Allergies Schmallergies

We took Samuel to a homeopathic doctor on Friday for allergy testing because he was having some severe skin reactions to something in his diet. I wasn't sure what, since he likes to eat. :) I had thought maybe the cow's milk he loved so much was the culprit, so we had switched to almond milk the day before, hoping that would give my sweet boy some relief. It didn't.

On the way over, I prayed aloud that we would find some answers.

When I got to the doctor, Samuel was red all over from what looked like ant bites, or chicken pox, plus some rashy areas. He was obviously in a lot of discomfort and just general unrest. He hadn't been sleeping well at all. For the first few minutes while I was discussing his symptoms with the doctor, he was loud and could not be contented. During our conversation, I realized that there had been symptoms for quite awhile I had dismissed as just his general "rhythm" or "bent", and not correlated with allergies at all. I even thought I recognized some symptoms in Penelope. It wasn't until the terrible rash and eczema that the possibility of an allergy had even been brought to my attention. I thought we didn't have any allergies in our house.

The doctor checked Samuel out, then started doing some testing on him and initial treatment. If I hadn't been in the room myself, I would never have believed what happened when the initial treatment was underway. My child that had been upset and unable to be comforted just minutes before, calmed in my arms. He stopped crying. He actually looked content. Within a matter of minutes, his eyes looked clearer, he was smiling and cooing, and the redness subsided in a way just short of miraculous. Dr. Jarvis said, "It's God. It's all God. He is the Healer." I was amazed.

The testing revealed that he has 168 allergies, just to foods. We haven't even done environmental allergy testing yet, though I'm quite sure he has some of those too. I was astounded. How can a sweet one year old baby boy be allergic to 168 foods? I looked through the list she gave me, and immediately saw several things that had been culprits: cow's milk, white flour and wheat flour, soy, chicken, oats, maple syrup. I mean, his breakfast lately had consisted of oatmeal with maple syrup, followed up by a bottle of cow's milk. No wonder!! And I thought I was feeding him a healthy breakfast. I also saw almonds, coconut and rice milk on the list, so I began wondering what kind of milk he could actually have. No cow's milk, almond milk, coconut milk, soy milk, or rice milk. What is left?? Goat's milk. So we have been giving him lots of water, juiced apples from the juicer (so glad we have that now!), and goat's milk. He is already looking better. Although he's getting a little tired of sweet potatoes already. :)

But nothing could have prepared me for what I found this morning. I was looking over the list again to make sure he didn't have any of the foods listed while we were doing treatment, and there were so many that I had no clue about. I couldn't even pronounce many of them! I got out my computer and started looking them up. I could not believe my eyes. EIGHT of his top 25 allergens are preservatives. Dangerous preservatives found in foods on every aisle at the supermarket to make our foods more "appealing", yet with serious side effects. I mean most of these preservatives are used in prescription drugs!! Some of them KILLED the rats they were tested on in the lab. Yet we feed this stuff to our children??? Are you kidding me?? MSG is one of them. You should read this article about it. Sodium flouride is another one, often found in drinking water and toothpaste. You should read this article about it. Sodium nitrate. Preservative. Sodium Iron Citrate. Preservative. Calcium Chloride. Preservative found in our grocery aisles that IRRITATES THE ENTIRE GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM. Canthaxanthin. A food coloring agent that is also used in TANNING PILLS. Hey, it tans your food and it can also tan you. Are you kidding me?? I'm giving this to my children?? No wonder we have behavioral issues. No wonder we have trouble sleeping. Red Dye 40. Glucose. High fructose corn syrup. He is allergic to them all. No wonder my poor baby boy is breaking out like crazy.

I really don't like being negative. I don't like being a conspiracy theorist or getting fired up about things largely out of my control. But I have to say. We have a government who approves the use of these products in the foods we feed our children. This is one mother who is fired up.

When my baby was born, I made a silent vow before God that I would take care of him to the best of my ability. He came to me perfect. I wanted to do my best to keep presenting him to God as close to perfect as I could. I vowed to nurture him with only the best of nutrition. Even though it will be REALLY hard to find foods for my children that will actually be good for them, I commit to doing it. I will search long and hard for the foods that will honor my children's bodies and protect them. I promise.