A Question About Allergic Reaction

[fkewatson]

Hi - I'm still trying to navigate my way through this new world of multiple allergies and gut repair for my 4.5 year old. I have a question:

re: environmental & food allergies - does anyone else here who themselves or have a child whose allergies manifest themselves through neurologic sensory dysfunction and ADD/ADHD type behaviors (forgive me if I haven't looked at the archives well enough to get the info from there - I'm constantly researching things and sometimes it is just easier to ask the question)? I'm wondering if his on-again-off-again heightened sensory behaviors at school are a result of increased mold exposure while there. We aren't seeing those behaviors at home, but the ADD/ADHD type behaviors are always there.

[Rachel--24]

If he is being exposed to mold at school I would be very concerned as it can definately be taking a toll on his immune system and making him more sensitive to foods and environmental allergens.

I'm sensitive to many things...food intolerances as well as chemicals, molds and a ton of other things.

I eat only organic and am limited to only a few foods.

I do have neurological symptoms when exposed to chemicals, preservatives in food, food dyes, MSG, Aspartame....etc. I also react to natural occuring chemicals in foods due to an inability to break them down.

I have many of the symptoms seen in ASD's as well as some of the behaviors but I function pretty well avoiding the triggers.

I was symptom free and had no allergies until I got some dental work done which exposed me to more mercury than what my body could handle. I'm now being treated for that as well as the gut problems and other issues that go along with it.

In the meantime I steer clear of as many triggers as I possibly can...its not always easy.

I would definately suffer greatly from mold exposure since my body cannot deal with the additional burden of more toxins. The more toxins in the body the less able we are to detoxify and the build-up leads to more reactions and more symptoms.

The last time I was in a house with mold issues I cried and was depressed the entire time I was there....all of my symptoms intensified.

ADD/ADHD are very much linked to toxic overload....the consequence of that can be autoimmune disease, asthma, allergies, rashes, behavior problems, learning disabilities, chronic infections, digestive disturbances, etc.

[fkewatson]

Rachel,

Thank you for sharing your info! Your story is the first that sounds much like my son. I'd never heard of allergic reactions being manifested as neurological issues (and neither has his allergist or regular pediatrician) before I saw it in my son, and it still took 4.5 years for the real reason to be revealed to us.

May I ask, what type of doctor do you see (or better yet, who do you see? I'll take my son anywhere to see the right professional). The mainstream docs that we have seen thus far have no experience at all dealing with children like my son or, for that matter with any child with leaky gut/autoimmune/multiple allergies, etc. We have an appointment to see a homeopathic MD in Jan. I don't know if he'll be able to help, but it's worth a shot since otherwise I'm on my own trying to figure out what is wrong and what his triggers are. If they are chemical, environmental, atmospheric, etc, I have no idea how to control that. We live in TN and there is no way to escape mold here. His skin testing showed positive for most molds and he reacted with a very bad sensory regression when taking digestive enzymes that were made from aspergillus. He was on them for 2 weeks and 5 hours after I pulled them, he recovered. No one could explain it until he tested positive for the aspergillus. That was a proving point that at least some of his sensory issues may be caused by an allergy. He also reacts with the same type of sensory regression when taking a certain type of EFA supplement. I thought he was regressing for another reason, and stopped giving him the EFAs. When we learned of the multiple allergies, it dawned on me that he might be reacting to something in the formula of that brand of EFAs. So I started him on just plain old cod liver oil and voila! No regression and better attempts at speech (my son has apraxia. He isn't on the ASD spectrum). So it was the other EFA formula, but I don't know which ingredient. This is such a puzzle.

Katie

[Mom23boys]

I have behavioral allergies as do a couple of my kids. It is difficult to find a dr to work with you. Most only recognize IgE allergies.

I love the book "Is This Your Child" by Dr Doris Rapp. The Feingold Program also recognizes behavioral allergies and has a bunch of great research links on their site.

[Juliebove]

The school thought my daughter had ADD. I didn't think so. After learning of her food allergies, her behavior is totally different. And her grades have improved.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Hi, Katie, welcome aboard!

You might try posting another thread about apraxia under the "parents of kids with celiac" section. That way you'd get more replies from others who have similar experiences (they might not read an "allergy" thread).

I'm also not convinced that apraxia is not part of the autism spectrum. One of my kids was diagnosed with autism at age 3, so I have a fair amount of experience with autism (at least, I think I do!). My nephew was diagnosed with apraxia, and his parents keep insisting that he is not autistic, but he is like a carbon copy of my son in terms of behaviors and issues.

Now it's certainly possible that my son was the one misdiagnosed--but I don't think that he was. Too many things--in both kids--fit PERFECTLY with an Asperger's diagnosis.

At the very least, I would say that there's gotta be a pretty big gray area in between. And, if it turns out that both are pretty much caused by external factors (food intolerances, environmental allergies, vaccine reactions, Lyme disease, etc.), then it would be nothing BUT a big gray area!