Howdy from Colorado

lvg4him · #1 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 04:19 AM

Hi, my name is Paula. I a ma home schooling SAHM to four wonderful blessings. I have been eating organic for several years now, but am finally getting smart about spending money on groceries.

Thanks for the welcome I have already gotten from some in other forums on the board!

We don't eat a lot of meat, and we don't do soy. We unfortunately have to cut eggs out of our diet because my son is deathly allergic. We don't do dairy (although I sneak some now and then, but the children are intolerant). We also don't do gluten (although again beloved and I usually sneak some here and there because only the children are intolerant).

We are hoping to do an organic garden this year (any one have any heirloom tomato seeds they are willing to share/barter?).

jujubee · #2 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 04:52 AM

Welcome to Organic Grocery Deals (again)! :)

It's nice to have you on board!

hotcouponmama · #3 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 05:22 AM

Welcome to the board! I am sure all the allergies suck, so I'll be interested in seeing how creative some of your recipes are!

derketchup · #4 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 06:14 AM

Welcome!

kristen.c · #5 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 07:26 PM

Welcome!

austinmomto2 · #6 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 08:32 PM

Hi Paula!

We also have quite a few food allergies in our family. DH is severely allergic to eggs-just the yolk though. So he can't eat chicken, turkey, or anything else that hatches from an egg. He also can not have any product that has egg yolk as an ingredient, so no Ranch dressings for him. My 8 month old DS is lactose intolerant. Fun times! Having food allergies and intolerances does make it challenging to have a balanced diet and making meals for the entire family without being a slave to the kitchen.

lvg4him · #7 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008, 05:08 PM

About allergies, yeah it is difficult. My son is also allergic to beans, garlic (who's allergic to GARLIC I ask you? LOL!) and tomatoes (the list goes on and on). :( Thankfully we did not have ot change our diets too much, because he was so little. But now that he is eating more (boy do boys eat a LOT of food) I have been trying to be a little more creative in the recipe area. :) I did join a yahoo group and it has been SO HELPFUL!

lvg4him · #8 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008, 05:15 PM

AustinMom - I cannot PM you about Enfamil coupons (don't have privilages), but I know on our local freecycle, I see coupons listed all the time for formula. So you might ask on your local freecycle if anyone has any. And you might keep an eye out there too for some. I have a young child on a different (specialty $50 a canister) formula (Elecare). Thankfully our insurance is now covering it ($1200 later). I will ask around over here and see what I can do about getting some. :)

Coupon-Crazy · #9 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 12:11 AM

Paula! How neat to see you here! It's Laurie.... aka Creations4Christ.

austinmomto2 · #10 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 01:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lvg4him

AustinMom - I cannot PM you about Enfamil coupons (don't have privilages), but I know on our local freecycle, I see coupons listed all the time for formula. So you might ask on your local freecycle if anyone has any. And you might keep an eye out there too for some. I have a young child on a different (specialty $50 a canister) formula (Elecare). Thankfully our insurance is now covering it ($1200 later). I will ask around over here and see what I can do about getting some. :)

Thx for the tips, Paula-I never thought to look on freecycle and thanks for offering to get some

.

What is Elecare? Is there a site that i can sign up to receive checks to send to you?

jujubee · #11 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 02:36 AM

lvg4him, you will have your PM privs soon!

I can't imagine how tough it is to have to work with so many food allergies! Is there ever a possibility that he can outgrow some of them?

lvg4him · #12 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 06:32 PM

Elecare is one of those you are allergic to everything and there is only a .01% chance you are allergic to this, so this is the only formula your baby can have. He threw up everything else on the market (and rightfully so, we had no idea at the time, but he is allergic to both soy and dairy). You do not need a prescription to get it, and most insurances do not cover it because it is considered a food. But you usually only hear about it when your child is in desperate need of formula and is throwing up everything on the market. Long story short, he was 16 months and only 16 pounds. Hospital stay for one month with feeding tube in his stomach to get him up. He is doing fine now, but it was very scary for a while. I have blogged a little bit about it, but am very happy to talk about it to help others. There are no coupons for it (although thankfully we do not need them now that insurance has taken over). But thank you ever so much for the offer!! :)

We believed what everyone was telling us - insurance doesn't pay for it. So unfortunately we lost a lot of money paying for something he needed to stay alive. Then we found a company called SHARE (it is in Colorado, I am not sure if it is nationwide or not). They work with the insurance and said not only did our insurance cover it, but covered it at 100%! There are no coupons for it, so this was a real blessing. SHARE even delivers it free to your door! :)

As far as so many allergies, I am just glad to finally know what he is allergic to and not so we can give him things he can eat without vomiting, hives or colic. His reaction depends on the food. Thankfully, with catching it so young and eliminating all the allergens from his diet, he should outgrow his allergy and become sensitive to it. Meaning that he can have a little bit now and then and be fine.

But his allergy to egg was very unique. Normally an allergic reaction shows up with the IeG being high. His IeG was low and his IgG was very high. Off the chart. (I maybe confusing IeG and IgG right now, I am so tired LOL!). So we have to carry an epi pen at all times (to inject in his leg to prevent his throat from swelling shut should he eat egg). It has been an adventure, that is for sure. The younger children are no longer allowed to eat egg for fear they might drop a piece on the floor and JJ might eat it. (what is it with young children thinking they are vacuums and eating everything that drops to the floor?) :D So that is one allergy he will never grow out of.

Thanks so much for asking. I do not get to talk about it a lot. :)

Saveinapenny18 · #13 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 07:32 PM

Welcome :)

austinmomto2 · #14 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 07:41 PM

WOW, how scary for you, Paula! What a blessing it was that the dr's finally found out what your son was allergic to and thankfully the formula is covered!

We also carry an epi pen for my DH for his egg, chicken and turkey allergy. I carry 2 epi pens for myself in case I get stung by any insect. I almost died from a hornet sting when I was 8 and ended up getting allergy shots for 5 yrs twice/wk with shots in each arm. Right before I became preggo with my DS, my allergist wanted to re-test for venoms since it had been almost 20 yrs since I last had my shots. Well, I went into anaphylactic shock within 1 min on the most dilute venom test in the dr office. Needless to say, the dr had to give me 2 back to back epis in the office and they stopped the test there. My allergist, who is extremely well known here, told me that he has never seen someone react like that on such a dilute test and especially after having had 5 years of shots. I started back on my shots but had to have the dr present and use an extremely dilute prep. But, I became preggo and had to stop my shots. I need to resume them but just haven't had a chance.