Update on Allie's allergies
Well, as most of you know, last winter we figured out that Allie was allergic to nuts, especially peanuts. Her symptoms included psoriasis-type patches on her scalp, "dry spots" all over her body, black under her eyes, and lethargy. After several months of no nuts, Allie was symptom free...until early March. The psoriasis patches returned on her scalp with a vengeance along with a few dry spots on her body. I figured we must be accidentally eating something with nuts in it, but wondered why the symptoms had cleared up so dramatically and then suddenly reappeared.
Well, I think I figured it out. Homeschool to the rescue! Thanks to our non-textbook botany studies I think we may have accidentally stumbled across the answer. For the past few months we've been studying the different families of plants. Today we started our study on the Pea Family...which I found out includes peas and beans of all sorts...AND peanuts! I wondered if perhaps beans and peas might perhaps contain whatever it is that peanuts contain that contributes to the allergy. After a quick perusal over information found through a Google search, I found out that sometimes these allergies were linked.
Then I got to thinking (surprise). We observed Lent February through most of March. In Lent, you aren't supposed to eat meat. So...to get our protein we ate TONS of bean dishes instead! This may be why Allie's symptoms jumped back with a vengeance. A bean here or there probably wouldn't have made much difference, but a MONTH of beans might! I therefore hypothesize that Allie is also mildly allergic to legumes and will become symptomatic if she ingests large "doses" of them.
So, Allie is very glad to hear that she is no longer required to eat her green peas (she detests the little boogers).
*Just call me Dr. Quack.
Well, I think I figured it out. Homeschool to the rescue! Thanks to our non-textbook botany studies I think we may have accidentally stumbled across the answer. For the past few months we've been studying the different families of plants. Today we started our study on the Pea Family...which I found out includes peas and beans of all sorts...AND peanuts! I wondered if perhaps beans and peas might perhaps contain whatever it is that peanuts contain that contributes to the allergy. After a quick perusal over information found through a Google search, I found out that sometimes these allergies were linked.
Then I got to thinking (surprise). We observed Lent February through most of March. In Lent, you aren't supposed to eat meat. So...to get our protein we ate TONS of bean dishes instead! This may be why Allie's symptoms jumped back with a vengeance. A bean here or there probably wouldn't have made much difference, but a MONTH of beans might! I therefore hypothesize that Allie is also mildly allergic to legumes and will become symptomatic if she ingests large "doses" of them.
So, Allie is very glad to hear that she is no longer required to eat her green peas (she detests the little boogers).
*Just call me Dr. Quack.
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