Feeding my family is quickly becoming a full time job. And just like any other new job, I am feeling unequiped to handle my load.
"Where does my help come from, my help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."
I decided to turn this blog into a food journey of healing myself and my son.
Peanut was born 5yr 8mo. ago.
He was a happy baby. Snuggly, slept decent, didn't have the issues Mouse had with me eating dairy products, didn't have the issues JuJu Bug had with reflux.
It was mouses first year of school, and like any other Kindergartener he brough home every cough, cold and flu that went into his classroom.
We had it ALL.
Peanut had his first seriously illness at 4mo old. He caught croup. He was SO sick. I covered his carpet in towels, slept on a air mattress in his room and sweated my brians out with the humidifier and heater on.
By the time he was 9mo. he was starting to be physically rough. He would pinch, bite, and hit. I remember vividly one day he grabbed my nose and stuck his finger up in it so hard he gave me a bloody nose.
At 11mo old he was kicked out of the child care at the gym for biting.
By his first birthday I had to constantly be viligant and watch that he didn't hurt other children.
At 1 yrs old he weighed in at 19lbs. Smaller than his older brother and sister. But seemingly still okay. After all, he had caught tons of germs that year and didn't eat as much.
But then the vomiting started. The diapers started making your eyes water and the smell was toxic.
Something was wrong.
We tried changing his diet. We took him to numerous Doctors and specialists. But by Christmas he was down to 17lbs.
My baby was wasting away. His skin was gray. He had dark circles under his eyes constantly. His hair and nails had quit growning. He had a huge distended abdomen. He was passing his food completely undigested. That is if he didn't vomit it up profusely first.
Then one day I walked into his room. He was sitting in his crib kind of out of it and as I watched him I was literally watching hives apear on his body. I striped him down, he had one so big on his butt check you was the same size. He started crying and grabbing them. They were starting to hurt because the skin was stretching.
At this point we were seeing a naturopathic doctor. But she was across town. I started searching for a local naturopath. Our chiropractor referred us to one he knew of through his naturopath (the one we were driving across town to see) So we made an appointment.
After, test upon test, all coming back negative or inconclusive. The general "ruling" was "failure to thrive" with food allergies and intollerances to gluten and dairy.
Fast forward to 2012.
Afer treatment upon treatment, diet restrictions, mood swings, behavioral issues and chiropractic treatments. We are not much better than we were in 2007.
He still gets diahrrea, he still gets hives, he still gets distended tummy, he still acts out and gets eczema. Plus he quit growing again.
He in fact lost weight again.
So we are started researching.
What caused these symptoms? Does anyone else have similar symptoms? How did he get this? WHAT is THIS?
Meanwhile, I started feeling bad. I chalked it up as stress, poor sleep, and unhealthy snacking. I never put what was going on with Peanut together with how I was feeling.
Until this year.
I was a filing lab records when I came across similar test he and I both had undergone.
They were very similar. We reacted to the same things had the same absorbtion issues and symptoms. How did I miss this? How did our Doctor miss this?
So I kept reading. I started researching terms and wording used in the lab notes on line.
I stumbled across Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
More specifically Crohn's Disease.
Could this be what we have? So I studied more.
I talked to the Doctor. We compared notes. We have a plan.
She agrees it could be exactly what we are dealing with. So we wait for labs.
And we change our diet once again.
No Gluten
No Sugar
No Dairy
No Soy
No Beef
No Eggs
Sigh...I think I can, I think I can...
This is my daily journal of our journey.
