Friday, February 24, 2012

Rice, rice everywhere

Dining out is not something I frequently do, but there are the days when we are running a million errands and don't have time to eat at home. I have found that eating on the run is not easy with FPIES. Many restaurants do not want to post the ingredients of their products online because their recipes can be stolen and recreated. To solve this problem, they create checklists of common allergens (wheat, peanuts, dairy, soy, tree nuts). Rice is NEVER on this list. To help make things easier, I started compiling a list of fast food/chain restaurants meals with rice. If you know
of any restaurants or food items that contain rice, please let me know so I can add it to my ever growing list!

Burger King:
French Fries
Veggie patty
Chicken Fries

McDonalds:
Grilled Chicken Fillet
Bagel
English Muffin
Griddle cakes

Wendy's:
Crispy chicken sandwiches
Crispy Caesar wrap
Baja Salad (in tortilla chips)

Subway
Veggie patty (we learned that one the hard way)

Panera
makes you search individual food items. I did not find rice in any of my searches, but I did not search every menu item.

Olive Garden
Does not list any ingredients, but a checklist of common food allergies. Of course rice wasn't on the list. An e-mail from Olive Garden said they do not know if rice is in any of their meals. What?! How do you NOT know a list of ingredients? I'm not done with this place yet...

Dunkin Donuts
Bagels
Bagel Twists
Big 'N Toasted does not list ingredients, so I would stay away

The Cheesecake Factory
waiting for a reply email, but it was reported that their french fries contained rice

Starbucks
Does not list ingredients, but says that their Apple Bran Muffin contains rice
I sent them an email asking about other menu items.

Non Restaurant Items

*NOTE: MOST GLUTEN FREE OPTIONS CONTAIN RICE AS AN INGREDIENT*

Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's tortilla chips
Mochi (covered in rice flour)
Carmelized Nut Trio (package of carmelized mixed nuts) Oddly, their Pecan Pralines which are identical do not contain rice...
Annie Chun's soup bowls (Udon Soup, Miso Soup)

Misc. Supermarket Items
Applegate Farm Organic Chicken Strips
Arnold Bread: Double Protein
Alexia Waffle Fries
Shaped Sprinkles on supermarket cupcakes/cakes
Pilsbury Pie Dough
Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops (love how the label brags how allergy free they are)
Kashi Go Lean Honey & Cinnamon Oatmeal
Saki (URGH! I guess if sushi is out, saki should be too)

On a positive note: Girl Scout Cookies do NOT contain rice ingredients!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

allergist

We took Chuffy to a local allergist on Tuesday. He was super sweet, but never heard of FPIES. After hearing about his symptoms he diagnosed Chuffy with enteropathy. He took two monster vials of blood to test for IgE reactions to the common triggers. The results come back in ten days and we'll know if we have to carry an epi pen for any reactions.
We were told to avoid all grains and dairy and to introduce fruits and veggies one at a time waiting 2 to 3 weeks per food to test for a reaction. I was told that I can still keep breast feeding and I don't have to avoid any food (other than rice, which causes him to get irritable, vomit and have bloody stools even through my milk), but if I notice he reacts after I eat certain foods, to certanily cut them out of my diet. He wants us back in 4 weeks.
After I got home I did some research on enteropathy. Basically, it is the same thing as FPIES but it does not impact the colon. FPIES reactions usually include bloody stools whereas enteropathy does not. Keegan certainly gets bloody stools after he ingests rice, so I think he definately has FPIES. This is why we are going to Mt. Sinai in March. They have done so much research with FPIES and have so many patients with it, so I will trust their diagnosis more than a doctor not familiar with it.