Raising Special Kids site is coming down soon - by the end of the month, but don't worry, I am putting together a brand new site from Raising Special Kids - and because that brand is already in use by www.raisingspecialkids.org, I am changing my site to www.my-special-kids.com. I will have the index page up and will rewrite and post the pages as I go along, updating and adding new information and experiences. Stay tuned!

Just One Bite Can Hurt

For those with food allergies, intolerances, and disorders, just one bite of certain foods can hurt. The complexity of food allergies, intolerance's, IgE mediated responses, Celiac, anaphylaxis, Eosinophilic disorders among others, and the variety and depth of urban legends, old wives tales and outright lies, makes understanding what you can and can't do so difficult. Sifting through the mound of information seems an impossible task at times, so here we will try to break through those barriers and set down a few simple facts about people who just plain can't have certain foods.

Usually blanketed under the category of food allergies, many people have an adverse reaction to certain foods or in extreme cases as in Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis, most foods. People react differently depending on the underlying problem. In the case of an anaphylactic response, the reaction is usually immediate and can be deadly, for others it can take hours or even days before a response is noticeable, which makes it very hard to figure out what caused it in the first place!

Regardless of the reaction, or the trigger that caused it, the primary method of treating an allergic or intolerant response is avoidance. The reason is elegantly simple - it works. For whatever reason, in the majority of these disorders, it is the body's immune system reacting inappropriately or misinterpreting things, such as food proteins, as dangerous intruders that need to be attacked and defended against. No exposure, no reaction.

However, in many of these cases, it goes deeper than the evident histamine response and can cause long term damage with each exposure. Some forms of these disorders, the reaction is mild or not even noticeable after exposure, but the damage accumulates on the inside.

Here are some examples:

• Exposure to even a little gluten for someone with Celiac disease will damage the intestinal villi, even if they can't feel any other response. Once the villi are gone, absorption of nutrients is just about impossible, and damage is cumulative. Just one bite can hurt.
• For those with anaphylactic food allergies, just inhaling the scent, or contact with the skin can be a death sentence with immediate assistance. Just one bite can hurt.
• Many food intolerances also accumulate damage on the inside, undetected, as well as the visible or noticeable reaction. Damage is permanent and can lead to other intolerance's and abnormal reactions to food and the environment. Just one bite can hurt.
• Eosinophilic disorders are where the eosinophils of the immune system turn and attack the body itself, and being very efficient immune system warriors, causes damage internally. Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis can damage the lining of the intestines affecting the ability to absorb nutrients, or with Eosinophilic Esophagitis, the esophagus can actually close, restricting any kind of swallowing. 

For those of us who live with these allergies and disorders, it is a constant struggle of reading food labels, checking ingredients, checking for cross contamination, preparing separate meals - with separate pans and separate utensils. Don't be fooled or pressured into thinking that just a little won't hurt and so you dose yourself with a couple shots of Benadryl. There is a price to pay, and the damage done can be permanent. Just one bite can hurt.