Talking Allergies

To date, soy has not shown up on an allergy test of any kind for my granddaughter, but we have kept her away from soy since shortly after her birth.

Life story (only just turned nine, so it is not too long)

We first tried soy formula on her within weeks after she was born. We were weaning her to one bottle of formula per day to allow her mom to return to school. Dairy formula appeared to give her stomach problems, so we tried soy. That did not last long. We decided that the dairy was nowhere near as bad as the soy. She screamed steady for hours and developed a diaper rash that opened and bled.

Next try was with solid foods. Again came screaming and an open, bleeding rash. We tried different forms this time. Soy oil, soy lecithin, soy flour, etc. Only soy lecithin was not a problem.

Scratch testing was done. Soy was not a problem.

The soy tries to follow were by accident. She was out of diapers, but that little hand would sneak over a table edge and grab a cracker, or sneak a bite. The reaction had changed. No more screaming or rash, but her behaviour would change. She became very self destructive when on soy. It was like a drug.

She started school and was ahead in math and reading. We found this to be true as long as her brain was not on soy.

Scratch testing was done again and soy was still not a problem. This time we also went for an additional blood test. Soy was still not listed as a factor. We did clear her of all other allergy foods for over a year and on the advice of our doctor, we did a soy trial.

It took 3 days of soy before we started to see a reaction. She became violent at school and her concentration levels reduced considerably. So we set soy aside again. In fact as the months passed we started thinking that cross contamination of soy at home was a factor as well. After a horrible year in grade 3, we had emptied our house of soy, dealt with several near expulsions from school and we had to pull her from music because after 5 years of piano lessons, she could barely plunk out a tune with one hand. We discovered that she had been finding sources of soy on her own. Stealing, trading, whatever she could to get the soy foods. She craves it.

We are now heading into another year of school and all the sources will be available yet again.

That sounds really scary. It's a good thing that you were able to figure this one out!

For what it's worth, I usually don't react to soy on the scratch tests either but I'm definitely allergic. When my mother first tried me on soy formula projectile vomiting ensued which was the same as my reaction to eggs. This year for some reason I did react to soy on the scratch test.

I have heard of a few folks who have a reaction to soy not unlikel the reaction folks with celiac disease have to gluten: flattening of the villi in the small intestine. Perhaps that would be a viable direction to turn? The damage in that case is diagnosed via endoscopy and several biopsies of the small intestine. With celiac disease, one must consume the offending ingredient during the diagnostic process. It's thought that this kind of enteropathy (caused by soy, that is) is relatively rare, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't rule it out.

ygg

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~*~*~ That which does not kill me only gives me hives. ~*~*~

That sounds like my oldest daughter when she eats wheat/gluten products. She was tested for them but they were negative but her behavior is negative when she eats them (she's got Asperger's). So we avoid wheat/gluten products but know it's not life-threatening if she does come in contact with them. But I know what you are talking about.

Alot of doctors won't recognize these types of allergies/intolerances if they don't cause symptoms they can physically see. Drives me nuts! For us, it's painfully obvious and we have to be our child's doctor in some instances such as this. Keep her away from soy, homeschool her if need be. We do and it certainly helps in the food department!

my cousin was nearly put on redilin and such for ADHD (we'd actually joke that this kid would be kicked of kindergarden he was SO all over the place and disruptive) until they discovered that there is something in carrots that makes him react like that! i don't beleive he was ever tested per-say he just went on an illimation diet, and was told so long as he keeps out carrots he's a pretty normal boy, it's scary how some foods can effect places other then the immune system. he's all grown up now, and he's joined the army and he's perfectly fine so long as he doesn't eat carrots.

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allergies - penicillin, benadryl, dust mites, enviornmental & chemical
conditions - dermatographism, eczema, well contorolled asthma
dietary - lactose intollerant, vegatarian

My younger daughter was having trouble with her forumla when she was a baby (excessive gas, a lot of crying). We switched her to a lactose-free formula and she was fine.

And by the way, as an older child (age 11) she is allergic to soy. Good thing we didn't give her soy fomula, eh?