Wednesday 27 April 2011

The Culprit

Apologies for the non-crafty post, it has been a bit of a challenging week for many reasons!

It wasn't rocket science. I knew that my daughter had issues with food colourings and additives. I was just hoping that she was starting to "grow" out of it. For her first birthday we had ordered a cake from a bakery and we got them to put "iggle piggle" on the top of it. Unfortunately she broke out in hives that night. It was our first real experience of her reactions to food additives and colourings. Since then controlled experiments with all sorts of processed foods have often resulted in skin irritations such as eczema and hives.


I didn't think twice when I pulled out the packet mix for Baby Cup Cakes from the cupboard. Tori and I had a grand time mixing up the batter, making the cup cakes, then the frosting. We even had someone over for morning tea to help us eat them.

Unfortunately she had a reaction last night. Woke up with her "back burning" and lumpy .. hives. After a weekend of exposure to all things sugar and artificial, it was all a bit too much for her. The cup cakes probably tipped her over the edge and then we had to deal with a very upset 3 1/2 year old.

When she has reactions like this we generally treat it with Polaramine which gives her some relief. the hives get scratched and then we have to treat the skin irritation with her eczema creams which consist of both cortosone and non-cortosone based products. We also have a topical antibacterial to use if the scratchings get infected.

So just when we had her eczema under control ....

Does anyone else in crafty land have food colouring or additive issues?

4 comments:

Karen said...

I don't have food colouring issues, but I used to break out in hives when I ate tomatoes. All clear now though, has been all my adult life... so maybe there is hope for her yet.

Rachel said...

My mum has allergies to some specific E numbers (additives), which mean that she can drink coke but not diet coke and can't eat some lollies. She also can't eat cheese, which i would find incredibly depressing.

Kis said...

I wish I could find the link again that I was sent, but basically it found that in children and some adult allergy cases that increasing vitamin D in the body actually helped to lessen the affects. I'm going to have a chat to my GP about it next I'm in to see what she thinks - but more sun surely can't hurt?

Ann Marie @ 16 Muddy Feet said...

I know anything with red coloring in gives me migraines, and so does aspartame. Can't do Cherry koolaid ( my favorite) without paying for it dearly the next day day or two.