Allergic reaction to dinner tonight

[Swoop]

Thanks Mummenurse.

Loula, that's great that you've managed to get in so quickly - I think it may have something to do with your DS's age... I hesrd they push them through quicker if under a year, and even quicker still if under 6 months. Let me know how you get on....

[Loula]

Hi I just though I would reply with pur allergy results from the SPT today.

High reaction to egg white (9mm) egg yoke (6mm) and Peanut (5mm) and Soy bean (2mm) have our appointment with the pead on the 17th to discuss!

They didnt have any Milk protine in so I will have to go back for that one!

[Swoop]

Ugh, at least you know though.....

[belfie]

Loula - have they given you any advice as to whether to avoid the foods or not?
My DS was (is!) a chronic itcher, and I ended up having to change my diet. When he had any EBM from prior to me changing MY diet, he was markedly more itchy. And FYI at 11 mo, my DS's reaction sizes were egg 4mm, cashew 8mm, hazelnut 5mm. They re-tested 6 months later, and quite a few of his reactions had tripled in size (we're still avoiding treenuts & egg at this stage but very hopeful of getting onto egg within the next year or two). Thought it might be useful for you to hear our experience. GL with it all

[Swoop]

Just wondering how many tests they did on other people's bubs... We only had 4 and now I don't know what to do about all the other nuts??? What happened when you all went for the tests?

[Loula]

egg white
egg yoke
wheat
cashew
almond
peanut
Brazil nut
Soyabean

and i think four more that i cant remember. I know we did not get Milk tested so may need to go back for that one. The lady said that Almond, soybean and brizil nut were not on the list but did I want the test done anyway, so i just said why not, while we are here!

Belfie, They lady doing the test said she would recommend to avoid all contact with egg and to speak with my pead with regards to what to do about the peanut and soya bean. She said it was a very clear reaction were you told to avoid the foods your DS reacted to? does he just have the itching?

MY DS broke out in hives and vomiting after BIL fed him hazelnut pav at 41/2 mths

I guess I will also try to avoid eating these things too, funny I would eat 6 eggs a week before and during pg

[belfie]

Loula - we were told not to give DS any treenuts or eggs. I went home & then wondered about my own diet (duh!) cos he hadn't had any of these things directly in his diet at that time, so I rang them back and they said yes, you shouldn't eat them either (aaah thanks for telling me!). They also didn't provide us with any fact sheets about egg/nut allergies (which are actually easily available & quite informative!). His testing was prompted by a few episodes of hives, red puffy lips (only rarely), chronic eczema & itching, and a constant mucousy/phlegmy sounding breathing (he was a big mouth-breather). Everything improved massively once I realised to take the foods out of my diet. And no-one had EVER suggested his very noisy/snorty/snuffly breathing could be allergy-related. We've since had a few bouts of unexplained hives, and one 3 day lot of hives after IL's dog was fed a raw egg 10 mins before we arrived... (finally made my IL's take it seriously!). We were also on the border for sesame & waited for 11mths for a food challenge at RCH - finally had that earlier this month & got the all-clear. Both RCH allergy clinic & our paed tell me that nearly all kids grow out of egg issues by 4-5 years old. Now that I"m not feeding DS EBM, we do eat his allergy foods away from him (as both DH and I have food restrictions) so keeping them out of the house altogether was really not realistic. My paed thought that was fine provided we had no "helpful" older siblings who might accidentally feed them to DS. I sometimes worry re MIL so have tried to also make a point of having his allergy form up in the house & telling them to always check labels even in our pantry.

Boo for your BIL! Is your DS getting any ongoing symptoms do you think? Even if your DS isn't in daycare yet, it might be worth getting an allergy action plan so rellies don't think you're just being a nervous nelly.


Re our tests
Test 1 (11mo): egg 4mm, milk 0mm, soy 0mm, peanut 0mm, cashew 8mm, hazelnut 5mm, cod fish 0mm, house dustmite 0mm, cat 2mm, dog 0mm (they seemed to suggest these were all worth testing based on his reaction.. even though we hadn't tested all treenuts we were advised to exclude them all)

Test 2 (17mo): egg 20mm, peanut 2mm, cashew 18mm, almond 3mm, hazelnut 8mm, macadamia 17mm, pine nut 2mm, sesame 5mm
(as you can see they honed in on all the nuts second time).

Test 3 (2yrs 3 mths): same collection of eggs & nuts - paed didn't give me printout (gonna get that). Almond & Walnut are both now 0mm and we've been advised we can test them at home. The other treenuts & egg are still high and we've been advised continue to avoid. For our allergy form, the paed still wrote "treenuts" rather than specifying which nuts (probably much safer!).\
Apparently 20% of kids grow out of treenut allergies, but I think I heard somewhere that the chances of growing out of peanut allergy are a bit better? Our paed is hopeful we'll be able to try small amounts of cooked eggs in things in a years time. I'm not just hoepful, i'm hanging out for it lol.
FYI my DS does also have peanuts in his diet at present with no issue.

[Nai]

DD1 had egg and peanut allergies but she has grown out of the egg allergy - fortunately about 80% of kids do and it's one that gives a burning sensation to the mouth so kids who are allergic to egg naturally avoid it due to this. She still has peanut and brazil nut allergies but can quite happily eat almonds and walnuts. We go back to test again later this year I think.

[Swoop]

Wow Belfie, your DS had some big reactions! That must have been stressful.

I'm a bit concerned that the test they did on DD wasn't thorough enough... They did peanut, hazelnut, dustmite and one other thing that I can't remember, but it was a no reaction one. They didn't tell us how many mm the reactions were, but there was no reaction from hazelnut, there was a slight one from dustmite and a very big one from peanut (I guestimate around 10mm). We were given some fact sheets which were very informative - can prob scan if anyone wants copies) but weren't told that we needed to go back, and don't know whether we need to avoid all nuts, treat with caution or just avoid peanuts now. We have been referred onto a dietician at the allergy clinic who we're seeing next week though.

[BlackCat]

You can be allergic to peanuts but not allergic to tree nuts, however if you are allergic to tree nuts the possibility of being allergic to peanuts vastly increases. Least this is what we were told. That probably doesnt answer your question though huh? lol. Id ask the dietician you will see especially if they are in conjunction with your allergy clinic. We were tested for a long list of allergens both times, including non food ones. We had hoped to eliminate a few allergies when we went back the last time for follow up but ended up adding over a dozen more

[Loula]

I keep going to post this all day then something calls me away!!!

Thank you so much for your reply post (and sorry to bombard this thread!)

Wow Belfie your DS did have a huge reaction, was that just the 'mozzie' looking lump or the redness as well? the lady we had said that they just measure the lump. did you ahve to get an epipen?

Swoop! wow I would feel very left in limbo too, can you email your Pead or chat to your G with regards to the results?

BC so you have a ton of things to avoid too!

[belfie]

Wow Belfie your DS did have a huge reaction, was that just the 'mozzie' looking lump or the redness as well? the lady we had said that they just measure the lump. did you ahve to get an epipen?

Measure the lumps, and no epipen at this stage. We check every year... lol. They say if we lived remotely or were travelling remotely yes we should have one, but otherwise given we're metro, don't worry. A friend of mine who is a nurse once commented (reassuringly) that his reactions (hives etc) didn't seem anaphylactically inclined (so saying, I am aware the reactions can escalate with exposure). I guess that's the heartening thing with getting onto it early. I heard of one family who celebrated their LO's 1st birthday in the hossie after he had walnut on his cake... nasty way to find out huh .

Swoop - if I were you, I'd try to get a hold of the results for your own records. Some dr's are so hopeless at giving you a copy but it's important if you ever have to go somewhere else. We were also advised to continue yearly testing, plus if your LO goes to daycare, they'll need an annual update of the allergy form too. It's annoying when you leave & realise how many other things you'd like to know. We changed from the RCH allergy clinic to a paed for this reason. I hated the 1 year gap when I couldn't ask questions!!

BC - wow I didn't know that about peanuts & treenuts, thanks for telling us. That's foul about getting new restrictions

I guess we're lucky not to have peanuts then. So saying DH can't do dairy, and I can't do wheat & a heap of other stuff - so it's crazy-town for us anyways