Food Allergy or something else?

While I was PG with DD I begun to have pretty intense reactions where my entire face and neck would become ridiculously itchy, go really red, get swollen and then peel. The first few times I didn't know what was going on and everyone said "It'll all clear up when bubba arrives".. Well "bubba" arrived 5 months ago and it still continues.
I've determined that it is a food allergy of some type but cannot for the life of me work out what I'm allergic to. I've never had food allergies before being PG but sometimes within 5 minutes of a meal my face becomes VERY itchy and it all starts.

For anyone with food allergies does this sound like a food allergy problem or could it be something different? I do get dermatitis and had it on my face primarily but during PG again it spread to my face.

Yesterday we had a BBQ with friends and I had steak, sausage, salad and some potatoe and the itching was the worst it has been in awhile. My entire face itched like crazy for about 3 hours and then was burning for another hour or so as the skin was so inflamed. I tried putting on some aloe vera to sooth it but it really stung and I had to wipe it off. Now my face is still red (not as bad) and the skin is very dry and I know that probably tomorrow it'll start to peel..

I tried a course of oral cortisone which worked beautifully but as soon as I stopped it things went back to this. It varies between my entire face flaring up to just around my lips getting extremely itchy, swelling a little and then peeling after a few days..

I hate to think the damage I'm doing to my skin but the itching is intense and I just can't help but scratch..

I cannot get in for allergy testing till April and I have no idea what I'm going to do to cope with this for much longer as it's already been almsot a year.

It definately sounds like an intolerance or food allergy. The best way to try to figure out what it is would be to try an elimination diet. You can check some out like the RPA allergy diet, or Sue Dengate's Failsafe diet.

We did the RPA diet and found quite a few things, like Matilda and Jovie react to Salicalytes(sp?) in their diet. And sometimes its not one food in particular, but if they have an abundance of them and then they start reacting to everything with it until they go off them a few days. Salicalytes are found in natural foods, but they are a natural preservative.

I started reacting to avocado a few months ago, so I went off it for a while & cut down on foods that are high in salicalytes (I was eating them in abundance) and have been able to eat it again. My reaction was itchy mouth and lips and swollen lips.

Hey Belinda,

Sorry to hear you've been having allergy problems :hug: it sounds really annoying.

just a thought as I was reading your notes... and I don't know heaps about allergy stuff... but my DH has IBS and is a dermatitis/eczema type. At one stage he seemed to start getting really sensitive to everything - tomatoes were giving him stomach cramps and things he'd always had previously that were fine, no longer seemed to be. He did an elimination diet and worked out some foods that were irritating his system. Now I don't know if they are proper allergies per se but I suspect not, I think it's more of a sensitivity type issue. BUT, after finishing the elimination diet he was HEAPS better...suddenly he could have things like tomato etc with no problems. It's my understanding that sometimes your systemp can become overloaded and get over-sensitised. Maybe it's like your reaction threshold drops, and starts to include a greater range of things. I've also heard, that sometimes people show up with a really wide range of allergies, and after cuttng down exposure and giving their systems a break as much as possible, they show up as being allergic to a much smaller group of things (this happened for my sister too).

So what I'm trying to say in my long winded way... is yeah... what Christy said - maybe try an elimination diet! :)

Good luck and hope you feel better soon.
:hug: Belfie
P.S. btw, DH went to see an allergist guy - who could give him things like preservatives in capsule form for the purpose of testing. The actual guy was a total w*nker, but the structure provided was useful.

Have you started a food diary? I never made the connections with my own diet until I had to write it all down to figure out what was going on with Em. Since then I know that certain amounts of dairy react in me but any dairy reacts in her.