The Diagnosis
We found out about Musa’s allergies when he was just 5 months old. One night, his eczema had gotten out of control. He entire body was dry, red & itchy. No matter what we did we just couldn’t get him to stop crying or itching. We were at our wits end and all his pediatrician and dermatologist ever did was prescribe us with another steroid cream or tell us “It’s normal.” (More about our frustrations with those two doctors later.)
Once at the ER, Musa was admitted for the night to run some tests since the doctors couldn’t figure out what was causing his skin to break out as it was. He was given Benadryl throughout the night which helped his skin calm down and he managed to sleep and relax a bit. We were sent home without any diagnosis and were told we would get a call with the allergy test results the next day. So we waited and I still didn’t think any of this could be allergy related until I got the call.
I still remember it was 2pm on a Thursday afternoon when I got the call telling me Musa was allergic to wheat, dairy, soy, eggs and peanuts. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was like my world has just come crashing down. All I could think was ‘What am I going to feed Musa? He’s literally allergic to everything!” In hindsight, I should have assumed allergies had something to do with. Two of my husband’s nephews have severe allergies to wheat, eggs and nuts so it’s not uncommon within the family…but hindsight is 20/20.
Now because Musa was only 5 months he was relying solely on breast milk for nutrition so I was told to try the elimination diet or get him to an allergen free formula like Nutramigen. I was all for the formula…I just wanted to relieve his pain. Unfortunately, though, Musa absolutely refused to take the allergy free formula so I had no choice but to continue pumping for him. It took a few weeks (aka the longest weeks of my life) but I had to eliminate everything & then some except wheat which didn’t cause an issue for him. Slowly, things were got back on track…for the most part.