I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!(UPDATE at bottom!)

My DD has always shown a mild reaction to peanuts. She had a peanut cookie accidentally when she was about 2 years old. FIL gave it to her thinking it was a regular vanilla cream cookie and it was a PB cream cookie, and her face and hand where she was holding it got all red and blotchy.

At the time the doctor told us that we could get her allergy tested but that many kids grow out of food allergies by the time they are 5-6 years old, so we might want to hold off on the testing.

So we've just kept her away from any and all peanut products, have her listed as having a peanut allergy at school, etc.

Now that she is 6 I brought it up again at her Well Visit in October, and the doc said it was time to get her tested.

I brought her this past Friday and we just got a call from the pediatrician.

Apparently she has a long list of foods that she is allergic to!

Corn
Milk
Orange
Peanuts
Soy Beans
Tomato
Wheat



I asked the doctor how can this be? These are foods she eats regularly! She loves Corn on the Cob! She drinks milk, eats yogurt and string cheese daily! She loves clementines and Orange Juice! She has had soy products since my Mom is lactose intolerant and only bakes with soy milk/margarines. She eats Ketchup probably daily! It's her favorite condiment! And she eats bread, pancakes, waffles, cookies, baked goods etc. all made with wheat daily!

The doctor said she is growning, 75th percentile for height and weight consistently since about 18 months of age, her blood work all came back normal so obviously these food allergies are not impacting her ability to thrive. It could have something to do with why she has asthma, that is controlled with medicine.

So I asked for an allergist recommendation --- (he recommended Dr. Novis) and I am planning on making an appt to take her there and get more testing done and for more answers.

I am just in shock! Wondering if there is anyone else out there who has a child with allergies like this, and how it impacts their life!

Melissa

Message edited 11/18/2011 1:07:05 PM.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!

I have no advice...but I would want to have her retested since it doesnt make that much sense to have all those allergies to things she eats regularly...how accurate are these tests? Do they have a high rate of false positives?

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!

My youngest DD(4y/o) is alergic to corn(as well as most fish, egg yolk, brewers yeast and a few others). Corn is in EVERYTHING!!! Drives me crazy that I she can't eat what the other kids do

Hopefully corn for your daughter won't irritate her as much as it does my DD.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!

The thing is --- Emily eats most of these products (all but peanuts) OFTEN --- DAILY even...without much of a response.

However she is asthmatic, which we always just thought was inherited through my husband since he has severe asthma, and now I am wondering if all of these allergic responses are what is bringing on her asthma...if we cut these foods out of her diet would she still need to take preventative asthma medication? She takes Pulmicorn 1x/day via the nebulizer.

I called the Allergist that my pediatrician recommended and they want to get us right in...they gave me an appt for 9am tomorrow! She'll be excited that she's missing school, but not excited that she has to get all kinds of tests done tomorrow!

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!

I don't have experience with this for my children, but have some for myself. when I was pregnant with dd1, towards the very end, i started getting a rash on my face after breakfast. lasted pp for awhile. i couldn't figure out what was triggering it. i went to get allergy tested and they tested me for everything that i come into contact with in the mornings, and a long list of other stuff that is commonly tested. they could not find any food allergies or anything relating to my rash, but had a long list of other stuff, some of which i was "highly" allergic to. i've never had an allergic reaction to anything else. he said--i bet you have terrible terrible allergies in the spring--you are very allergic to ragweed. i said nope. he was confused. i was allergic to dogs or cats--i have had both, no problems. i think i was even allergic to grass and many other things. it made no sense at all. i ignored it all, went on with my life, and consider him a quack, and don't trust those tests.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!

Is the results from RAST blood test or skin prick?

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!

The allergist may look at the results and decide not to eliminate it from her diet based on how severe they are and how she's been tolerating it to date.

Asthma can be food allergy related, but with your DH's history it may not be FA related.

My DS has multiple severe food allergies and is on a strict elimination diet, so it is a big impact in his life. My friend's DD has multiple minor food allergies and doesn't need to eliminate them from her diet, she just has to keep an eye out for reactions.

I like Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network especially their Downloads section under the Education tab and the email alerts

I also like the chat boards at Kids with Food Allergies

Good luck! It's very overwhelming at first but it's gets easier every day.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!

Posted by CathyB

The allergist may look at the results and decide not to eliminate it from her diet based on how severe they are and how she's been tolerating it to date.

Asthma can be food allergy related, but with your DH's history it may not be FA related.

My DS has multiple severe food allergies and is on a strict elimination diet, so it is a big impact in his life. My friend's DD has multiple minor food allergies and doesn't need to eliminate them from her diet, she just has to keep an eye out for reactions.

I like Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network especially their Downloads section under the Education tab and the email alerts

I also like the chat boards at Kids with Food Allergies

Good luck! It's very overwhelming at first but it's gets easier every day.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!

I remember reading that those tests can have a high rate of false positives. I hope you get answers tomorrow from the allergist!

Message edited 11/17/2011 6:13:21 PM.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!

DS came up with a bunch of food allergies on the blood test that he had previously been eating. The allergist said if he is tolerating them, it is fine to continue.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!

I'd talk to the allergist more and see what happens. I know when I was a kid I was tested and had a lot of food allergies - all of which I ate regularly...many of which are on your daughter's list. I never cut them from my diet and still eat them regularly and never had a reaction (well here and there if I eat large quantities of seafood - I feel asthmatic but I do eat seafood often). I was also asthmatic as a child but didn't see that as my trigger. Maybe one may be a trigger - you can probably take a graduated approach to figure it all out. Good Luck to you.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!

Well we went to the Allergist today. We saw doctor Irene Peak in East Meadow.

The entire practice was WONDERFUL start to finish! They were so polite, knowledgable, explaned everything and made both Emily and I feel very comfortable.

They did a series of skin tests on Emily's back. They tested her for 32 things. A full panel of nut/tree nuts, lots of enviornmental allergies, and things commonly found in homes.

They rub these little nodes on her back, each containing an oil that gets under the skin becuase the rub it hard and it irritates the surface of the skin. Emily said that it was uncomfortable and made her eyes water but didn't hurt like getting blood drawn.

They wait 15-20 minutes and then come back to see how the skin has responded to the allergins. If the skin gets red, irritated, raised then there is a positive reaction and you are allergic to that allergin.

Within 5 minutes Emily's back looked like a warzone! Almost everything was very red, puffy and swollen!

So we now have a long list of things that she is definately allergic to ...

The foods:
Corn
Milk
Orange
Peanuts
Soy Beans
Tomatoes
Wheat
all tree nuts

Enviornmental:
All tree pollens
all grass pollens
all ragweed pollens
cats
dust mites
cockroaches

They gave us a double prescription for an epi-pen, and while her history doesn't make us thing that she will respond in a way that would require an epi-pen, it is something that we need to be trained to use and have on hand, just in case. So one will go to her school nurse, one stays with us at home.

They also want to see her every 3 months for her first year under their treatment so that they can monitor how she reacts during different allergy seasons. Fall is Ragwood, Spring is Tree Pollens, Summer is Grasses, so she pretty much year round has something that can irritate her.

We can treat her for now with claritin/allergra/zyrtec as needed, switching it up so that she doesn't develop a resistance to them, and then after her first year being monitored we will decide if she needs immunotherapy with allergy shots.

Overall I have to say that I feel so much more secure now that we know exactly what she is allergic to and have a plan of action. And Dr. Paek answered all of our questions, took a full hour with us and was very attentive. I feel like we are under very good care.

I'm going to try and attach a picture that I took of her back...so you can see how irritated her skin came! Thanfully she won't have to do that again for a while, and they applied cortisone cream afterwards so most of the swelling is gone now!

ETA: As far as the foods, they said to continue to keep her away from all peanuts and nut products as we have been doing, but since she has been eating corn, milk, wheat, orange, etc for so long with no response, that her body must be fine with them and it is OK to continue them, and we'll just monitor it from here!

Image Attachment(s):

Message edited 11/18/2011 1:11:30 PM.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!(UPDATE at bottom!)

Wow! Thanks for posting this!

Is the allergist recommending that you avoid everything on the list even though your DD has only had a reaction to peanuts?

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!(UPDATE at bottom!)

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!(UPDATE at bottom!)

that's the same test they ran on me, and i looked like that at the end, but i have no reactions outside of the test. ragweed was especially dramatic on the test. if fall is ragweed season, then i should feel something now....and yet, i am fine.

take the precautions, but try not to worry. she may never feel any effects.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!(UPDATE at bottom!)

Allergy tests are baloney! I trust them not neither do I trust most allergists!

They are testing something they don't even understand how it works. The only accurate way to test for allergies is to test for reactions, with an elimination diet.

Honestly I don't know much about this, I shouldn't be so brutal, but I understand the biology part of it, and there is nothing about that stupid allergy test that makes any logical sense other than they really get paid well from your insurance to do it!

There is a great article I posted a long time ago, a NYC doctor, my DH actually worked with once upon a time, studying allergies. I'll find it and post here again.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!(UPDATE at bottom!)

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!(UPDATE at bottom!)

Her poor back !! While I understand the doctor saying if her body is tolerating the other foods, could she eventually have a worse reaction to it one day? DD had ammoxicillian and other penicillin antibiotics plenty of times and all of a sudden 3 years ago she came up with a HORRIBLE allergic reaction. I know that's medicine and you're dealing with food, but could it be a possibility?

Also, did you ask about the allergies effecting/causing her asthma? Just curious. I know someone who's kid had bad asthma and wonder if it could be another underlying problem because they had a milk protein allergy and a wheat allergy when they were little and the dr swears they grew out of it, but the mom doesn't think so.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!(UPDATE at bottom!)

DS had an allergy panel done at around 15 months due to a reaction to peanuts. DH accidentally gave him part of a PB&J sandwich. It came back that he had a level 4 allergy to peanuts (no other nut allergy at all) and egg whites. Level 2 allergy to egg yolk and soy.

I thought the egg allergy was weird since he had always eaten scrambled eggs/quiches/omlets/etc and never had a problem.

Allergist said I could continue to give him products with egg in it since he never had a reaction and to avoid giving him straight eggs.

At his 3 year follow up the scratch test showed he was now allergic to all nuts (level 4) but not allergic to eggs at all.

I have since given him scrambled eggs and he has never had a reaction.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!(UPDATE at bottom!)

DH just found out at 33 that he is allergic to a ton of things that he eats all the time too! We were shocked. He started with asthma brought on by allergies, and his bloodworm showed a ton of things he was allergic too. His allergist said he c old continue to eat all the too, although that until his allergies/asthma were under control a little more (it came on sudden and severe) he should try not to eat them daily.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!(UPDATE at bottom!)

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!(UPDATE at bottom!)

DD#1 woke last year covered head to foot in hives with facial swelling. We found out she was allergic to Milk, Chocolate, oranges, strawberries, shellfish (specifically - shrimp and crab), dust mites and I think he said ragweed. Luckily for us they are all minor allergies. We suspect she is having additional problems as she keeps getting a contact dermatitis all around her mouth for months - we just tested her for a few other things the other day that were luckily negative. I just took her today to get her blood tested for celiac and gluten.

While we waited until we could RAST test her we had her on an elimination diet and that made a big difference but it was really hard to follow and she went from being a great albeit small eater - to a very picky eater. I have mixed feelings it seems like the milk allergy makes it hard as does having a chocolate allergy. It seems like everything that is more of a treat either has milk, cocoa or orange or strawberry flavored (i.e. halloween everything is chocolate and if it isn't it is things like strawberry twizzlers or orange starbursts). At least she likes fruit so she eats a lot of that. I think it is harder when you have a child who had no allergies previous than it is when they have them as infants because they are not "missing" things they once had.

Re: I am in complete shock! Food Allergy related!(UPDATE at bottom!)