Jinxed

I need to learn that I can never announce positive progress in a public sphere.

We've tripped 3 of our 4 criteria. Skin is back to an itchy, scabby rash up and down her arms. She has a smattering of white pimply bumps on her arms, cheeks and chin now. It's still "mild" compared to what it can turn into, so hopefully it will clear soon. Sleep is messed up. It took her until nearly 9:30 last night to fall asleep, despite being tired. Behavior yesterday and this morning included lots of irrational threats. The only that seems to be okay is digestion, but she's kind of irregular at the moment, so it's hard to tell.

I admit that we started Shea Butter as a topical cream starting Tuesday morning. I noticed her rash about 24-36hrs after her first exposure. The ironic part is that the Shea Butter is doing wonders for the eczema, which is a separate skin issue as the rash, believe it or not. Her skin itself is smooth and soft, no cracks or irritation in the skin folds. There just now happens to be scabs and pimply bumps all over her arms. *sigh*

I also made buffalo jerky overnight on Tuesday. We ate it for lunch and snack on Wednesday. That seems a little fast for a reaction, especially since her pattern is normally 24-36hrs delayed. Also, she can tolerate pastured beef, so I would think that pastured buffalo would be even more well tolerated.

We are stopping Shea Butter (didn't put it on this morning). I won't make buffalo jerky again for awhile. We are having buffalo burgers for dinner again tonight, but they won't have been slow cooked overnight (increases amine content).

I have enough food to get us through Friday, so we'll just eat what we already have here (i.e. what we've been eating). Hopefully by Saturday we'll be ready for more food trials (I've got my eyes on some zucchini, finally). I want to power forward and get as many foods as possible into our "safe" corner as fast as we can. I am focusing on meats, fats, & veggies. After that we can leisurely investigate fruits and spices.

ETA: Update. Around 4:30 she started itching like mad in her elbows. Actual hives again. Nothing has changed - there was nothing to trigger it. We went back to bare bones food today (all I had in the house anyway). We stayed inside because it was raining. We didn't use any topical products... So, I started reading some more on the whole oxalate/K debate. There is some evidence to suggest that if you are *too* low in oxalates, your body will start producing it's own. Lily has been extremely low oxalate for a few weeks now... It's hard to say what's going on. I gave her extra Vit C at bedtime (a no-no on the LOD b/c Vit C can metabolize into oxalates...) so we'll see if that helps as an anti-histamine. We're hemming and hawing and back to thinking that we just need to trial foods of any stripe and see if we can't get some back, regardless of their food chemical affiliation... This is beyond frustrating. (It doesn't help that I have hives on my eyelids and my neck and face is crazy itchy today, too.)