Even as dd has been struggling with eczema I have often wondered about our boys.
Ds 1 often has sneezing fits in the morning and in the past few years has complained incessantly about having pains in his neck. We have brought him to an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist, an osteopath and a chiropractor since he was 9 or so. But no one has been able to help him resolve this matter. Part of it is his posture I am sure and the lack of consistent exercise. But like dd’s eczema case, we seem to be missing a piece (pieces?!) in the puzzle. A friend then shared with me that when her allergies act up, she aches and is in pain. Ding-ding-ding!
With our 3rd child, his issue was a non-productive, dry cough that won’t go away. It often starts after a bout of cold or flu. There is no phelgm, just an irritating dry cough (like a tic) throughout the day that worsens at night when he lies down to sleep. Yes, the dreaded post-nasal drip at work 
There are some nights (like tonight) that has him coughing for hours and driving everyone nuts! And nothing “traditional” or “conventional” would work. The only helpful thing a cough mixture does is to knock him out. So unlike other parents, I would ask the pharmacist for a drowsy cough mixture 
I have taken him off wheat and dairy with great success (takes about 2 weeks to see an effect) previously. But with this current bout, even without wheat and dairy, he was still coughing his lungs out and annoying ds1 who shares a room with him. A clue that it is an allergic cough is when he was put on oral steriods, it subsided greatly! And yet it did not completely go away – again implying that the root cause has not been addressed.
So after much procrastination and doing the ostrich-in-the-sand thing, I finally brought both boys to be tested. And bingo! They too have mulitple food allergies How fun – not!
Wheat, dairy and eggs are the common allergens for both (like dd). With ds1, soy and garlic are also culprits, and rice scores a 3 (like dd).
With 3 on a restricted diet, I have been busy the past weeks scouring the internet for grain-free and vegan recipes for breakfast and snacks. Main meals are much easier to handle IMO. It’s been trying and rather unproductive as most sites are gluten-free, not grain-free and they use a lot of eggs to make up for the lack of gluten. And vegan sites use a lot of soy and grains. And then of course there’s the matter of taste. We are so used to the taste of dairy and wheat flour that alternatives need much getting used to and some stuff are really too exotic for us
However, it’s been 11 days and their condition has not changed a bit! How’s that for encouragement??? ;-(
The only culprit I can pin some (all?) blame on is the lift upgrading programme. You know what’s frustrating? Our block is not the one being upgraded since we already have lifts that stop at alternate floors (we live in a maisonette block) but the blocks around us! So we are being bombarded by construction work (think drilling generating LOADS of dust and noise daily!) all around and I am not exaggerating, for no good reason! Ugh! And I don’t know when this torture is going to end but as dh said, “Even if we sell now, we can’t move immediately.”
I guess the next best option is to close all the windows and turn on the air-conditioning. But have you read that electricity tariffs are going up again??? Sigh.
So there you go, I now officially have 3 children with multiple allergies.
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