When Asher was 6 weeks old, I took him to the pediatrician for what I thought was a bad case of “baby acne” on his face and torso. The doctor diagnosed it as eczema, most likely caused by food allergies. Since Asher was exclusively breastfed, I went on elimination diets for wheat, soy, and dairy for a week each. With no change in his skin, our pediatrician said I could go ahead and eat what I wanted, and we treated the eczema with prescription creams until Asher was old enough to be allergy tested.
At 9 months, we went to the allergist (also suspecting allergies to eggs) and confirmed that Asher was allergic to eggs and milk, but those were the only two tests we initially did.
At 12 months, Asher was having bad diarrhea, his skin wasn’t much better without the use of the prescription creams, and he stopped growing. In May 2006 at 15 months, a gastroenterologist scoped him and found his whole digestive system riddled with eosinophils and was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis. More allergy testing confirmed that Asher was allergic to, well a lot of things. He went on Elecare for all his caloric and nutritional needs, but we were still lucky enough to be able to feed him safe foods, all fruits, some vegetables, and turkey.
Asher’s symptoms immediately abated once we took out the offending foods, and this past September, we’ve started some food trials and gotten back wheat, rice, pork and beef. Now, Asher only has to avoid the Big 8 (excluding wheat).
I still can’t believe how quickly Asher has improved. I count his diagnosis and recovery as one of the chief blessings for our family and pray for other EOS patients and their families who have more to endure.