Tuesday, August 20, 2013

This gets me every time, too...

Photo: Just for laughs


So, food allergies.  They stink.  I hate that my kids have to deal with them.  But can I remain humble and say when it comes to food allergies, I'm really smart?  I know more than I ever wanted to...that's for sure.
Safest bet? Eat lunch at lunchtime.  Food belongs in the lunch room.  Kind of why they have one.
Last year, my son was in a food free classroom and maybe that spoiled me a little. I see the "peanut free" signs everywhere in the school-don't know why the peanuts get all the press. A life-threatening food allergy is a life threatening food allergy. Why would you protect a kid who is allergic to one thing, but not one who is allergic to something else? I don't get it, I don't like it. 
So, here we go...our poor children go from 9:05, when they arrive at school all the way until 11:45 before they can eat lunch. 
"We need snack!" declares the teacher. Oh no, we really don't. How many kids eat a mid-morning snack when they are at home during the summer? My guess is not many. 
So when I tell the teacher it's not a good idea to have allergens in the classroom due to many allergies (including my child's) being contact, she says "let's try it and see how it goes". 
Um, let's not! You see, if your little experiment goes poorly, my kid ends up in the hospital, or worse.
But this teacher was a little older and set in her snacky ways. I wanted to ask again to make the classroom food free, but decided to compromise, suggesting that we allow snack, but only single-ingredient whole fruits or vegetables. 
The next question I was met with..."isn't that a little extreme? Not all the kids have food allergies."
Well, my kids isn't allergic to peanuts, but out of respect for the kids who are, I am more than willing to send in peanut-free snacks. Don't you think others parents would be willing to accommodate all the allergies as opposed to just the allergies of one child? 
"But not all kids LIKE fruits and vegetables." Well, if they are hungry, they will eat them. If they choose not to eat fruits and vegetables, they can wait the whole two-and-a-half hours to eat and have their choice of any food in the whole wide world. 
I understand the whole world doesn't revolve around my kid, but he's seven. When I'm not there to look out for him, I can't count on him to think not to touch the table until it has been wiped down. I can't expect a teacher, who is in charge of 25+ kids have the time to have all the kids wash their hands and desks everyday after snack. 
I don't know how strictly this rule is being enforced, but to ensure I'm not a worried momma all day long, I have put this in writing and pretend they are enforcing it strictly. 
Now don't get me wrong, I don't think the whole world should be allergy-friendly because that's just not realistic; however, I do think that if I'm not there to guide and protect him against potential dangers, and the teacher doesn't have time to, I think have an allergen free classroom is reasonable. 
Any experiences with food allergies and your school? Leave your comments below!

Friday, August 16, 2013

Why does it shock me every time?

So, Davis has been excited to go back to school-probably since the first day of summer break.  This is a good sign.  He loves school now that we have him at a school that gets him. He is "normal" at this school; and even when he's not, the other kids all get it.  One thing I have raved about is that he looks like a typical child when people see him in this context.  He has been chosen to be an ambassador to students that come and visit.  He has friends and they like him-even with all his Davis-ness, because they have quirks, too.
Today was meet the teacher.  I love that they do it on Friday and don't start school until Wednesday.  I'm thinking they know their clientele need a little additional time to process the change of the new year.  He couldn't wait to go, and was rather excited that he didn't have to wear his uniform.  He talked about all the people that we would see, and tried to remember the name of his new teacher.
We show up and were directed to room 12.  Uh-oh!  We had been preparing him for room 15 all summer.  He was in room 12 last year.  All the classrooms at his school are multi-leveled, but it's all about precedence for him.  He spent one year in one class room, one year in the next classroom, and fully anticipated to moving up to the next classroom this year.
Here's the problem...all of his friends did-with the exception of one.  His eyes welled up with tears as he whispered "Did I flunk?"
I tried to explain looping, I tried to explain that there were both third and fourth graders in his class, I tired to point out that he would be with his best friend.  But then the step-touch started, the eye contact dropped.  I gave the teacher big eyes-like "what the heck?" but didn't want to talk about it in front of him.  I tried to send him in the room, but he refused to go without me.
There were no other kids in the room, plus it was his class last year.  This should have been a non-issue. 
He wouldn't leave my side.  So in we went, but he wouldn't look for his desk and started chewing on his hands.  OH NO!  He doesn't do asperger's at school anymore.  I tried to get him in the right mindset.  I encouraged him to go into his second grade class room and he see his best friend.  "I'm nervous."  (oh, I can't take it).  His teacher walked him next door and I broke down. 
Now, let's be fair.  I have had two awful days.  It probably wasn't just the school experience that had me in tears, but this crap is sneaky.  I had to back pedal so the teachers knew I wasn't questioning the placement, but that I'm sad because he "doesn't usually have" aspergers at school.  I'm a mess.  I should probably be committed.
I know he has the diagnosis.  I see how he acts in new settings.  Why does it shock me when asperger's shows up?  I don't know, but it gets me every time.
In the words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."
When we left the building, he had been happily playing with friends and was able to tell me two reasons he was happy he had been looped.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

do dietary interventions work?





Dietary Intervention: Fact or Fiction?



My pediatrician is a firm believer in "heal the gut, heal the child" and uses lots of dietary interventions as well as supplementation.  Here's what I know:  60-70% of your immune system is located in your Gut Associated Lymphatic Tissue (GALT).  When you are talking auto-immune conditions, wouldn't it make sense to start concentrating here?




Give it time.  If you decide to go the route of dietary intervention, you are talking about long-term health, not a fast fix. Most often, removing gluten from the diet is suggested.  Gluten can stay in your system for four to six weeks and even a small contamination or a single "cheat" can set you back two to four weeks.  In my experience, the first two weeks of the diet feels like the flu.  Tummy trouble, headaches, body aches, and moodiness would not shock me.  It's not a diet that you go on, then wake up one day and feel better.  So if you try it, you have to be willing to stick with it or else you are just wasting your time.

How do you know, Jacki?  Our family has celiac disease running rampant through our intestines, so we didn't decide on a gluten free diet as an intervention for autism, we went gluten free because of long-term health risks such as colon cancer.  My husband was the first to be diagnosed nearly nine years ago.  Three years later, my new pediatrician looked at me and asked why I hadn't considered the fact that our children likely also had the disease.  I decided to go gluten free with our youngest two for the first month (fully intending on returning to my glutenous ways after they were settled in on the diet).  When I reintroduced gluten, I had horrible side effects and felt so lousy.  I realized that even though it was hard, gluten free would be our new lifestyle.  Since then, another of our sons decided, at age eight, that when he ate certain snacks, he felt really bad and wanted to be strict with a gluten free diet as well.  Five out of the six in our house follow a strict gluten free diet. 
Once gluten was removed from our youngest child's diet, more allergies came to the surface as well.  We did an elimination diet again as well as blood and scratch testing and an upper- and lower-endoscopy.   The tests suggested that he was allergic to the sugar in milk (lactose) but not the protein (casein).  Our doctor said after the elimination period, we could reintroduce foods once at a time in small doses.  Instead, we allowed him to reintroduce dairy at a preschool ice cream party.  He passed out, threw up, and got a visit from some friendly EMTs with epinephrine due to what we now know is an anaphylactic allergy to dairy.  So not only is he on a gluten free diet, but he is casein- and soy-free as well.  
I know the diet.  I know it's hard.  I don't know how well it works as an intervention, but I do know that it takes dedication.  If we weren't on the diet for health reasons, I can promise you that we would have tried it because it never hurts to try.  It does hurt to abandon early.

As you embark on your dietary intervention, feel free to email me.  I am more than willing to share recipe ideas!