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Summary: The best book on children's allergies
Review: Clear and insightful, this book has helped scores of my patients discover and control their allergies. It is disconcerting that ten years after its publication, most physicians are ignorant of its message.
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Summary: how to discover allergies
Review: D. Rapp gives a practical approach to discovering your childrens allergies by utilizing a rotational diet. She attributes many behavior problems to food allergies. She gives many excellent examples of cause and effect and in some cases a simple remedy to alleviate some of the symptoms. Following her advice will assist you in deciding if you need professional care. She also gives advice on where to find physicians who will treat food allergies. I am buying copies for my children and their families. Nancy E. Mach,RN, BSN, MA, CCRN
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Summary: A MUST READ!
Review: Fabulous Book. Gives parents detailed information to help them determine if their child has an allergy to anything in their environment including foods, molds, cleaning products, perfumes, etc. Dr. Rapp LISTENS to parents - unlike many MDs. Great real-life examples of children who've been helped by the elimination diet. Altering a child's diet may take careful planning and thought - but for children with allergies to artificial colors and flavors as well as certain foods, it is imperative to help their bodies get into "balance".
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Summary: Interseting anectdotes, unsound science
Review: Good advice on diet and determining food allergies. Unfortunately, the prefered treatment method of Provocation/Neutralization has zero credibility in the medical community. There is no evidence, based on double blind clinical trials, that the method works.
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Summary: An Essential Addition to My Bookshelf
Review: I checked this book out of our local library at our pediatrician's suggestion. We are trying to deal with allergies in both our boys, and our doc finally threw up her hands and said, "Go get this book, she's the most knowledgable doctor in the field today." After taking extensive notes from the book trying to copy out all the vital information, I gave up and decided it was a must for my purchase list!
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Summary: This should be required reading for allergists!
Review: My 1yr old son has had problems with several different foods(including milk and soy)and this book has been such a comfort. This book has many examples of other cases like my son's where normal allergy skin tests have not uncovered any answers. I have become frustrated with doctors not willing to listen or believe that food sensitivities can be connected with sleep disruption and extreme behavior changes in young children. This book gives documented example after example of children with the same type problems as our son, and my another child in our family. This book should be required reading for all pediatricians and allergists treating children. For parents that strongly suspect a food/allergy problem in your child this book is a MUST have.
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Summary: A MUST READ!
Review: My son's allergist recommended this book and I read the entire thing in 3 days. My son has been to so many doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. over the years and noone ever suggested he could have food allergies, and that could be causing much of his ADHD/aggression problems. This book explains it all so well, and offers very detailed suggestions for help. Why don't more doctors see this connection? I highly recommend this book for all parents searching for the answers for their hard to control children. It may not be the answer for everyone, but certainly worth looking into.
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Summary: I wish I'd read this book YEARS ago.
Review: My son's allergist recommended this book and I read the entire thing in 3 days. My son has been to so many doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. over the years and noone ever suggested he could have food allergies, and that could be causing much of his ADHD/aggression problems. This book explains it all so well, and offers very detailed suggestions for help. Why don't more doctors see this connection? I highly recommend this book for all parents searching for the answers for their hard to control children. It may not be the answer for everyone, but certainly worth looking into.
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Summary: Life changing!
Review: Rapp, a Pediatric Allergist MD focuses on "brain allergy" in this book. This 600+ page book may seem daunting but it is not hard to read and you can pick and choose the chapters that you are interested in and that apply to your situation. It is also easy to skim for basic information at first and then if you need to delve into detail you can go back and read each word and section that applies to you. Black and white photographs, paragraphical text, case studies, and lists are the ways that Rapp describes the various maladies that are caused by brain allergies. There are easy to reference lists and separate chapters on how allergies manifest in infants, toddlers, children, and adolescents. After the discussion of the allergy symptoms Rapp moves on to how to detect the food culprit and how to confirm via testing with provocation/neutralization (P/N) testing. This testing entails a pinprick for up to 40 times in one session PER FOOD, administered by the physician. Rapp discusses the single and multiple food elimination diet, and the rotary diet. She gives you all the information you need to know to implement these plans but advises you seek the council of a physician. Rapp explains that she prepares a diluted solution of allergy extract serum that the parent can administer to the child to reduce the affect of the allergic reaction (mixed up by the doctor and sold to the patient). Rapp also gives instructions for using an alkali nonprescription item to stop the allergic reaction once it has begun. Hypoglycemia is also discussed briefly and how sometimes the patient may have hypoglycemia-only, allergies-only, or both hypoglycemia and allergies together. Gastroesophageal Reflux (GER) is also discussed because sometimes the underlying problem is an allergy that causes the GER or it is just an allergy showing itself with similar symptoms as GER. Rapp states that the person with the food allergy often becomes addicted to that food and it is probably apparent to the parent just from watching the child, what they are allergic to and eliminating that food is a good and easy place to start. Rapp gives ideas for record keeping while the detective work is going on. Hyperactivity, ADD, ADHD, and Ritalin is actually necessary take up several chapters. More chapters on aggression, "slow" children, delinquency, and fatigue, headaches and seizures round out more links to allergy as the root cause. If you treat the allergy then these symptoms sometimes go away. Now for our family's story. When my son was two years old, over a nine-month period, he very gradually began changing behaviors and showing some physical signs that I thought was strange. Visits to our pediatrician did not yield any answers and I was told that these behaviors were "the terrible two's" but I knew that my son was acting differently than he ever did before. I cut way down on TV viewing because of his zombie-like behavior and moodiness but that didn't help. My son was a picky eater who ate only a few foods. I never suspected food allergy. My son was getting very hard to live with and his overall personality was quite changed, gloomy and depressed-acting. I was on an email chat list where a parent asked for help with some behaviors her child was exhibiting and they were the same as my son so I was curious to see what parenting tips the other mothers would come up with. Someone replied to read this book and that it sounds like the child had food allergies. I was shocked at that idea, but was desperate and read the book. I was glued to the book and stayed up late into the night reading it and was shocked that all the different behaviors and physical symptoms were listed in the book. I burst into tears to think my son had food allergies and dreaded the chore of living with eliminating foods from his diet. I did the elimination diet with dairy and his symptoms all disappeared within 48 hours! My pediatrician and the pediatric allergist we visited did not believe in these allergies despite my showing them this book, discussing the success with the elimination diet, and a physical exam. Since we had done the food elimination diet and had success, I knew that we were right and those doctors were wrong. My cynical husband was even convinced. We finally found a doctor (not in our insurance plan) that does believe in these allergies and he confirmed what I already knew. However, and this is the important part: he said new technology has come out since this book was written. My son did not have to go through the P/N testing (all those pinpricks) to get a diagnosis. We simply had his blood drawn (one vial) and sent it off to Immuno Laboratories for IgG testing for a panel of over 100 foods. The test and the information the lab provided was excellent and my son was diagnosed with 23 food allergies. That was just over a year ago. Actually living with the food elimination is not that difficult (unless you do a lot of restaurant eating or traveling). Living with a healthy and happy, well-behaved child again is worth any amount of food substitution and food elimination on our part. Our physician does not believe in giving the child extracts to counteract the allergic reaction, but believes in a total food elimination diet so the body can heal itself and get over the allergy. These allergies are usually outgrown over time. I am so thankful for finding this book and this information. If your child is having any negative behaviors, acting differently than they used to, or showing signs of hyperactivity, aggression or ADD/ADHD, I feel it is worth your time and effort to read this book and investigate food allergies before you simply accept a different diagnosis or label the behaviors as "normal for that age".
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Summary: A must read for "good parents" at the end of their rope!
Review: This book contained information that greatly improved my families quality of life! Doris Rapp gives you the information to recognize unsuspecting allergies by being your own detective. She shows how a good record keeper can pinpoint a specific reaction caused by a specific allergen. She also alerts her readers about how unsuspecting behavoir problems,constant sicknesses,bed wetting,hyperactivity,and headaches could be the result of undiagnosed allergies.I liked the way Dr. Rapp enforces that no one knows your child better than his or her parents and that you should trust that "gut" feeling. I feel that she supplies the reader with enough resources to be able to identify an allergy and to possibly be able to control it.This book has also enabled my family to lead more healthy, happy and productive lives! If this book is helpful, one will want to read Dr. Rapp's other books on allergies.
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