I forgot a very important point in my last post to this list--i.e.,
parents of newly-diagnosed dairy-allergic children should be aware that
many medications contain lactose or other dairy ingredients.  Doctors
(including allergists) are NOT educated as to the inert ingredients
present in medications.  For example, a world-renowned children's'
hospital gave my dairy-allergic daughter prednisone tablets that
contained lactose when she was admitted to the hospital for severe
asthma several years ago (despite her dairy allergy being noted in red
letters on the top of her chart).

You will learn to call a drug company from your doctor's office each
time your child is prescribed a new medication to ask about binders and
inert ingredients. Enlist the support of your pharmacist to help
double-check you. Different dosage forms of the same medication can
differ as to inert ingredients.  Liquid forms of antibiotics are more
likely to be dairy-free than tablet or capsule dosage forms, but you
can't make any assumptions. Call the manufacturer and keep asking to
speak to a person's superior if you are not comfortable that you are
getting the information you need from the company representative on the
phone.

You will learn over time whether your child only reacts to ingested
dairy ingredients or whether they also react to inhaled dairy
ingredients.  My daughter uses an Advair inhaler for her asthma that
contains lactose and she has no problem with it even though she reacts
immediately with itchy lips and throat to the slightest bit of dairy
that she tries to eat.

Also keep in mind that you can reach a lot more people effectively if
you remain calm, focused, articulate, and polite--yet firm--when you are
explaining things about your child's food allergies to them.  Sadly,
some people mistakenly believe that food allergies are not real, but
exist only in the minds of hysterical parents--don't give that awful
myth any mileage by acting like a rude, arrogant, wild, crazy person
when talking about food allergies if you don't have to! I've said a lot
of prayers for patience and courage during the last 10 years of my
child's food allergy adventure...

Hang in there.  We're here for you.

Debbie Kempf