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Monday 30 January 2012

Light at the end of the tunnel?

I see light ahead! We had a hospital appointment today. Before this appointment there has been weeks of researching, praying and pondering. I've been trying to formulate a plan of what I wanted to achieve at this appointment. As lovely as my GP is she has no clue about what is wrong with my son. A lovely friend of my husbands led me to an online forum for mums of babies who suffer from 'reflux' and I not only received invaluable help from them but I was able to gleam lots of information from their own experiences. I evaluated my baby's history and symptoms and tried to see if any of the information I had found would be fit for him.
I've also been going through my own spiritual journey, and finally came to the realisation (again) that the Lord knows what He is doing.
So, while we drove to my in laws yesterday, my husband and I spoke about what we would take into the appointment with us. We decided we didn't want any medication for baby. All the medication he had been on had made him react badly and also didn't work. If possible, we wanted to see if a dietary regime could improve his symptoms, specifically dairy free, as so many babies appeared to have improved since going dairy free.

When I told the consultant about our history, she examined him and then she said 'it's not reflux'. Needless to say I was shocked and anxious to see where she was going with this. She then went on to say that the reflux was a symptom of an underlying cause. Before i could tell her what i thought about diet she said she suspects that the cause of these symptoms are actually a cows milk protein intolerance (or CMPI). I could have hugged the doctor! Firstly because she had listened and taken into consideration ALL his symptoms and not just the reflux. And secondly because she had confirmed the feelings that I had been having. What a blessing!

Today, we go shopping for a dairy free diet for me. As much as I know I'm going to miss chocolate (which has been my staple intake) I'm quite excited to see if it's going to work. We've got 6 weeks to see if it will make a difference, here's hoping! You never know, it might help me too. I've been on a restricted diet before and it helped, but this time I've got more of an incentive!

3 comments:

  1. Sounds positive for you guys! Really hope it makes all the difference xxx You can get dairy free chocolate by the way though I'm sure it doesn't quite tast as good it's sure to do the trick in desperation!!

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  2. Glad you may have found the answer! My oldest son was intolerant to dairy, but it took us a while to figure it out. He screamed 24/7 and the doctor just thought he was "colicky". Unfortunately, I had stopped breastfeeding (because he wouldn't drink my breast milk)by the time we truly figured things out and I realized it might have been the dairy I was drinking, but once he started a hypoallergenic formula, it was like someone flipped a switch - happy baby! And he totally outgrew both the dairy and soy intolerances by about 15 months old. Ironically, I am now the dairy-intolerant one, since CFS.

    Oh, and there are plenty of dairy-free chocolates - lots of dark chocolate contains no milk, just read the label!

    Good luck!

    Sue

    Live with CFS

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  3. Thank you guys!! The hope of dairy free chocolate has just made my night! Sue that's positive that he grew out of it. We're hoping that if it is CMPI then it will only be temporary and we will slowly be able to introduce some dairy back into his diet. I know dairy isn't good for CFS sufferers, but it's just so hard to give up isn't it!

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