Effects of food dyes again!

BIG SIGH..... here we go again. Guess who's having the most reaction to dyes this week--me. I get on my kids about this stuff so often you'd think I would learn my lesson. It was the last baseball game of the season (thank goodness!!!) and the coach brought cupcakes for everyone. You know, the dark blue frosting with a zillion little sprinkles all over them. So it was obvious Alex was going to pass on them due to too many forbidden ingredients (dyes, wheat, soy, milk, etc.). so while my son wondered off to throw a ball and distract himself like the good little boy he is, I was passing out cupcakes to the rest of the team. I had icing all over my fingers when I was done and, being at the baseball park where they don't happen to have an extra sink or napkins, I licked it off. I've been grumpy and yelling a lot more easily ever since. I have felt a whole lot less patient the past 2 days. It should be worn off tonight.

food dyes at the dentist

We started off our first day of summer vacation with 4 dentist appointments. It went fairly well and they have now flagged all of our charts with allergy stickers regarding the artificial coloring. I requested that they flag it as an allergy.

The paste they normally use to polish teeth is dark red. I'm assuming it's loaded with red #40. They had a substitute that looked a little like grey sand, but it wasn't gritty, so that's what we all got. The hygenist said there is a white flouride available, but they still use the pink or green stuff. I may write ahead and request the white fouride as an option next time. I guess it costs a lot more so they don't keep it on hand. On the way home Ben said they gave him pink flouride, so we'll wait and see if there's any fallout from that. Oh, let's hope not.

last day of school

We made it to the end. It's the final day of the 6:50 trip to the bus stop until August. I had at least 7 times the past week when I needed to send in substitutes for everything from ice cream sundae toppings to popsicles for the end of year parties. I actually had to make myself a chart to remember which child needed which snack on the right day.

I also made cupcakes for Lindsey's preschool birthday party. I tried red raspberry juice in white frosting. It tasted great! I did them late at night(after baseball) but I forgot to take a picture. I needed to keep them chilled because my husband bought whipped icing and it kind of flopped and got runny when mixed with the juice. All in all, I think the raspberry was much better tasting than the beet juice, but both had nice color. We got a good "bubble gum" pink each time. I'm thinking about buying a lot of raspberries now while they are in season and freezing them. Then I can make the same color any time.

pretty pink cake

My little girl loves pink so I've been trying to figure out how to make her a pink butterfly birthday cake to go with the candles I found. I tried adding beet juice to white frosting. Then I decorated with lots of white frosting and more of that Surf Sweets candy I got for free. I used gummy worms for the butterfly body and jelly beans and gummy swirls to make the flowers. My daughter was thrilled with the outcome. Eating pink food is a big deal since we have to pass on so many pink and red items. I really don't think you could take taste the beet juice at all, but the thick white frosting on top may have helped with that. I also stopped adding the beet juice when I felt like I could smell it. The candy was so tempting I even caught my mother-in-law picking a few pieces off the cake.

Here is how it turned out:

Free Candy from Surf Sweets

I've mentioned Surf Sweets candy several times on my blog. I received an email from that company last week inviting me to request some free samples. We already really liked the Gummy Swirls and Jelly Beans that I have bought in the past. I originally found them at the health food store, but they are also available at Toys R Us.

Here is a little bit about what the company had to say, "We're doing our best to give our customers a healthier alternative to mainstream candy. We have six different varieties of gummy candies and jelly beans, made from all-natural ingredients: - 100% Vitamin C per serving- NO synthetic flavors and artificial colors - NO trans fats- NO GMOs - NO corn syrup - NO gluten.

We got the candy in a nice size box and all I can say is, "Wow!" I can't believe they sent me all this for free. What's better is that it is all dye free and tastes great!!!! We really enjoyed the Super Sour Gummy Worms. It's been hard for my kids to be at all the baseball games when their friends are able to buy sour candies (with lots of artificial colors) at the concession stand. I've brought other kinds of candies, but it will be nice to have all the options from Surf Sweets.

Happy Happy Day! Thanks again Surf Sweets. It's great to see a company that cares about putting the right ingredients in treats for our children. I encourage all my followers to try their candy. You'll be hooked. It's going to be hard to save them for the kids and to not eat them all myself.

dye free meds getting easier to track down

Well I'm getting closer to a happier ending on this one. I found a local pharmacy (Medicine Shop in Beavercreek) that will compound the medication and I can pick it up. That alone should save me a bundle in shipping costs. My order had not been processed so I was able to cancel with the other compounding pharmacy.

So if you find yourself needing to find dye free prescription medication here are a few tips:

1. Ask your doctor ahead of time to prescribe a dye free medication. That step could save a lot of hassle right there. I thought I had that one covered, but it seems big pharmaceuticals change their additives.
2. If your regular pharmacy does not have a dye free option, you can search online for a compounding pharmacy in your area. You can also ask your doctor for suggestions on compounding pharmacies.
3. If you can't find a local compounding pharmacy, you can contact Lee Silsby Compounding pharmacy in Cleavland, OH.
4. Or you can decide to suffer whatever ill effects dyes have on your child and get the medication with red #40. If it was only a 10 day antibiotic on non-school days, I might have gone with this option. Then again, how much is it worth to have a sane, stable, well controlled child? I decided it was worth the extra 70 dollars to not have a crazy wild child for 30 days.

quest for dye free meds

It should have been simple. My son's doctor wants him to switch to a different antifungal medication. A generic prescription should be either 4 or 10 dollars at my pharmacy. There's only one problem. Every dose of the medication has red# 40 in it, name brand as well as generic. The doctor had thought it was a white tablet when she prescribed it.

The suspension liquid is dye free, but it has lots of sugar, which my son is supposed to avoid in order to fight his intestinal yeast overgrowth. So two doses of sugary syrup every day doesn't seem like a good plan. The liquid also has sodium benzoate, which always seems to wire him too.

So, after a failed trip to the pharmacy, the one where I thought I'd be able to drop of the prescription for white pills and be on my way in 15 minutes, three calls to other pharmacies, I'm going to pay big again for a specially compounded medication. I found out that Medicine Shop compounds medication, but the pharmacist didn't call back so I went ahead and faxed the prescription to Lee Silsby again. At least I'll save about $25-30 by getting a 2 month supply all at once. That's only after I pay out 200 for what should have only cost 20. If this keeps up I may need to post ads on my blog.

Someday, there will be a better way. I just wish that "someday" was a little closer to now. This battle gets old. I need to start writing to politicians again.