Allergies and Chiropractic Care

In addition to having issues with gluten, both my children ( and myself) have environmental and seasonal allergies.  And while there are literally thousands of things that fall into these categories, sometimes I feel like we may have wound up with reactions to a good percentage of them.  For awhile we had been on the seemingly never-ending cycle of allergy medicines that did not quite work well enough and overly tired, crabby kids due to the medication.  On top of that, I would typically limit our time outside, knowing that the longer we were out, the worse it would be for the kids later.  Now, my kids are the kind that would be perfectly happy living outside, if there was a way to do it, so cutting their time outside short never ended well for any of us.

That is when my husband and I began to look into other options for treatment.  This is what lead us to natural medicine, including chiropractic.  After a long period of research and continuous learning, we now choose to treat our children naturally and homeopathically whenever possible ( by this I mean that if there was a serious condition going on I would of course bring my children to their traditional pediatrician).  While starting down this new path, we can across the idea of chiropractic.  I had previously always thought it was something that either older people or people with back problems used.  I never realized the vast amount of conditions that chiropractic can help treat, and actually prevent.

We did our research and had meetings with multiple chiropractors before we found one that was the right fit for our family.  Before we even told him our concerns, he was able to look at the kids and pinpoint a lot of their conditions, which amazed me.  He then explained to us that our bodies have this insane healing ability that most of us are not aware of, and once everything is in alignment,  our body is able to take back over and work on healing.  We spoke of the laundry list of things that I was concerned about with the kids, and myself, and we got to work on a treatment plan.

Soon, we were all going for regular adjustments.  After the first adjustment, I noticed amazing results in the kids.  Temperaments were better, they slept better, they even ate better. As time went on, I began to see a drastic reduction in the way they responded to their typical allergens.  Reactions were far less severe and medication was rarely necessary.  Of course, our chiropractor advised us that the likelihood of a “cure” for their allergies was far-fetched, and not something we should be anticipating.  But, he also let us know that with continued adjustments, we can help keep their reactions at bay, since their bodies are better able to handle being exposed to the allergen.

We now continue to go for regular adjustments and check ups.  We use a homeopathic allergen blocker right under their noses on days we know the mold and pollen counts are high, which helps keep those days less severe.  We still keep Benadryl on hand, just in case we have a bad day or two, but I can honestly say I could not tell you the last time I needed to use it for seasonal and environmental reactions.

I am well aware that chiropractic care is not something that everyone is open to.  However, if you are, and if your family and children are, do your research and think about adding this to your treatment plan.  For us, it has made all the difference in the world.

Epipen/Medicine Bag Review & Giveaway

In honor of Allergy Awareness week, I want to share with you what we use for my daughter’s Epipen and medications.  We purchased it through FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education).  If you have never checked out their site, it is full of  great allergy info!  The bag is small enough it fits in a purse or diaper bag, or can be hooked on a belt loop.  It fits EVERYTHING we need to keep my daughter safe, including two Epipens, a bottle of Benadryl, an inhaler, AND her allergyactionform (gread downloadable free form) plus we keep a DVD in there on how to use an Epipen.  We keep that in there in case someone does not know how to use an Epipen or needs a refresher course.

This is the best bag, and is the perfect size, AND it’s only $6 through FARE (plus shipping $4.50 for two bags)!  We keep one bag for when Bean goes to a friend’s house, sitter, or if we go on a family outing.  We have another that Bean takes to school to keep in the nurse’s office.  The one for school we wrote her name and “SEVERE PEANUT ALLERGY & ASTHMA” on the front.  Her school nurse says she loves that if she ever needs anything for Bean, all she has to do is quickly get out her bag.  We have had both bags for 5 years now.  It has been all over the place and they are still is in excellent shape.

FARE’s online store is currently not active, because they just revamped their site, however you can view the FARE Order Form and call them to place your order at 800-929-4040.

ORRRR you can win one!  Several ways to gain entries to win the fantastic bag.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated or given anything free in order to do this review.  I just think it’s such a great product that I wanted to share it with you.  FARE is sending out a free bag to one winner though for the giveaway.  All opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way.

Does my child have food allergies (please share with new parents)

I remember the exact moment when Bean had her first reaction to peanuts.  Halloween was only a couple of weeks away.  We were practicing saying “trick or treat” with her little orange pumpkin and the snack size bags of Reese’s Pieces.  She was only 15 months old, and it was going to be her first Halloween out trick or treating.  I was so excited about it.  We were practicing, by pretending that she was going up to a door.  I would answer the door, and she would say “trick treat”.  She did it a few times, and finally she said, “trick or treat”!  Her reward was she could have one of the bags of Reese’s Pieces.  She ate TWO Reese’s Pieces, and her lips got very red, and her chin and cheeks turned red and got little bumps all over them.  Neither my husband nor I have food allergies, so we didn’t have a clue what was happening.  I took her into the bathroom and washed her face, thinking maybe she touched something.  I never gave her Benadryl or took her to the doc.  I think I might have put some Hydro-cortisone on her face.  It took a while, but it did finally go away.  After she went to bed, my husband and I were talking about what she could have gotten into that gave her a reaction like that.  I remember asking him, “Do you think she might be allergic to peanuts?”  We both dismissed the idea, because everyone has seen an allergic reaction on TV.  There was no puffy face, eyes swelled shut, can’t breathe type of thing happening.  Previous to that, we had been camping.  We made scrambled eggs in Ziploc bags.  It was a neat camping recipe I had found online.  You crack an egg into a Ziploc bag, zip it closed, squish it around in the bag to scramble it, then place the sealed Ziploc bag into boiling water.  It cooks it right in the bag, and you eat it right out of the bag too, with a spoon.  That time her chin got red and got little bumps all over it. Again, we washed her face off, thinking she maybe got into some weeds or something at the campground.  At her next appointment with the pediatrician, I mentioned it.  When I told him it was an after thought… an “oh by the way” type of thing.  I didn’t think of how serious it could be, until her pediatrician said he wanted to send her for food allergy tests and to keep her away from anything with peanuts and eggs until further notice.  Her tests showed that she was (and is still) anaphylactic to peanuts, and that had a mild egg allergy(which she has since outgrown).  We have come a long way in what we know now about allergies, but as first time parents who have never dealt with food allergies before, we were pretty clueless.  I think back and wonder if I would have had any clue of what to do if she had actually gone into anaphylaxis from eating the Reese’s Pieces?  Would I have done things correctly in time to save her?  I didn’t have an Epipen yet.  I am just thankful that her reaction was not worse than it was.

All that being said, PLEASE pass this info along to all new parents… you never know when they might need this information!