Milk Protein Allergy

Cow's milk allergy is very common and usually disappears by age two to three years, but may occasionally be lifelong.

First eczema beginning at age 6 weeks to 3 months, then food allergies, then asthma usually before age 5 years, then environmental allergies.

From the Calgary Allergy Network webpage: Milk Allergy

This sounds an awful lot like some of what you've described.

A doctor at theinformedparent.com mentions briefly in a Milk Allergy article that:

Depending on the individual patient the symptoms can range from nasal discharge and cough to diarrhea, vomiting, rashes and behavior changes.

Does not go into what kids of behavior changes or anything, but, it sounds like you are on the right track.

Keep digging.

It was through my own research online that I figured out my DD's problem with her ankle was JRA, it took me months to convince DD's doctors to do the definitive tests for it.

Is milk, milk products, or foods possibly processed with milk still part of your child's diet? It could be a lifelong allergy to milk protein. You could try a complete elimination diet of all milk and milk products and see where that leads you, though you should probably research the best way to go about this before you begin. Forewarned and all. I did an elimination of wheat last year and four weeks later felt like a new woman. Now when I eat wheat my tendonitis acts up, my joints ache, I get brain fog...it's very obvious that I need to avoid it.

I suggest, if it is at all possible, doing some research on homeopathic constitutional remedies. If you're comfortable with it and have a practitioner nearby who works with children, honestly it would probably be your best bet for medical treatment aside from changing the diet. Naturopaths and Homeopaths tend to take food allergies and intolerances very seriously, whereas MDs often do not.
Good luck.

Anhata
www.familynaturally.com
Your Family's General Store, Naturally

I know Anhata and her daughter in real life, and I can say that homeopathy and especially diet have made a big difference. Casein is in all kinds of things you'd never expect; I'm sure you know that by now, but I'm just re-emphasizing it. You may also want to look at gluten sensitivity, since casein and gluten intolerances frequently go hand in hand.

Another thing to investigate is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which hs helped a whole lot of people with similar issues, especially children. Good luck to you and feel free to come here for support. That's why we're here.

Lynn Siprelle, Editor

First, don't lose hope. With your determination, you will get to the bottom of this, I am sure.

You might want to check out this site www.realmilk.com.

Many find they are intolerant of "commercial milk", myself included. Real (raw) milk is clean, unpasturized and loaded with healthy fats and probiotics that we actually need.

Another great site is: http://www.westonaprice.org/
This site is loaded with info on real foods, the benefits of going back to real foods (as opposed to processed).

While raw milk is not legal in all states (mine included) I drive 2 hrs every week or two to get mine out of my state - I go to a state where it is legal, know my farmer, his farming practices and even the cows I am getting my milk from. I would not get any raw milk from a commercial so-called "organic" farm, because of their practices. If you do decided to go this route, let me know and I can give you more info.

Hope this helps

Kathy

after years of lousy dermatologists I decided to dig round the internet to find out why my skin reacted to all kinds of odd things in unpredictable ways. I found something called atopic dermatitis (bear with me - I do have a point!). Basically it seems that possibly all the odd allergies I have and that my mother has and that my son seems to have too might be linked by something called atopy, whereby there is a degree of genetic inheritance but it's not in the usual obvious ways. My mother has really bad metal allergies. I don't but I've had skin problems for years and I developed allergic rhinitis whilst living in Singapore. My son seems to have milder skin sensitivities as well. None of this seems like it's genetic but the 'atopic' aspect seems to be something to do with a person's predisposition to sensitivities, allergies, intolerances. If my son had asthma that could be another possible link apparently.

Much of the information is either far too medically complicated or else very vague, and when I threw it at yet another dermatologist I got a disinterested grunt in response. They get tetchy when you try to come up with a diagnosis they're too lazy to check into!

nothing to do with the milk I'm afraid, but the idea that your son was suffering all these sensitivities and allergies made me think it possible. I've just had another quick look and found an article which suggests a link between atopic problems and depression so maybe that could even tie in the behavioural problems. This is the link to that bit of article, but it also mentions something interesting which might fit with the milk allergies or drinking raw milk:

http://herkules.oulu.fi/isbn9514271556/html/x217.html

you will definitely have to resign yourself to figuring it out for yourself though because doctors don't have the time (or the interest probably) and you know your son best.

one final thought - it occurs to me that by not drinking milk your son may have missed out on more omega fatty acids than we might normally think about and that may have affected/worsened his behavioural problems.

Kerri.

Well my son Jason had his food allergy prick test done Friday. Praise he is no longer allergic to milk. BUT... he is allergic to wheat, yeast, tree nuts, tomatoes, string beans, carrots & shell fish. UGH!!
Your responses to my first post were wonderful. Thank you! Is there anyone that can point me in some good directions on dealing with these combinations of allergies. I've gone on all the major allergy association web sites. I have found some great information but I would love to find a site that you could put in the specific allergies and it would create a guideline sheet. I really like the separate guideline sheets that list what to avoid and whats ok. I would just like to have one rather than a bunch.
Thanks.
Bev

There are two ways to react badly to food, one is having food allergies where contact with the food creates a histamine response.

The other is having food intolerance(s) where the alimentary tract actually has a chemical reaction to the food and cannot process it properly. You have to do a different test for food intolerances. The homeopath we see takes a few drops of blood for the test.

Some literature says that about 95% of people have some form of food intolerance. DD has been tested and is intolerant of potato and of the combination of fruit and sugar. I've been tested but do not have the results back yet.

We've not had allergy tests done, though. I'm wondering if I could get our insurance to pay for it...DD has had a runny nose all winter long and was sneezing again this morning. I need to get on top of that.

Glad to hear that you've got some answers! Don't know of any pan-allergy websites, my recommendation is to get one of the books out there about food allergies. A quick search yeilded several: Food Allergy Survival Guide: Surviving and Thriving With Food Allergies and Sensitivities. If you follow the link to Amazon.com you'll be able to search around in the food allergies books and cookbooks and see which ones look right for you. I love researching at Amazon because of the customer reviews, they've saved me buckets of money!

Another book that looked good was The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook. These are a place to start, anyway. Happy Hunting!

Anhata
www.familynaturally.com
Your Family's General Store, Naturally

I have seen kids with similar problems here in Ohio. Several of the parents have used a casein and gluten free diet and swear by it. They say that there is amazing improvement in their child's attitude and behavior. Parents also state that it usually takes a few weeks of doing the diet to notice the effects because everything else has to get out of the child's system. I don't think it's real easy in the beginning but it gets easier with practice and if it does help his behavior and attention then it is well worth it. Good luck and let me know if I can be of help.

You guys should consider reading the book, No Milk by Daniel Twogood. It is very informative and interesting. I have a 3 year old who sounds very similar to yours - stuffy, runny nose, asthma, reocurring broncitis. We are working with our chiropractor and eliminating milk prodocuts completly from his diet for three weeks to see if there is a noticable change.

This is just a suggestion, but given what I've read, I would seek out a prosseional who specializes in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders. There seems to be alot in common with the combination of allergies, ear infections, and behavioral/emotional problems among children who are later diagnosed with autism or asperger's....also, it is common for these children to receive initial diagnosises of what you have said your son has been diagnosed with: ADHD, ODD & has anxiety disorder. I work at a center teaching students with autism, and providing consultation services for families, and a;most all the stories are the same from what you're describing, additionally, all too often, children not receiving the diagnosis of autism when they are your sons age, but are reevaluated later and diagnosed with it (usually around age 10) but they have already missed out on so many years of intervention that they do fall behind socially and academically....

The dietary changes are definitely going to help, no matter what your chlid's diagnosis, but when he gets into school, it will help him to be accurately diagnosed so that his teachers can understand more the underlying reasons for his behaviors, and they can help (as opposed to punish)him when he shows resistance/difficutly to tasks or socialization skills.

Best of Luck! I hope this information helps.

I have seen changes in behavior and emotions with the gleuten-free and dairy free diets, and there needs to be otehr interventions as well.

My 10 month old also has milk protein allergies and the other symptoms you mention have come back such as water eyes, etc.....first of all, we are seeing an allergist this week to see if we can try to get him off that stinkly Alimentum formula....secondly, from what I've learned over the past 6 months, ever consider that he has reflux? I say this as I understand when they sleep the food (formula in our case) can come back up and sit in their ears/sinuses and cause some of the issues you mentioned.... When I was first told this, I thought my doc was a little off as our son has not projectile refluxed in a while, but if it comes back up and sits, could cause a 18 month ear infection.....

Hope this helps,