New Perscription Coverage

It happens to all of us. You changed jobs, or the company you work for has changed their insurance company or coverage, and suddenly you don't know if your medications are covered and if they are what will you have to pay for it?

This recently happen to us. Without prior notice we received our New Prescription Cards in the mail the day before they became effective. After reading through the one included page of paper it stated that we were going to now have a deductible of $125 per patient and a minimum payment amount per prescription until we reach $1,500 for an individual or $3,750 for the family. I don't know about your family's prescriptions but for us that would be way more than we would ever fill in a year.

 

As I continued to read, the paper claimed that we could continue to use our independent or chain pharmacies. This was not what I was told when I finally got through to the 800 number. He informed me that, "Yes, you can use another chain pharmacy, however there is a pill limit." When I asked what the pill limit was he informed me that I could have two refill before I was charged a penalty fee for not using their pharmacy.

 

So my family only has three standing prescription's that we fill regularly. I wrote each of them down on a sheet of paper, leaving room to write under each. I included the name, strength, and frequency taken. Then sat down to call the customer care number on the back of the new cards. I made my way through the prompts and waited for an associate.

 

I told the associate who I was and that I wanted to verify cover for prescriptions for several patients. I started with my daughters Epi Pen Jr. 2pk, and so on until we had covered all of the medications. I then asked any general questions that were unclear in the paper work and I asked if we could continue to use our current pharmacy because their nearest location is over an hour away form the majority of our medical doctors.

 

He asked if I had any more questions. I told him not at this time, but I would call back if I did. He did inform me that I could take my standing prescription's to the local pharmacy and simply have them transferred over. That evening with new Rx cards and Id's in hand we took our current prescriptions over to the local store and had them create our accounts with our prescription information.

Here are a Few Tips:

1.)  Read through included Paper Work, make notes on anything that is unclear or sounds to good to be true.
2.)  Gather your Regular Prescriptions, ask if there is a generic, or if you are on the generic.
3.)  Call the Customer Service Line and be prepared for prompts and to wait for an operator.
4.)  Sometime answers lead to New Questions, be sure your pen and note pad are ready.

A Retrospective Look at a Peanut Allergy

It has been 2 years since we learned of our daughters' peanut allergy. People are always asking if we found out the hard way or the easy way. At first I didn't understand the question, but I always replied the hard way. I couldn't think of what we went through as easy.


Every allergy parents has the 'How We Found Out' story, and we all have prepared different versions of it for different people. You have the super short story for those people who ask but really don't want to know every sorted detail. Then there is the 10 minute story for those who ask for a little more information. Then there is the real story for the rare person who is truly engaged and asking questions. This is our real story.

I will never forget that Saturday in May. My husband was shopping for a new trailer and since it was on the way I wanted to stop off at this scrapbooking store I had been wanting to check out for years. With a new baby girl I had been doing a lot of scrapbooking, and was looking for some fresh ideas.

While at the scrapbook store chatting with the owner, she asked if our daughter could have a cookie. "It's Peanut Butter." Those three words have haunted me for years.

I knew she was under one year old and it was not recommended to have peanut butter before one year of age, but it was only a couple of weeks away and I figured what could be the harm.

I was shocked when she ate the entire cookie. This was a picky eating 11 month old who rarely finished anything. We finished our shopping and headed on to see the trailer my husband wanted. On the way home our daughter became fussy and since it was about nap time I handed her a milk, which she drank and fell asleep. The ride home was about an hour.

When we arrived home it had been nearly an hour and a half since she ate the cookie. My husband took her to her room to change her diaper, while I unloaded my items for the car. I can still hear his voice in my head calling from our daughters' room. "I think she has chickenpox!"

I dropped what I was doing and ran into her room. He pulled her shirt up so I could see. I knew the second I saw the hives just what they were. I told him, "That's not chickenpox, she's having an allergic reaction to 'that cookie'." I can't explain how I knew but I just knew.

I would like to think it was my experience at the predications office, or years working in daycare, or the fact that the bumps all over her body looked nothing like chickenpox, which I had done a paper on  in college. But it was really more of a 'Gut Mom' reaction.

I told my husband to dress her and get her back into the car we needed to get her to the ER. As we drove down the road I looked back at her and her eyelids had begun to swell. I tried to control the pounding panic in my chest as ever time I looked back at her more of her eyes vanished under ever swelling lids.

At the time I thought that was the start of our allergy journey, but looking back there were so many signs of a food allergy it should have been oh so obvious.

I know some newborns have terrible baby acne, even I did in several pictures from when I was about a week old, but hers lasted for a month. And even afterwards she had redness, dry patches, pimples, and at times blisters and hives. If I had only known then that food allergies were related to skin problems I would have been more insistent on finding the cause of her skin issues.

Our doctor, who I love, tried to help with her skin issues, but it was hard to get them to flare up when you needed them to. When she started asking about soaps and lotions, we made the decision to become, die free, fragrance free, and what ever else free we could get. Medicated creams helped but nothing really made it go away. I thought she was going to spend her  life with extremely sensitive skin.

Then there was the day I was nursing her after having to take a sinus pill. I had gotten a sinus infection and the doctor insisted it was ok for me to take my over the counter sinus pills and still nurse my daughter. She had her usual red bumps around her mouth and cheeks, but after she nursed she started to clear up. I knew at that moment that the pill I took was blocking something in her system from reacting as a red bumpy rash, but I had no idea what. We didn't know if it was environmental or introduced, but food was not high on my radar.

Once she ate that cookie it put all the pieces together for me. The red rashes, the bumps, the skin problems, the reaction to antihistamines, suddenly they all made sense, and I was terrified.

Before we left the house I tried to call our pediatric after hours number but only received an automated message telling us to dial 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.  Once on the road I called the hospitals scheduling line which is answered by the emergency room after hours and on weekends. 

 

I informed the nurse that I had an eleven month old who was having an allergic reaction to peanut butter. To which she asked if the child was having trouble breathing?  I said no, not that I could tell. She then informed me that I didn't need to bring her in until she was having breathing troubles.  

I knew that I didn't know anything about how food allergies really worked at that moment,  but waiting for her to have breathing problems didn't seem like a good idea to me.  I informed her that we lived over 45 minutes away. To which she paused and then told me that maybe you should bring her in.

I only wish I would have known better and I would have reported her, to the hospital. 

 

When we arrived at the ER there was no one else there. I walked right up to the window and said I called about the 11 month old having an allergic reaction.  She handed me a sheet of paper and asked me to fill it out. It was an abrivated patient information form. They wanted her name, age, primary care doctor and reason for coming in. I scribbled out the information and passed the paper back. Just then the side door opened and we were escorted back to an exam room. 

 

The rest of the visit was such a blur, I've had to refer back to the hospital notes to know what actually happened.  It all seemed to happen at once, and not fast enough. 

 

We walked into the ER at 5:21 pm and we're triaged at 5:33 pm. She had hives, itching, skin rash, redness, and swelling involving her entire body. She was listed as not being in acute distress.

 

The emergency room doctor prescribed Benadryl and Prelone Ten which were both given at 5:46 pm. He told us that he did not want to give her ephedrine because she was so young.

 

We were then release at 6:30 PM after showing no respiratory destress and the rash was diminished. The Doctor instructed us to give her Benadryl once a day for five days and follow-up with our primary care doctor in one day. So we were in and out of the ER in an hour.

 

We saw her primary care doctor on that Monday afternoon. I was so happy when we were taken into the room and we had a different nurse. Our usual nurse was pushy and made her opinions known, such as with breastfeeding, she had told me I wasn't trying hard enough. That afternoon we had a young nurse I had not meet before.  She was warm and kind and wanted to hear our whole story and there was no judgment on the fact that I gave my daughter a cookie. When the doctor came in she asked us to repeat the story. She believed it was most likely the peanut butter,  but she wanted us to see a specialist to be sure it wasn't anything else in the cookie. She prescribed her an Epi-pen and Benadryl.  

 

At the pharmacy we picked up our Benadryl and we were given two Epi-pens, that were only good for 6 months. Had I know that they were supposed to be good for a year I would have refused them.

 

When we arrived home I read through all the Epi-pen literature and checked out there website. I also checked our insurances website to find out what allergist we were most likely going to be referred to.

 

Before we ever saw the allergist, they called to confirm the appointment. I was referred to their webpage to print out their new patient allergy history form, to complete before we came in. When we saw the allergist just short of two weeks after the cookie incident. Once we went over her medical history the doctor said it sounded as if she also has seasonal allergies, which both my husband and I suffer from.

The nurse came in to preform the scratch test for peanuts on her back. She made four little marks on our daughters' back, two controls and two tests. She was reacting as the nurse was setting the timer, and we had a positive result before she had walked out of the room. The doctor came back in after several minutes and looked at the timer and our daughter. She called the test. We were positive for peanuts. We were given stacks of papers to read, told to avoid all nuts, and nut products and instructed to bring her back before she started school to have her retested, as long as our primary didn't mind given her a new epi every year.

When the Doctor asked if we had any questions only one floated to the top. "Everyone has been asking if she will grow out of this, is there a possibility?" She looked me in the eyes and said, "If it had been anything else I would have told you there is a possibility, but with peanuts it's really rare and with as positive as her reaction was I just don't want you to get your hopes up."

Easter Recap 2015

After attending this year's Easter Lunch, I now realize that my Husband's family does not truly understand(or want to understand) food allergies.

 

The Easter eggs were full of candies, and many of those were loose and unsafe. When I was asked what was wrong with the M&M's, I explained how many of them are made in the same factories as the peanut kind and with out being able to read the label we can't tell if it is safe.

 

When we sat down to lunch I pulled out my daughters traveling lunch tote. Having seen this one of the uncle's stated that not eating in this family was sacrilegious.  I simply stated that I would rather have her eat something that I know is safe then have to take her to the ER.

 

After the Easter egg hunt, which she enjoyed immensely, I took her basket inside and began the process of separating out the candy's(I'm not sure why I bothered, we only gave her safe candy I purchased when we got home). While I was doing this my husband's aunt's were putting together bags for all the kids. After explaining why I was removing the M&M's and jellybeans,  they asked "Well what can she have?"

 

"She can't have Reese," Said the one aunt, "but she can have Fannie Mae?  Right."

 

"No." I told them and quickly explained using the package to show the nut warning on the back.

They were disappointed that the only thing she could have was the Hershey chocolate eggs, so they gave her extra.

 

Then the questions started, not about her food allergy and safety but "When is she going to grow out of this?"

 

"Never." I told them.

 

"That's okay, once she starts eating McDonald's she'll grow out of it."

 

I had to leave the room,  it was just as bad as at Christmas when one of the cousins, a teacher,  said "Next year I get the allergy kid and the only thing I can pass out is candy canes. That sucks." I was dumbfounded.

 

After dinner and dessert,  everyone was packing things to take home. One of the uncles asked if I wanted to take some birthday cake home. I told him that we can not take home or eat store bought cake.  I could feel our aunt's eyes popping out of her head as she looked at me.

 

All I can tell myself is we survived.  No reactions, no rashes,  and no trips to the ER.  This was a successful holiday in my opinion.  And my daughter was so busy eating the Easter cookies we made together,  she didn't even care there was chocolate around.

Lactose Intolerant?

I suffered for months. Being familiar with food allergies I knew it had something to do with what I was eating. My symptoms present when I consumed pasta or breads and it only seemed logical that I had developed cilacs.

Even after changing my diet I still had symptoms, in fact they had gotten worse. On a trip to visit my mother even she noticed that I was bloated and in discomfort after meals. After a stuffed pizza dinner with my brothers and ice cream for dessert, I barely slept. The next morning we were planning a large lunch with more family. We feed the kids but my Mother and I skipped breakfast for a large whole milk latte.  I was about half way through when it hit me.  Every horrible symptom all at once.

There was no more denying the cause of my problems. 

So what is Lactose Intolerance

"Lactose intolerance, also called lactase deficiency, means you aren't able to fully digest the milk sugar (lactose) in dairy products. It's usually not dangerous, but symptoms of lactose intolerance can be uncomfortable(to say the least).
A deficiency of lactase — an enzyme produced by the lining of your small intestine — is usually responsible for lactose intolerance. Many people have low levels of lactase, but only those who also have associated signs and symptoms have, by definition, lactose intolerance.
You can control symptoms of lactose intolerance by carefully choosing a diet that limits dairy products." Mayo Clinic.

What are the Signs and Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of lactose intolerance usually begin 30 minutes to two hours after eating or drinking foods that contain lactose. Common signs and symptoms include:

• Diarrhea
• Nausea, and sometimes, vomiting
• Abdominal cramps
• Bloating
• Gas

Symptoms are usually mild, but may sometimes be severe.

I have now been avoiding dairy products for several months,  and am greatly improved.  However it has not been an easy road. Within a few days the cramps and gas were gone.  The Bloating took several more weeks to go away.

I learned that as with many intolerances there are levels of what you can and cannot handle. Apparently I can not even consume a few milk chocolate candidates with out experiencing some kind of discomfort. 

After experimenting I have found I prefer rice milk over soy and nut based milk options, and olive oil butter tastes great on toast. And those lactose pill are a story for another time.

Eating Healthy with Your Little Ones

Never mind about food allergies, it doesn't matter if they are 2 or 20 we all want to know are kids are eating healthy and getting what they need.

 

I have been luck to have a daughter who eats a great many things. But why is that really?  Because we started giving them to her young, but it wasn't that simple.

 

I must admit that when we first found out about her food allergy,  we were so scared about what was safe to feed her that we only let her have baby food. After we took some time and learn about food allergies we tried to reintroduce foods. This did not get a good response, she had become used to the soft nature of the jar food and began chocking and gagging on real food. Where she would try solids before, now she would not touch it unless it came out of one of those jars.

 

My husband had become so frustrated that he announced their will be no more jar food in this house. Her only option was to eat what we were having.  She was fine for breakfast and lunch,  but it took several times of refusing dinners before she realized that there was no longer another option.  In less than a week she was eating every meal along with us. In fact she really enjoyed eating just what we were eating.

 

I have family with children in their pre-teens who still demand a separate meal because they will not eat what is being served. When I suggested ways to fix that problem.  Her response was, " That's great, but she'll just not eat anything till she gets back to school, and I'll be the one in trouble. " She was afraid that she would tell the school that she didn't eat and have the department of children and family services called on her.

 

And that is precisely why having that fight as a toddler is so very important. The longer that you let them get away with that bad behavior,(be it eating, TV, behavior, other) the longer and more difficult it becomes to fix. I'm not saying that you can't find a way to correct the issue,  it's just going to take that much more effort on your part.

 

Now we enjoy the fact that she eats and enjoys turkey meatloaf with baked sweet potato chips and steamed broccoli.  Steamed rice and beans,  salmon with brown rice and even home made whole wheat pizza.

 

I'm even happy to say that she doesn't like vegetables out of a can, she loves them fresh and crisp. We grow a garden ever summer and she loves eating it all. I have even caught her eating my sugar snap peas right off the vine.

 

Not every day is a picnic. As toddlers often do we have days or meals where we just don't want to go along with the program. I remind my Husband she will be back at the next meal. And when you pull out the lunch that they didn't eat for dinner, they learn its better to just get it over with. I don't make a big deal when she picks up the broccoli with her hands and eats all the tops. Just be happy they are eating it.


Remember that our children look up to us for everything, even an example of how to eat. Try to make your plate match theirs. They are not going to want to try something if you wont even put it on your plate.

 

 I will be posting how to make Baked Sweet Potato Chips on our recipe page.

Where We Predestined to Have a Food Allergic Child?

I have been given a lot of information lately on risk factors for having a food allergic child. If these risk factors are to be believed, my husband and I hit nearly everyone.

Let me start by saying that no one can predict if your child will have a food allergy and what it might be. We are simply discussing what people have considered to be risks for the possibility of having a child with a food allergy.

Immediate Parent with Allergy

This is not limited to food allergies. Lets say both parents have seasonal allergies, this increases your risk. To have a parent with a food allergy increases your risk. To have a history of food allergies in the family further increases your risk.

My Husband and I both suffer for environmental allergies, his mother has a food allergy to fish, I have a food allergy and intolerance, my mother and grandmother both have food allergies.

Urban Areas

Higher concentrations of food allergic children are found in more urban areas, such as larger cities. If you choose to believe because of water and air quality, or it could simply be that there are more people.

My Husband and I were both born and raised just out side of Chicago, IL, we drank the water and breathed the air for the majority of our lives.

Medications

The overuse of antibiotics has been blamed for contributing to the increase of food allergies, as well as the use of other medications. It has been suggested that the manipulation of hormones for IVF or other infertility treatments can lead to in increase in the risk of food allergies.

Our daughter was conserved only after sever attempts of IVF. I required on going medications and antibiotics while I was pregnant.

Breastfeeding

Most doctors agree that breastfeeding is beneficial to infants, but they disagree on the length of time. Some say a year while others say that 4 months is just fine. Some recommend changing the mothers diet to not include common food allergens such as nuts and fish. Others say that changing the diet does not matter because food allergens crossing over is very rare.

I breastfeed for three months and she very obviously responded to allergens present in my breast milk.

So is the message here that food allergies can be inherited, due to environment, or just random chance? Doctors and scientist can not agree and they will tell you that some data shows these correlations are very clear while other say its all over the place.

Grandparents Day?

I joined the PTA in order to see how our local school operates. And having a child with a Peanut Allergy has made me worry about her attending that school, especially when I found out that they do not have an allergy policy.

 

At our latest meeting we began discussing plans for the upcoming Grandparents Day. Now being called VIP Day.

 

Standard practice has been to have cookies for the Grandparents. And because of the nature of Grandparents, they tend to give the cookies to the children.  This act has caused a lot of conflict in the past and the proposed solution was to provide more cookies so all of the children can have them as well.

Apparently last year lead to Grandparents running their children down the halls to get cookies to take back to their class rooms.

 

When I suggest trying to do something other than cookies, one of the other moms said well they already eat snacks in the class rooms. Why not give them all cookies and let them walk around with them. Apparently there is a tour of the school and class rooms for the grandparents.

 

I so wish I could have put a thought together at that moment to suggest something non food related. We could have the students make a card or something else.

 

When she asked the principal if there had been food allergy issues in the past. His response was, "Yes we have kids attending with food allergies. We tell the kids to know their food allergy and avoid it."

I was so dumbfounded, I wanted to leave right then and there.  Our moderator seeing my face turning colors, ended the discussion and moved the group along.

 

At the end of the meeting I packed myself up and walked out without a word.  I collected my daughter and  left. I called my Husband from the car. I need to talk with someone who got it.

 

I have never wanted to deprive my daughter the opportunity to have a normal childhood,  including going to school,  but that meeting made me really start to consider if I should just home school. I know it's drastic, and I will probably get over it, but I could have never predicted that I would have such an up hill climb.

 

The entire school and community is very food focused. Pancake breakfasts, dinners at the fire house, a cake auction at the local fair, and bake sales everywhere. 

 

In a small town (population 800), where most people know everyone,  and we are the outsiders.  Most people do not want to make a fuss,  because they don't want to make waves. I guess I need to become the thunderstorms.  Wash away all the old out of date ideas and make positive changes for the future.

 

I called the bakery they plan on using and I was Informed that, "Even if the cookies are peanut free, they are still made in a bakery that uses nuts. Therefor they are not safe."

 

Making Cookies

I love making holiday cookies.  I was so afraid that with a Peanut Allergy we would no longer have that same holiday experience. I am so happy to say that thought was dead wrong.
 

When I started making cookies years ago I would spend the better part of a week making cookies.  I made Greek cookies with almonds and powdered sugar, peanut butter blossoms,  sugar cookies,  spritz cookies, oatmeal with raisins, chocolate chip cookies, and monster cookies that have a little bit of everything in them.
 

I never gave a second thought to food allergies.  I gave them away as gifts, wrapped in beautiful boxes with big bows. People came to know them and expect to see them every year. 

I have skipped making cookies for the last couple years,  mostly because who has the time with a very small child in the house.
 

This year I was asked to make my sugar cookies for Christmas with my husband's family. I had just picked up a new snow flake cookie cutter and couldn't wait to make these special cookies with my daughter.
 

It has always been my hope to pass on my love of cooking and baking to my daughter,  and the best time to start is when they are young.
 

I had all of my ingredients and supplies laid out and ready to go. My little helper had her foot stool, special apron and she enjoyed getting flour all over the place. We had a lot of fun and made some beautiful cookies.
 

The point is to enjoy the experience with your child and have some quality time that you can both cherish. Don't worry about the mess on the counters or the floor, it will get cleaned up later.

 

The recipe for these amazing cookies will be posted on out recipe page.

 

To make tie-dye effect. Frost the edges with a ribbing of dark blue icing, puddle ice blue in the center of the cookie, fill white icing in the center. Spread with small spatula and allow to dry completely.