After a visit to the Mayo Clinic, their son Blake had a tube implanted in his stomach because he had such horrible food allergy symptoms. "We just changed our mindset," mother Becky recalls.
"We felt like this is helping him... this is his food. Some people eat with a fork, but for him... he eats with his tube." Once Blake was at school, his parents began seeing how much his children food allergy affected him as he watched other kids eat. The Ringstroms decided to look for another approach.
More often than not, a suspected children food allergy turns out to be a false alarm of some sort. "The fear of possible reaction markedly reduces the quality of life amongst peanut-allergic patients and their families," stated Dr. Adnan Custovic, MD, PhD of the University of Manchester.
"However, avoiding peanuts only makes sense if child is really allergic." In a recent study of 79 children who tested positive in blood allergy tests, Dr. Custovic found that just 13 developed allergic symptoms at all and only 7 actually had peanut allergies.
Researchers concluded that misdiagnosis was very possible for 7.4% of those tested by blood or skin prick tests and that the only way to really tell for sure was with a Food Challenge study.
Four-week-old Grayson Grebe had such bad eczema on his cheeks that his doctor suspected he was experiencing a severe children food allergy. At six months, he was diagnosed with child food allergies to wheat, eggs, nuts, oats, rice, barley, dairy, chicken, pork, corn and beans.
By 10 months, fruits and vegetables had been ruled out and he was resigned to a life of living off special formula.
Unable to accept this prognosis, the Grebes took Grayson to the National Jewish Health Hospital in Denver, Colorado, where doctors were able to add twelve foods to his diet after Food Challenge testing. "It's made so much difference in our lives," says Amy Grebe.
To read more Educating Your Family About Children Food Allergy
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