Grain Allergy: Barley, Malt, and Corn ... so far.
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Kathrynn and The Evil Allergy -or- Why are you acting this way?!?
Kathrynn is my 9 year old, gifted daughter. She also happens to have a food allergy. This allergy is not like her friends allergies. She can touch the food she is allergic to without any problems. She can, technically, eat it, and be "ok." In other words, she won't die from it. At least not yet.
Kat has a grain allergy. So far, it is specifically barley, malt (which is usually made from barley, as far as I have been able to find) and corn. There may be more grains added to that list, but so far, this is all we have discovered.
I think it is important to start at the beginning. As soon as Kat went off formula, her skin became dry, bumpy, and itchy. It may have started sooner than that, but I know for sure it was there once she started eating things like Cheerios.
Every doctor she has had in the last 9 years pretty much blew us off. Some said they weren't sure why her skin was like that, but assumed it would go away, others said it was eczema. They suggested lotions and oatmeal baths. None of which REALLY worked. One product did work, to a degree. It was a Vaseline type product. It made her skin softer and helped with the itching, but it made her sticky. She didn't like it, I didn't like it, and I disliked having to wash her bed sheets every day.
As she got older, it did NOT get any better. It got worse. There were other things going on with her too that at the time, we didn't connect to the eczema. She would have these emotional outbursts from time to time that we couldn't really connect to anything obvious. One day, when I was several months pregnant with our second daughter, Kat had an all out, kicking and screaming temper tantrum. And she wasn't one of those kids who see screaming just because mom won't get them a lollipop at the store. She is usually a pretty laid back, well behaved kid. But this day, man! She blew her lid. It took two of my friends, whom I'd been having lunch with, the get her in her car seat. And she wasn't even 3 yet! She was kicking so hard that they were afraid she'd come in contact with my rather large belly and cause problems with the baby.
We DID make a food connection at that time, which really just came to me just now. She LOVED Honey Nut Cheerios, just like most toddlers. We changed them to plain Cheerios and the problems decreased. But since she didn't like the plain as much as the Honey Nut, she wasn't eating as much.
So fast forward a few years to Kat being 5 and in kindergarten now. The itching as become so bad that she is checked for lice a couple of times a month. I keep trying new lotions, oatmeal baths, and whatever anyone else can suggest for a skin problem. Because it wasn't SEVERE eczema, Drs. didn't want to give her a prescription lotion for it.
First grade wasn't that bad. I don't recall her getting checked for lice all that much that year, and as far as her behavior went, it was a pretty stellar year. But then came second grade, and Kat's behavior pretty much blew up.
She started stealing food from the fridge and cabinets at night, usually digging fingers into whatever sweet thing she could find. One night she ate half a cake on her own. She is now getting checked for lice at least ONCE A WEEK. Then a few months into school, she was suspended for stealing food from the teacher (a slice of cheesecake, which she took in plain view of her teacher). This happened two more times over the year, with the last time, the school Principal and Guidance Counselor trying to convince Isaac and I that Kat is bipolar. As we were sitting there talking about it, and after my pointing out that Kat is rarely sad, and NEVER seems depressed by any standards and causing the stupid School Psychologist to admit that Kat didn't REALLY fit the guidelines for Bipolarity, I realized that each time Kat had gotten in trouble, we'd had pizza to eat for dinner the night before. Since we lived too far out of town for delivery and we actually had to go get pizza on our own, we rarely ate it.
So, what's in a pizza? The girls are pretty Plain Jane when it comes to pizza. Cheese, extra cheese, and extra extra cheese. In addition to the cheese, you have marinara sauce, some spices, and dough. Bread, really. What's different about the things in a pizza than what we eat normally? They love spaghetti, and since I can grate up veggies and hide them in spaghetti sauce, we have that pretty often, and there is no reaction to spaghetti, which also rules out gluten. There is gluten in spaghetti noodles. It rules out the veggies, too, and the cheese on the pizza, because they'd put a ton of whatever cheese we had in the house on their spaghetti. So all we are left with is the dough. The bread. (It is important to note that Kat, who was only about 45 pounds at MOST could eat half a pizza by herself which is a huge amount of bread. She'd get PB&J once or twice a week at the most which isn't nearly as much bread as in half a stinking pizza!)
We also eat quesadillas pretty often, and she didn't have any trouble with that, so it seems wheat flour is ok. Logically, what is left? Yeast. She can eat tortillas but not risen bread. So we cut all yeast out of her diet. What an amazing response!! The outbursts stopped and so did the stealing. so only went after the sweets when she got the bread.
At this point in time, we didn't have any health insurance, and the low income clinic was less than helpful when it came to testing her for allergies. We finally got pretty decent health insurance in the Fall of 2007, and we took her to get tested. At the appointment where we made the arrangements to get her blood work done, the Dr listened to what we had tried, what we had taken out of her diet, and the response. She agreed that it seemed it was yeast. But it wasn't.
Kat has a pretty significant grain allergy. But only to SOME grains. Even the Dr was surprised that it came back as a grain allergy. She can have wheat. She eats oatmeal and tortillas without problem. But most run of the mill bread that you can get in your grocery store has barley in it. Or malt. Which is from barley. So at this point, it isn't a gluten thing. Thank Heavens for that, among other things.
Somewhere in this time line, I was watching the girls play. It must have been about 4 or 5 months ago. Kat reached up to start scratching her head, and just as I was about to tell her to stop, SHE stopped. It was a normal, every day scratch. Not the kind she was prone to that would leave her skin red and irritated and her scalp so irritated it would bleed. That was when I realized that in addition to the behavior problems, the eczema was allergy related! Not one single Dr in 9 years mentioned to me that eczema can be caused by a food allergy. And I didn't think to look it up myself because, well, I'M NOT A DOCTOR.
When we went back to get the blood test results and found out it was the grain, I mentioned the itching to the Dr and she said oh, yeah, eczema can be food allergy related. Thanks for sharing that bit of information with me!
Kat has been pretty good about policing herself when it comes to food. Once in a while she will give in and have a bagel at school. She loves toast. She loves bread, and PB&J and grilled cheese, and more importantly PIZZA. It hasn't been easy for her, but she is doing a great job, especially when you figure in that she is only 9, and has only know about this allergy for a little over a year. We found some bread that is barley and malt free, but it is $5 a loaf. So she doesn't get it very often.
It has really been an eye opening experience for me. Kat just rolls with the flow, but we have really had to start paying attention to what is in the food that we eat. We found a great Orange chicken thing that she LOVED, but when I finally looked at the ingredients, the batter on the chicken had barley. She is happy to eat Spaghetti when the rest of the family has pizza for a birthday party. I think that even at only 9 years old, she is just happy to not be itchy all the time.
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I really should edit this to add that we are pretty sure she has a reaction to RED 40 as well. We have cut that out of her diet, and things have improved for her even more!
My son just was diagnosis via an IGG blood test with severe grain allergy. Out of 93 foods tested, he is only not allergic to 15. I doubt the egg plant , celery, ginger, mint and lemon are going to satisfy him. Thank you for the post. We haven't had the behaviour problems but headaches, vomiting, congestion and HEAD ITCHING! I thought ithe itching was build up of shampoos or an allergy to something in the shampoos. It would be nice to get some recipes or menu suggestions. He is allergic to ALL grains. He is at school right now. We are not looking forward to having to explain what he has to eliminate from his diet.
Hopefully you still get this...I had my son tested for food sensitivity. he was 2 and had never had a "normal" formed bowel movement. Since he did not have any probs with height/weight/development, the doc didn't seem concerned. However since I was going to potty train, I decided I needed to have the test done as I figured it was setting him up for failure if he always had loose bowels. needless to say, the top item was oysters, piece of cake to cut out since I don't like them anyway. (I did have to get rid of the oyster sauce however!!) Malt was on the next list down (avoid, but can introduce after 6 months). I went overboard and took all grain items out of the house!!! Also, anything with sugar as it said to avoid cane somewhere on his list. next I got rid of the mushrooms as he loves them and when they are in something he will pick them all out and eat them!! Finally, I got some sense in my head and started really looking at items. Believe it or not, there are some breads with no malt or barley in them. King's Hawaiian rolls (not sure if this is completely right or not) and many 7 grain or denser breads are not enriched and do not have malt or barley. I also checked the soy sauce, vinegar, and other such items and removed anything with malt, malted barley, malt flavoring, maltodextrin, etc. Wow!! Within a week, he was having normal bowels and actually had a tummy ache from having to poop!! (not quite, but almost constipation) Not once in his 2 1/2 years of life had he ever had an issue with constipation. I just wanted to drop a quick note to let you know there is bread out there!! Also, there is flour that does not have barley or malt and if you are up to the task, can make regular bread out of that. ( I am not very good at it, so tend to pay the extra money for bread from the store!!)
I just wanted you to know that I have a barley allergy also. I get loose bowels and then I get a dehabilitating migraine after I eat barley. I have a hard time eating out at restaurants. I haven't had a hamburger bun in seven years. Potlucks are hard to go to!
I been suffering from allergies to all grains since 2000 is pretty hard for me because I am even allergic to oatmeal and corn. I eat a lot of lentils, beans, garbanzos to make up to the grains
I am 51 years old and I recently developed food allergies. I am allergic to barley, cane sugar and yeast. In my case my reaction is that after eating one of these things I immediately get a lot of mucus production that can be so fast and intense sometimes I throw up. I also will have a hard time breathing, like asthma. I have been trying to cut out all these things but it is hard to find what all the different forms are that barley can take, I read one place this included caramel color, msg and malt products so I have steered clear of those as well as the other things Im allergic too. I am feeling much better but it is a challenge to deal with.
Just found out that my son is allergic to rice and barley . He just turned two. My doctor never said anything it was allways creams and excema he will grow out of it . I knew there was something else. I say mamas know best. If you have a feeling there is something please follow how you feel. However his favorite things to eat bread pizza this will be very hard but so happy to help my son not itch ,sleep better . We always want the best for our children.
I find this so overwhelming- how do you isolate out what exactly you are allergic to? I am definitely allergic to something relating to wheat, barley, etc. but can't put my finger on it. Certain cereals really upset my stomach but I can drink beer and be fine. You also mention sugar...I had no idea it could also cause allergic reaction. Any suggestions on how I can move forward? My symptoms are mainly a very upset stomach associated with severe gas.
I came onto this website via Google looking for more information re Barley allergy with which my 9 year old daughter was just diagnosed (thank you to all of the above information providers- I found your comments helpful). I felt compelled to write in case Nancy logs back on (her comment was written 8 months ago). Because of the presence of some of the symptoms she mentioned, the allergist is referring my daughter to a GI specialist because he thinks she has an Eosinophillic Disorder (which allergies aggravate, but which are separate conditions). Having read up on it (Go to www.apfed.org), but having not yet seen the GI specialist to have it confirmed via blood test and biopsy, I think he is right. Diagnosis of this condition is probably missed a lot because the symptoms can be symptoms of food allergy, but taken together may actually mean you have this other issue and that your exposure to allergens are just making it worse (headache, sleep issues, nausea, diarrhea, mucous buildup, gagging, vomit, reflux, etc). Like Stacey's son above, my daughter had loose stools since toddler-hood, but did not have issues with development, growth, etc so likewise it had not raised alarms with the doctor. By the way, she also had some emotional outbursts (see Kat above) which I (to this day) never connected with this condition or the food allergy, but now I am wondering...
Great hub! I can relate because we do the gluten free casein free diet for my son because he's in the autism spectrum.
My child is allergic to corn, wheat, flour, peanut butter, and eggs. We rarely if ever eat meat. What am I supposed to feed her??
We have been seeing a chiropractor who does NAET treatments. You can google NAET and possibly find someone in your area who specializes in this. I am still working through allergies myself, and so are my kids, but I do think the NAET treatments are working! At a minimum, the testing for allergies is simple and painless using this approach.
My 5 year old has had terrible allergy related eczema since she was little. Her rash started when she was three months old...I had tried to give her some rice cereal because she was "starving". She was also a terrible sleeper.
When the rashes got really bad after about age 2, I took her to the pediatrician who prescribed a cream and said it would go away. Well, over the past few years it just go worse and worse and I took her to a Chinese doctor. He said she had a fungal bloom and heavy metals in her system. He helped a bit and she is still on his anti fungal tea. I also took her to a chiropractor and had her tested for wheat allergies and other foods. She had to avoid wheat, dairy, peanuts (cause mold), gluten, and various small things. So I pumped her full of rice products and she got a little better. Then worse.
Then a few weeks ago we were on vacation at the beach and she didn't have any grains (except for a slice of bread here and there), and her rash cleared up within three days!!! I thought it was the humid weather or swimming all day. We got back home and her rash came back so bad. Her feet were raw. She had also walked on grass, which I know she is allergic to.
I took her back to chiro and had her checked for rice and vanilla (which I'd just read a blog about being allergic to). Guess what? Totally allergic to RICE. What????
Vanilla too.
She is now on a grain free diet including corn. In a few weeks we will spot check the other grains. I might have her try gluten free oats.
Her feet are finally clearing up...they are dry but she isn't gouging them with her nails anymore. It took four days for all the toxins to get out of her body...her eyes are bright, her face is smooth and she's in a fairly good mood.
It only took me four years to figure out I should not give her rice cereal or rice milk when she was little.
Hope this helps someone in need.
all these things seem to add up to something I've been struggling with all my life, most recently I've gotten a rash which 2 docs misdiagnosed...(which they looked at during those appointments when I thought it was an iron deficiency)both times i went in for almost fainting at work and had to be in bed for a few days. all through out high school I had intense fatigue, weird allergies/asthma like episodes and after college I've been struggling with the same plus many episodes of huge mind clog. i feel like my memory is so bad even though I know there are words in my head. I've always struggled with eczema and have always slept with a pillow on my tummy. The thing that recently through me over was my hands. nothing I did or the doctors did really ever helped and nothing really even looked like what I had. recently I got demoted for being "negative" though i've never really had a negative feeling about work I apparently come across like this because I apparently fixate when other people are dont deal with things approapriately? while looking up barley allergies, because of my strange reaction to certain alcohols(as suggested by a friend who brews)...i came up with "Dermatitis Herpetiformis" the only thing that has ever matched my hand rash. right now its at a point where it doesnt limit my movement and cover my hands because of a prescription cream my mom got from a friend, but its still pops up, especially if i drink beer. I hadnt consumed alcohol before a year ago or so, so I never had too many extreme reactions like i do now. there have been times where i havent consumed very much alcohol at all and within and hour have a severe sinus reaction, i feel like i cant breathe...but i never drank before and didnt realize this wasnt normal. my rash got worse with beer(i thought that was because it was a fungal/yeast infection like the first doc said) and i got the sinus death from a shot of hard liqueur. i thought it was tolerance not an allergy until I really started paying attention to other peoples reactions to the same thing.
so many things make sense now, bloated stomach(one doc said I had acid reflux when I was in highschool, i thought it was my milk intolerance that caused that but i still have stomach reactions to certain things), migraines(same doc diagnosed me with those too and gave me medication for that), insomnia, fatigue, eszema, mind warp, body blisters(not just my penicillin allergy but also the aspirin one that made me have blisters all up my stomach with breathing allergies) and now hand rash/blisters, and probably a thousand more. I'm also a vegetarian which at many points has probably made me consume more bread or grains than normal. i work at a local/organic foods store which has helped with my fatigue and nutrition to a certain extant but i dont know the process needed to actually diagnose this, so that maybe i have a chance to discuss this with my work and also really understand how to change my diet...
but at least this seems to tie everything i've struggled with together. might explain some of my uncharacteristic and unavoidable behaviors at sporadic moments in my life...so at least its a start. i just wanted to say thanks to everyone for sharing your stories because it makes a lot of sense. i was just wondering if anyone else who has this problem was not breastfed as an infant? because they suggest that it might be a cause...or maybe it is just genetic since my mom seems to have some of the same symptoms as me..well thanks and sorry for my rambling.
My son has hives many days a week. I got him tested and he is allergic to Dogs, Cats, Turkey, Chicken, Halibut, Barley, Baker’s Yeast, Oats, Sesame Seeds, Almonds, Broccoli, Asparagus, Spinach,Tomatoes,Pear
Watermelon, Banana, Raspberries, Coconut. I am now doing the elimination diet to see what is causing the hives. Here are some questions that I have:
How long after you eat something that you are allergic to do you get hives?
If you are allergic to Barley, can you eat regular vinegar or wheat? Should you buy gluton free foods?
I am just wondering about this because we started the diet a week ago and he keeps getting hives still! Thanks for your help!! :)
I think it can take a week or two to get ALL of the alergens out of his system. My daughter doesn't eat anything with vinegar by choice (doesn't like the flavor) and we've found a bread that doesn't contain barley, Malt, or corn, although if she eats it a LOT, then she seems to have a mild reaction. The bread is 100% whole wheat from Oro Wheat. We get it at Albertsons and CostCo (costco is less expensive). And I don't know anything about hives. :-( My daughter gets excema.
I am allergic to corn, barley, oatmeal and rye the only grain I can tolerate its wheat. So far I have lost 50 pounds since I stop eating all kinds of junk food
hi, i am a 19 year old male. i grew up in lebanon, a third world country with very limited medical resources. as a child i suffered from similar symptoms. my grandmother started bathing me in a mixture of goat milk(2 gallons), lemon juice ( squeeze 2 lemons) and about 7 crushed marijuana leaves. my skin then began to peel and 4 months later my skin was normal. i still have to wash my skin with the mixture, however i do it around once or twice annually (when my skin becomes irritated). i hope this helps your daughter
I am allergic to barley. I found out in my early 20s when I suddenly had severe gastrointestinal pain and distress after drinking beer. It progressed into migraines and nausea. Now in my 30s, when I have any barley/malt product, I have a celiacs type of reaction. All of my mucus membranes inflame and my internal organs actually ache. People thought I was crazy when I said I was allergic to barley and not gluten. I'm glad to hear others have selective grain allergies too.
My son's eczema flares up very badly after eating barley/barley malt. Malted barley flour is in the weirdest places - even things like french fries. I have to read evey label.
I am allergic to barley. It took 3 years to narrow it down and to learn all of the variants barley may take on an ingredient list. Thanks to Kashi and their 7 grains - that helped me narrow it down. Then when I tried things like corn flakes and still had a reaction I noticed "maltodextrin" after 3 years I came up with the barley list below:
If I eat it, it makes me itch in my groin like you wouldn't believe and sneeze like crazy. I thought I would write here because since I figured it out I have a good list of ingredients to avoid:
barley
barley malt
dextrin
malt
malted barley
maltodextrin (unless it specifically says "from corn"
fructan
Almost ANY "spice mix" has it - In Particular Outback Steakhouse's 17 spice mix.
Read the small print.
MOST bread and most crackers have malted barley flour and many, many processed foods contain maltodextrin. The most obscure ingredient on this list is FRUCTAN which is a sweetener made from barley.
Uh Oh... as someone who eats almost 100% organic I haven't had any problems with foods other than Barley and barley derivatives but today I woke up itching and sneezing and I'm suspecting corn chips (Snyder's of Hanover) I bought which are not organic but "all natural" which means nothing... I don't want to make assumptions but I think it is likely that Genetically Modified Corn may be the cause because I've never had a reaction to corn before (organic corn).
In The Doghouse 4 years ago
Thanks for sharing this (my son has a wierd medical problem I should probably share), because if someone out there is trying to figure out the same thing with their child, this could help greatly. I know it is tough on your child to monitor her eating habits, especially at such a young age, but as you probably have already considered, it could be so much worse! Great Hub, thanks. BTW, Welcome to Hubpages!