red dye 40

We've been very blessed in that none of our kids have had allergies, asthma, or really even been sick that much. In the last few months Cailey has been getting migraines...yes...migraines. I've been scared to death during them because she doubles over in pain, feels nauseous, and can't function. I had been paying attention to the foods she'd had before the headache (especially after the last one) and realized she had a LOT of red dye 40 on each day. We don't generally have a lot of foods with it but she had been at girl scouts where they had Hawiian Punch and red goldfish. The next day we decided to cut all red dye 40 from her diet (which can also be disguised as other names). Even though she didn't have anymore headaches I took her to the doctor after the last one because it was so terrible I wanted to have her checked out to be sure it wasn't something more serious. She was checked out thoroughly and the doctor thinks we should keep her off the dye because of the migraines. (But if they continue or get worse we're going to have more extensive testing done.) He said you can't test for it because you won't get an allergic reaction on the skin but she is basically allergic- if you consider getting a migraine an allergic reaction.

For some reason she was SO excited to find out she was allergic to something. Then she found out all the things that have the dye and wasn't so excited after all. There's only been one occasion when she REALLY wanted a cupcake with it and I said she could have it but that she'd get a migraine if she did. She decided not to:). Some of the things that have red dye 40 are:

mars chocolate (including all m & m's and candy bars..the only chocolate she should have is Godiva or Lindt!) Doritos, Cheetos, any orange crackers, juices (unless they are 100% juice), medicines, red jello, most berry yogurts, some ice creams, sprinkles..the list goes on and on. I told her to avoid orange, pink, and red foods unless God made them! We don't ever have the junk food in our house but she's involved in so many activities where they have snacks and I find myself CONSTANTLY reminding her and telling her teachers about it. It's not a life or death situation but it does cause her great pain. This IS something she can grow out of so that's what we're praying for...although when you really think about it there aren't any foods with red dye 40 that are very healthy anyway.