What is FPIES you ask? Well until a couple of days ago I had no clue! However, after a casual allergy test to see if Sam was still allergic to beans this word has now become part of my vocabulary (and a source of my internet research).
When Sam was little and started to eat solids, we noticed green beans gave him some crazy diapers. A few weeks later, Sam started to have violent vomiting episodes after eating green beans. We quickly eliminated them from his diet and assumed there was some type of allergy or intolerance. However, after a brown bean made his way into a soup one day we had the same problem and once after eating broth from chili the crazy 8 hours of vomiting came again. At 15 months we eliminated all beans from his diet and have avoided them like the plague since.
I have always wondered what his deal was and as he is starting school soon I have become more curious about how much of an issue beans are and wanted more clarity so I could tell teachers confidently what to avoid. Well after Sam's 4 year wellness we were referred to an allergist and made the trip there this week.
The allergist listened to my description of Sam's issues and shook her head the whole time. I kept thinking maybe she didn't believe me until she started saying "you know, I think he is a FPIES kid" I had no clue what she meant but she said she would test him but was pretty certain he would have no reaction to the test.
So after a quick test (Sam was such a trooper) we watched to see if any bumps appeared to signal an allergic reaction...and got nothing! While we waited the allotted time she kept repeating - "he's just got to be FPIES." After the 20 minutes were up and we had no raised bumps, she felt strongly that her gut was right and explained FPIES to me.
FPIES stands for Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis and it is a rare but dramatic form of food allergy that mimics the stomach flu. This explains the repeated vomiting almost always after 2 hours of eating the culprit food. It also can cause a reaction if even a trace amount of the food is eaten - which we definitely noticed with Sam. Cow milk and soy are more common but it does note that beans can be an issue but that is even more uncommon. FPIES kids never show reactions on a allergy tests which often has their doctors stumped.
So here we are. We have an answer but when I asked what to do the doctor had nothing for me. She said most kids grow out of FPIES (thank goodness) around the age of 3 but the only way you can really test to see if they grow out of it is to give them the food....and wait to see if the vomiting begins. So I guess it all comes down to when we want to hunker down and 'test' to see if our kid has grown out of it (and prepare for an ugly scene if not). We kind of figure he has grown out of it but think we will continue to eliminate them from his diet and wait a couple more years. In my opinion, he really isn't missing much and he probably wouldn't like them anyways!
From what I have read, we are pretty lucky that Sam simply had this issues with only beans. Some of the stories I have read about from FPIES support groups paint horrific pictures of children vomiting themselves into shock and parents having no clue what was going on as the allergy was to milk and soy and they couldn't easily identify what food was making their child sick and nothing was showing up on their allergy tests. We thankfully had it so easy compared to those poor families!
So our mystery is solved...kind of! Check back in two years and we'll tell you if beans are back on our menu.
When Sam was little and started to eat solids, we noticed green beans gave him some crazy diapers. A few weeks later, Sam started to have violent vomiting episodes after eating green beans. We quickly eliminated them from his diet and assumed there was some type of allergy or intolerance. However, after a brown bean made his way into a soup one day we had the same problem and once after eating broth from chili the crazy 8 hours of vomiting came again. At 15 months we eliminated all beans from his diet and have avoided them like the plague since.
I have always wondered what his deal was and as he is starting school soon I have become more curious about how much of an issue beans are and wanted more clarity so I could tell teachers confidently what to avoid. Well after Sam's 4 year wellness we were referred to an allergist and made the trip there this week.
The allergist listened to my description of Sam's issues and shook her head the whole time. I kept thinking maybe she didn't believe me until she started saying "you know, I think he is a FPIES kid" I had no clue what she meant but she said she would test him but was pretty certain he would have no reaction to the test.
So after a quick test (Sam was such a trooper) we watched to see if any bumps appeared to signal an allergic reaction...and got nothing! While we waited the allotted time she kept repeating - "he's just got to be FPIES." After the 20 minutes were up and we had no raised bumps, she felt strongly that her gut was right and explained FPIES to me.
FPIES stands for Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis and it is a rare but dramatic form of food allergy that mimics the stomach flu. This explains the repeated vomiting almost always after 2 hours of eating the culprit food. It also can cause a reaction if even a trace amount of the food is eaten - which we definitely noticed with Sam. Cow milk and soy are more common but it does note that beans can be an issue but that is even more uncommon. FPIES kids never show reactions on a allergy tests which often has their doctors stumped.
So here we are. We have an answer but when I asked what to do the doctor had nothing for me. She said most kids grow out of FPIES (thank goodness) around the age of 3 but the only way you can really test to see if they grow out of it is to give them the food....and wait to see if the vomiting begins. So I guess it all comes down to when we want to hunker down and 'test' to see if our kid has grown out of it (and prepare for an ugly scene if not). We kind of figure he has grown out of it but think we will continue to eliminate them from his diet and wait a couple more years. In my opinion, he really isn't missing much and he probably wouldn't like them anyways!
From what I have read, we are pretty lucky that Sam simply had this issues with only beans. Some of the stories I have read about from FPIES support groups paint horrific pictures of children vomiting themselves into shock and parents having no clue what was going on as the allergy was to milk and soy and they couldn't easily identify what food was making their child sick and nothing was showing up on their allergy tests. We thankfully had it so easy compared to those poor families!
So our mystery is solved...kind of! Check back in two years and we'll tell you if beans are back on our menu.
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