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The story of our precious little girl's 17 months of life with Trisomy 18 (July 4, 2010 - December 15, 2011) and of us, re-learning to live "after Lilly."
"I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made ...." Psalm 139:14

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Tabby update: Food Sensitivities test results

These photos were all taken by Tabby, at our Botanical Garden field trip last Friday.  I love how she sees everything that I do but at different angles.

Tabby felt OK enough to go to school this past Monday and Tuesday.  Yay!  She stayed home today though, feeling horrible, and I highly doubt she will go tomorrow. Boo!  She is aching and feverish and has very swollen lymph nodes.  But we're staying positive about that - those are detox symptoms.  We want all that bad junk out of her system.

Yesterday we went to her functional medical doctor for the results from the food sensitivities test that she took.  It was so interesting and encouraging in this journey to figure out what in the world is making her feel horrible most of the time.

It turns out that she has a high sensitivity to many foods she eats almost every day.  Including chicken eggs.  Now how horrible is that considering we now have 64 chickens!  But thankfully she can eat guinea hen eggs, which we have.  And - she can eat duck eggs.  Yay!  Solomon and I have been wanting to get some ducks for awhile.  Is that not a perfect excuse?

Dairy is not good for her either - but that is only COW'S milk and cow's diary products.  Yay for our goats that I milk since she can drink that.  Tabby also likes goat milk cheese.  I need to start making that (in all my spare time, right?).  But even Walmart has one that she likes.  

This sculpture is called "Spring Chicken".  Get it?
 Grains/starches are another problem for her.  Which I found interesting since she didn't test for gluten issues at the scopes she had.  And ginger.  Ginger!  I've always wondered why when I gave her ginger to soothe her stomach it never helped her.

Bursting Heart plant - we have some in our woods too

Here is the list of foods she tested a high sensitivity for:

cow's milk & cows milk products  
chicken eggs
garlic
squash
green peas and lima beans
peanuts
soybeans

almonds, cashews, sesames, walnuts
coconut
watermelon
barley, bran, gluten, malt, rye, wheat
ginger


Isn't that interesting?  I'm going to have to learn how to cook some things differently.  Like no more using coconut oil to cook food she will eat.

The test results came in a very helpful packet which includes more details on foods to exclude, special considerations, shopping lists, and a suggested food rotation list.

Dr. H said it would be best to try and basically follow the paleo diet for Tabby.  Fruits, veggies, meat.  So we'll give it a good try.

This statue is based on a scene from Cold Mountain
 There are still a couple tests we are waiting for results on.  I'm just so grateful to have something to work with.  

I have another mystery child that I need to figure out too.  Solomon.  For a couple years now, he would occasionally wake up in the morning, say his stomach hurt, and then throw up.  This increased in frequency some this summer.  And now, for the past month or so, it has suddenly become very common.  Ugh.  

In the herb garden - Solomon rubbed a plant and then sniffed his fingers to smell it
 I was lactose intolerant as a child, so I've had Solomon off dairy here and there for a few days at a time.  I didn't notice any difference.  Maybe there wasn't a problem but maybe I didn't try long enough.  I'm thinking I ought to try having him go gluten free for a while.  Dr. H said children who are sensitive to gluten can have stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting. 

For the zillionth time - I wanted to be a criminal detective when I grew up.  Not a medical detective!  

Life is full of irony.  

Here are several more of Tabby's pictures:







7 comments:

  1. Great photos!
    So. Do food allergies just come upon you suddenly? I don't know anything about them.
    I sure am sorry to hear that Solomon has a problem too. Mostly sorry for you and trying to figure all this out.
    Hugs to you all.

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    1. I'm not sure about the food allergies. Looking back we can connect some of these things she's complained about for quiet awhile. Still, we are wondering if the heavy doses of antibiotics when she had pneumonia in Jan. wrecked her gut and that is why she's having all these issues. Hopefully eating the right stuff for awhile will allow her gut to heal and then we can slowly try reintroducing these foods.

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  2. It looks like you may be on to something and in the right direction to get Tabby healthy again. I am so sorry you all have been going through so much. Parenting is not for the faint hearted. Tabby has a lot of food sensitivities. I would recommend for the oil issue to try avocado oil. I have been using that for some time now and it tastes fantastic and much healthier than other oils.

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    1. Especially using it to make eggs...YUM!

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    2. THanks for the tip about avocado oil, Ronna!

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  3. Are they calling her food symptoms a FODMAP sensitivity? That is what mine turned out to be. The food restrictions are sort of complicated, but it is the only thing that helped my stomach. Even though I tested negative for celiac, I do still have problems with wheat so eating gluten free helped somewhat it just wasn't enough.

    I hope the diet changes help get it sorted out and that she feels better soon <3

    Love to you all!!!

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    1. No they haven't said FODMAP. But that is interesting you mentioned it since I just read a lot about it. I've thought of you a number of times during all of this and your stomach issues. I'm so glad you finally figured out what yours is. I hope you're feeling a lot better these days! Love you!

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