Allergic reaction to dinner tonight

[Kirley64]

The allergy testing is a great idea but unless your going to a private Paed for the allergy testing i'd hate to say it i don't like your chances of getting in before x-mas.
DD2 took a couple of months on the waiting list and we only got a spot cos i happened to call right as someone cancelled, the waiting lists for kids OVER 1yr old can be well over 6 - 12mths.

Hoping it's not serious and that you can get some answers ASAP.. we too have to carry an epi-pen for DD2, she has a dairy allergy and was borderline for nuts & egg it's hard but if you can just watch exactly what ppl give her for now you shoudl be ok.

There is usually only a wait if you go to an allergist. You can get allergy tests done by your local QML; just ask your doctor for the referal to them instead. Then all you do is just walk in any time you want. I'm getting my son done shortly ; just the basic four first (egg, dairy, peanuts, soy) i think after medicare rebate i'm still $120 out of pocket. for more extensive testing its even dearer. but you shouldn't have to wait.

[Kirley64]

Just coming back in to update... The GP thinks it's the peanuts, she gave us a referral to a specialist and told me to keep DD and myself away from all nuts in the meantime. I called the specialist, but the earliest appointment they had was May so I called DD's old paed and asked if they could recommend anyone - got an appointment for the beginning of Feb.

Read my last post

[Swoop]

Thanks Kirley, I'll keep that in mind, but as we have our appointment at the beginning of Feb now and we're away for the next few weeks I may just stick with it.

[Swoop]

Just thought I'd come back and update as we had the allergy test today....

DD was just tested for a couple of things on her arm - she tested positive for peanuts, but not with a big enough reaction to need an epi-pen. The allergist is also referring us to a dietician who specialises in kids with allergies. We've had a dramatic week - she was in hospital Thursday - Saturday after we took her to emergency with an uncontrollable fever, and then back again to emergency yesterday due to a reaction to the antibiotics. They've picked up some strange issues with her breathing at every appointment, including the allergist today and as she's also dropped down to the 6th percentile for weight, having been up to around the 25th for a while not so long ago, the DD is urging us to go back to her paediatrician. We've got a follow up from the hospital visits with the GP tomorrow, so I'm going to talk to them then about going back to the paed. What a lot of medical palaver!

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Hope you get some answers soon hun.

[Swoop]

Hope you get some answers soon hun.

Cheers, me too! I feel better than I did yesterday, when the dr said she felt we may be just seeing the start of something more serious and I should take her straight to emergency again. I stood in the street waiting for the bus with tears streaming down my face. But the dr at emergency was great, took her off anti-biotics and she was just like herself again today. I don't think everything is sorted yet, but I feel like we're moving in a direction.

[christy]

:hugL its so scary when things don't go well. DD1 and DD2 are allergic to cows milk and have intolerances to other foods. It was a long journey, but it was also awesome to find reasons for what was going on. I hope you get some answers.

[Swoop]

That's exactly what I'm thinking christy - I was relieved to know about the peanuts, even though I don't want DD to be the kid who always has to sit by the teacher at lunch time and have her face plastered all over the school etc when that time comes! It will be good to get to the bottom of whatever else is going on with her at the moment.

[Jennifer13]

I'm glad you know about the allergy but I'm sorry she's having other issues as well. Was she tested for other allergies as well?

[belfie]

Swoop - i'm glad things are slowly getting sorted, but sorry to hear you've had such dramas . GL with sorting the allergies, I know it's a palaver
Given she's improved off the antibiotics, does that mean she should avoid them in future?

[Swoop]

Jen - she was tested for a couple of things, peanuts, hazelnuts, dustmite and one more that I can't remember without looking at the paperwork. She had no reaction to hazelnuts or the one I can't remember, a small reaction to dustmites and a very clear reaction to peanuts. They didn't test anything else because she said they couldn't do too many on such a little one.

Belfie - it's become a bit more complicated since my last post as she's pretty sick again now. I don't know whether that's because we stopped the a/b's, or she's picked up another bug in all these dr/hospital appointments or because they've missed what's actually wrong. There's a bit of a muddle over what's a long term and what's a short term issue and I think the trouble is everyone is guessing a bit. I got her a referral to her old paed yesterday so will be booking that asap in order to try to get to the bottom of all this. The GP yesterday really let us down, more concerned by the fact that there was diarrhea on her (wipeable) floor than by the little girl who was so ill her nappy had just failed to hold it, and couldn't wait to get us out of the surgery with no short term solution. We're going to find a new GP, which is a shame with all her history held there, but needs must... and in the meantime we'll take her back to emergency if she doesn't improve in the next few hours. I'm feeling very sad, frustrated and annoyed about it all at the moment.

[Loula]

Oh hugs how terribly stressful for you. DS had a reaction after my bil fed his hazelnut pav! We have no idea if it was nuts egg or cream. It's such a worry.

I'm thinking of you and hope that you are listened to and your DD assisted and gets better very soon x


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[Swoop]

Thanks loula, I hope so too.

Your poor DS! Did he have a severe reaction? Are you taking him for allergy tests?

[Loula]

I contacted our pead as i was unsure wether it was just due to his age (only 5 mths) but he would like us to get an allergy test done. I would like to get it done before we travel OS too and we are flying with an asian airline and i know lots of there foods contain nut oils ect

[Swoop]

Sounds like it would be a good idea then. When are you going OS? We had to wait 4 months for the test, but I've heard they give priority to babies under 12 months.

[Swoop]

Just wanted to pop in with a quick update...

It turned out DD caught gastro (I'm guessing when we took her back to hospital) which explained a lot of things, but the breathing and a couple of other issues were still of concern, so I was really keen to take her back and get this investigated further.

We saw the paed last week with interesting results. Following this thread, a lovely BB member sent me a PM putting me onto the possibility that DD may be suffering from reflux and put me onto a book called Colic solved by Bryan Vartebedian. The info she gave me rang so true on so many levels so I was interested in discussing this with the GP/Paed. I brought it up with the GP and she laughed in my face and told me it was highly unlikely blah blah blah. She wrote me a referral but mocked my suggestion in the referral letter. We were really lucky and when I explained everything that had been going on o the paed's receptionist she gave us a cancellation appointment for the next day. Without even reading the referral letter he suggested reflux to me and has put her on losec. She was given zantac as a small baby for reflux, but it didn't work and the paed we saw at the time said that he therefore didn't believe that reflux was the issue. Within about 24 hours of taking the losec DD is like a different child. She is sleeping so so so much better, I am blown away by the difference. I feel terrible that I didn't pursue this earlier, but in a way so glad that she did get sick and these issues came back up. The paed also said he was concerned about her weight (back down around the 3rd centile following all her sickness) and he suspects an iron deficiency too. He suggested that some of this may be due to the fact that she chooses bm rather than food often so he wants me to encourage her to cut down on the bm and eat more food. This goes against my bls beliefs and I'm not prepared to wean her completely, which I told him, BUT I do want to night wean and have been keen to do so for a while. Now that she's on the losec I'm happy to do so knowing that she's not waking because she's in pain... although I may not need to now that she's on the losec - she's slept through the night twice since going on it, even though one of those times she was in a portacot as we were staying with the outlaws over the weekend, which is totally unheard of.

As far as the allergies are concerned, I was really surprised the other day when DD had a reaction to rock melon. She's eaten it on numerous occasions before and not had any reaction, but it was half a fruit from the supermarket, so i wonder whether it was contaminated when they were divvying it up.

So that's where we're up to - I just wanted to come back and update and thank you all for your support, suggestions and kind words, and also share my experience in case it can help anyone else get some intervention earlier and not feel the guilt that I'm feeling now for not picking up on subtle issues earlier.

Mods: I'm not sure if given how this thread has evolved into something more medical if I posted it in the wrong location... please feel free to move it if necessary

[Catastrophic]

Both kids I know that have anaphylaxis with peanuts have had multiple exposures to them prior to a real reaction, like the body is building up it's response. Apparently that is often how it happens.

:yeahthat: ^... Thats a little delayed I should look at when the post are done...

Hope she's okay xooxox I hope you get the rest of your answeres soon xoxox

[Loula]

swoop im glad someone is listening and DD is better in herself.

We have an appointment next Wednesday for SPT to be done on DS. so all up three week wait from his first reaction so I didnt think the wait was too long

sorry to hijack this thread