a frightening disease. When my son, Greg, experienced an asthma attack he was able to breathe in but unable to breath out. Greg was hospitalized with pneumonia at eighteen months and stayed for two days. At just shy of four, he was hospitalized for five days and spent an additional month on home oxygen. To  keep his asthma under control, he twice daily used a nebulizer to aerosolize liquid medication so he could breathe it directly into his lungs. He took two medications: one a bronchiodialtor and the other a steroid. Plus, spring and summer he needed to take a chewable allergy medication. He carried his backpack with tubing medication, oxygen sensor and nebulizer every where. We could not leave home without it.

When Greg was diagnosed, we met with a nutritionist who was supposed to "straighten out our diets" so that he would be healthier. We switched from whole milk to low-fat, from whole eggs to pasteurized eggs whites, and we were supposed to give up lard, which we did, and butter, which we did not. My then eleven month old baby, Jack, went into anaphylactic shock while eating breakfast one day and we rushed him to the emergency room (which is behind our house). He needed two different types of antihistamines and a steroid, which he continued for five days. We left with an appointment with Greg's asthma doctor and a prescription for an epipen. It turned out Jack was allergic to egg whites, seriously and perhaps deathly allergic.

Then my daughter Veronica developed asthma and in the span of one winter had five ear drum ruptures and became deaf in her left ear. She needed tubes in order to establish hearing and some basic speech pathology treatment as she was less than two. She developed seasonal allergies and went on the same allergy medication as Greg and each cold required temporary treatment with a bronchioldialator administered by a nebulizer.

One day we just looked at each other as the children took turns being attached to the neb (Ben called it "plugging them in"). The kids teeth were damaged according to the dentist, the long term steroid use had weakened Greg's bones (better than dead, they told us) and left him shorter than his brothers, and we were no longer eating any food I had not prepared myself in order to save Jack from potentially fatal allergic reactions but the foods we were eating we did not enjoy. I was pregnant with my ninth and my nerves were frazzled, we were all depressed, tired and fat, and began to suspect that the "diet" experiment we were trying was failing all of us. It was a turning point. My husband said, "Let's go back to what were eating before because at least we were happier." So we did. I went out and bought whole milk, cream, lard and butter and said nothing to the doctors. We were happier. We also lost weight, felt more energetic and the kids caught fewer colds.

So then at a regular check up, Greg had grown and was doing better on his breathing test. So I asked about weaning him off drugs. The doctor was willing to try, but only over the summer when there would be fewer viruses to worry about. He thought that perhaps Greg's growth has given him larger lungs that would enable them to use less medication. So we started to cut back. My mother had been hearing about raw honey and coconut oil from a friend who had retired to beekeeping. We started mixing them together (fifty-fifty) and giving the both Veronica and Greg a tablespoon each morning in warm milk. Both saw dramatic improvement at the three month check, but I did not mention the coconut oil. He was comfortable continuing to reduce medications as he saw improvement but I never did discuss the alternatives we were trying, I was just happy that they were improving and that their objective exams demonstrated it.

Meanwhile, with zero egg exposure in our house, I assumed that Jack would be doing better as well. So I asked for another blood test, which showed a dramatic drop. So I asked for a tolerance test, which they would not agree to until he was five. His reasoning was that some allergies which are discovered before age one are out-grown around age five, for no known reasons. So, putting him on the same regimen as the others, I waited for him to turn five. He passed his tolerance test and ate one whole scrambled egg. I was advised to never allow him to eat more than two eggs a week and never have egg white heavy foods like meringues, but that he could begin slowly eating a normal diet. I went to the store on the way home and bought four dozen beautiful brown eggs, something we had missed terribly for four long years.

The asthmatics have an annual check up now and both are totally off drugs. The doctor said that some children out-grow even severe diagnosis as their lungs get bigger. Greg's lungs now operate at 120%, no kidding, and the doctor said that he may even have an athletic advantage. He believes it is because his lungs just were too small before, I think it is also the lauric acid in the coconut oil. Veronica has only occasional runny nose and allergies and we have had enormous success this spring and summer with Sabadil. She is happy and active and drug-free. Jack has no current diagnosis and the doctor says that he egg white issue was probably a matter of his immune system "flexing its muscles". While I cannot be certain, I think it is a matter of over taxing his system with low-fat yogurt and cottage cheese (depleting his vitamins A and D stores) and giving him egg whites, which are far more allergic than the yolks and should never be given to children under one, see the National Institutes of Health recommendations  against egg whites HERE. Everyone did great until Cristina, who is now two, was eating solids. She was the child I was pregnant with during our unfortunate experiment.

She had weeks and weeks of diarrhea at a time and bleeding sores in her diaper area and even would vomit in her sleep. The good times were few and far between. She was checked for GERD, reflux, food allergies and with repeated blood tests and stool samples. Nothing came up. But her bouts of loose stools and her stagnating weight haunted us. We and the doctors had no idea what was going on. What we knew is that she craved milk like a drug and drank it constantly, avoiding other foods in preference. We tested again for a milk allergy, but none was found. But after reading "What's Eating Your Child" I knew we had to address her milk issue. I had drunk raw goat's milk when available as a child but my own children were drinking local whole pasteurized. We wavered for a while over the cost and then dove head first into raw milk. Her diarrhea stopped overnight and has never returned. My children's doctor is the husband of a friend and while he is a great doctor, he is opposed to raw milk. I never discussed it with him and hopefully if he wife tells him what we are doing he won't be too perturbed. But the proof is in the pudding and Cristina is finally gaining weight and has never been healthier, despite the introduction of verboten raw milk.

I can say that I was frightened to wean my children off allopathic drugs but reading the inserts that came with the prescriptions was more frightening. I have to be honest that my lack of openness with the specialist  and the pediatrician has prevented anyone taking a good look at all the intervening factors and what was and what was not helping them. My experiences are completely anecdotal and not verifiable at all. But I do not need science, I do not need double blind studies or blood tests. What I need, all I need, is to see my kids running without panting, sleeping without coughing, eating without vomiting or having loose stools, and just  being kids. My husband's weight and blood pressure is down, my body fat and measurements are down but both our moods are up. I know what I see, and what I can't see I am okay with.

While I am no professional and would not want to tell anyone exactly how they should proceed,  I would recommend reading the package inserts for their children's drugs and to be afraid. Being open to that fear allows you to address your other fears and weigh them against each other. We made the decisions that were right for us and they worked out beautifully. Your decisions may be different, but I will pray for each and everyone of you to find health and peace, both. I would also encourage anyone to look at the traditional diet and the sheer number of populations it has nourished. It is overwhelming, but there is help.

If you are new to traditional eating and overwhelmed with where to start, Kelly the Kitchen Kop has a great series of books available on her site shop. I do get a small percentage if you buy or book or class, and I do appreciate when you click through my site (HERE, if you are on a reader). Kelly is amazing and has a friendly and not judgemental attitude and will help you get a good basis in traditional eating.

GNOWFGLINS, along the side bar, has great classes that I have been taking to perfect my cheese skills. For this I do not get a referral fee. If you need materials for those classes, you can get them through Cultures for Life through my site. I do get a referral free for these products which helps me as I spend a lot of time putting my blog together for you for free. Wardeh's GNOWFGLINS classes will make you quite the expert and build slowly to more complex skills and she has an easy, laid back style which prevents you from being afraid as you try to gain skills.

Another great resource, which is free, are all the videos on The Healthy Home Economist's website, HERE. She is a Weston A. Price chapter leader in Florida and we all benefit from her generous work. If you want to read more about my experiences in going from more-less-traditional eating to low-fat/politically correct and back to full-on-traditional eating you can read HERE.

Edited: This is a popular post that leads to more questions than any other topic I have covered. If you are curious about the specifics of our honey and coconut oil regimen, then read this post HERE. If you are local to the valley or eastern plains of Colorado area I do recommend Clark's honey found at Sprouts, their website is HERE. Still have questions? Drop me a line via email, send me a message or mention me on Twitter and I will get back to as soon as I can, see my contact page for more details.