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Our soon to be 7 yr old is allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts and most tree nuts. An allergic reaction that happened when our son was in the 8 to 12 month age time frame included blisters over his face, back of the neck, and legs. His eyes would almost swell shut and his tongue would swell. This happens to him within seconds of eating anything with cows milk protein (both whey and casein). We found out about all his allergies when he was between 12 and 18 months and then found out about a Wisconsin clinic we now go to every 6 months. His blood work is tested every 6 months and he does take food drops of the allergens he is allergic too to boost his immune system. Also we take extra Vit D liquid drops (miscellized).
Now my wife (his mom) is lactose intollerant....she can eat or drink milk/ice cream, etc but afterwards often has bad poops or an upset stomach. No hives or anything like my son.
When our son was very very young (a few days old) we tried to breast feed and realized something was wrong. He would cry and cry and spit up the milk. We switched to a forumla where the milk protein was broken down and he did tolerate it but did have lots of eczema. Of course this was before we knew of his allergies....as he was drinking cows milk.
We were told in many cases have severe ezcema and milk allergies go hand and hand. Also well over 90 pct of those with milk allergies have asthma, like our son does.
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Originally Posted by AnonChick
But the point is, if your kid is just gassing and pooping like crazy and has stomach cramps every time he downs a glass of moo, he's not allergic to dairy. He's just lactose intolerant. If he gets violent or verbally aggressive within an hour after eating a plate of cheddar cheese nachos, then he probably has an allergy.
His blood work is tested every 6 months and he does take food drops of the allergens he is allergic too to boost his immune system.
A quick word about "food drops" here. First they don't boost the immune system, they reduce sensitivity to allergens. Food drops or Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) is not approved by the FDA, and subsequently there are no dosing or regulatory controls in place at this time. According to clinical trials, SLIT is effective when used for one allergen, but when used for multiple allergens, the effectivity is reduced. They are known to be very effective in cases of rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma, with mixed effectiveness against food allergies. So the bottom line is, administration is reasonably safe, they are very effective against single allergies, but it is not suitable for everyone.
This is not new treatment, having been around since the early 1900's.
They work in a very similar way to allergy shots or Subcutaneous Immunotherapy (SCIT), which can be administered for multiple allergens at once, and are dose-specific for each individual.
We switched to a forumla where the milk protein was broken down and he did tolerate it but did have lots of eczema. Of course this was before we knew of his allergies....as he was drinking cows milk.
Nutramigen? Our daughter had that as a baby. Dang that stuff was expensive, $30 a can!
She had terrible eczema too, mostly on her face. When it would flare up, her cheeks were blistered red and raw. She does not have asthma, though, so I am grateful for that. She gets pretty severe hay fever but that's the extent of it.
A quick word about "food drops" here. First they don't boost the immune system, they reduce sensitivity to allergens. Food drops or Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) is not approved by the FDA, and subsequently there are no dosing or regulatory controls in place at this time. According to clinical trials, SLIT is effective when used for one allergen, but when used for multiple allergens, the effectivity is reduced. They are known to be very effective in cases of rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma, with mixed effectiveness against food allergies. So the bottom line is, administration is reasonably safe, they are very effective against single allergies, but it is not suitable for everyone.
This is not new treatment, having been around since the early 1900's.
They work in a very similar way to allergy shots or Subcutaneous Immunotherapy (SCIT), which can be administered for multiple allergens at once, and are dose-specific for each individual.
Thanks so much for the correction...yes you are correct...the drops are too build up his tolerance to allergens.... We have been doing them since he was about 1 1/2 yrs old. Allergy Associates is in Onalaska WI (borders LaCrosse). And yes the original doctor started it several decades ago and the food drop technique has been going on in Europe for quite a long time.
We do the Vit D drops to boost his immune system as if the immune system is not healthy then the drops have little effect.
Whether the food drops work or not in his case is not known as our doctor said (like you did) they dont work in all cases. But felt it was worth trying as you never know. The good thing about going there is that you do get frequent test results....as every person is different in their reaction capabilities and it can change over time. Our allergist down there told us about the allergy component test done through Phadia which became available in the US commerically about a year ago. It gave us a detailed analysis and basically broke everything down and did let the doctor know more about his allergies, and also told us that the things he was allergic too like the casein in milk and the protein in eggs (cannot think of the specific protein) are ones which one does not outgrow. Also it confirmed he was allergic to the top 2 or 3 most severe peanut allergy reaction proteins.
That leads to our next visit later this month, when his blood work is tested to see how much tolerance he has built up. This test has not been available til this past winter (at least according to our doctor). So that will be helpful over time.
What is most important about seeing a specialist is that we as parents and he now has a growing kid know the latest about his allergies and have someone to talk too.
Food allergies are very complex and each person is so different...no one catch all for everyone.
Nutramigen? Our daughter had that as a baby. Dang that stuff was expensive, $30 a can!
She had terrible eczema too, mostly on her face. When it would flare up, her cheeks were blistered red and raw. She does not have asthma, though, so I am grateful for that. She gets pretty severe hay fever but that's the extent of it.
That is the formula we used....yes nutramigen. We got some free cans when we visited the doctor's office. Not because we qualify or knew someone special..but many of the nurses knew the expense and would give us some small cans that I guess the hospital/clinic got from the company.
Looking back...we probably would have gone to soy right away but he was off formula and on to solid foods when we found out about his allergens. We had ideas and our doctor did too....but not known til his full reaction occurred while trying mac and cheese.
Our daughter was allergic to soy also. Eggs made her barf right away, but both milk and soy were milder allergies so that it took several days for her system to overload and start reacting. We'd switch formula and everything would be fine for a while, and then she would start vomiting everything up again. I was a temp at the time AND pregnant ... I missed probably one day of work a week because daycare would send her home for vomiting. Once we figured out she was allergic to both milk- and soy-based formulas and tried Nutramigen, everything started getting better.
She couldn't eat wheat, corn, or any grains except rice. Her first birthday cake was a flourless white cake with Cool Whip, and I think she lived on potatoes, chopped chicken, applesauce, and cooked carrots. It was such a pain to feed that child.
The study, available in the July issue of Clinical Pediatrics, surveyed the health of over 38,000 children across the country and mapped their specific allergies based on zipcode. The result? Kids who live in cities are far more likely to have food allergies: 9.8 percent of urban children are affected, whereas only 6.2 percent of rural children had the same issues.
It isn't just the allergy rates that are different: specific allergies vary too. Urban children are more than twice as likely to be allergic to both shellfish (2.4 percent versus .8 percent) and peanuts (2.8 percent versus 1.3 percent). For other trouble products, such as soy and and milk, the differences were more even across the board.
Researchers also found that allergy rates increased from north to south and in the middle of the country. The states that had the highest rates of allergies were Nevada, Florida, Georgia, Alaska, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. While the frequency of allergies changes significantly based on location, one thing remains the same: the severity of the allergy, with nearly 40% of allergic children reporting at least one life-threatening allergic reaction to a specific food.
I agree that awareness has grown, but honestly I am tired of people telling me that "kids have always had food allergies and now everyone is just testing for it." Then they go on to imply that I and other parents like me are just paranoid or overprotective of our children who have food allergies. One thing this new study pointed out is that about 39% of kids with allergies have a history of severe reactions. Severe reactions are the kind that threaten children's lives and send them to the hospital. Growing up, I never recall a child having a severe reaction to any food. Now however, in just one year, my kids' school has had to call an ambulance twice for two different kids having severe breathing difficulties because of food. Something is messing up this new generation of kids, causing an increase in all kinds of problems, and I wish there were more studies trying to find the cause!
Eller I agree. I believe there must be some environmental factor in play. Interestingly, the increase is primarily occurring in developed nations. Maybe it has something to do with the types of processed foods we're exposed to or the chemicals we use in our homes. Who knows, but it's terrifying to think that a kid can die from eating a peanut.
I have a friend who is an immunologist (did I spell that right?) and she maintains that the rise in food allergies is due to our homes being too clean and the overuse of antibiotics. She would argue that kids that grow up on farms hardly ever have food allergies because they are exposed to so many allergens really early on.
I have no idea if she's right but it is an interesting theory.
Something I've noticed that is purely anecdotal and not based on anything scientific...my kids go to a Catholic school where lots of kids come from really big families, there isn't a nut or egg allergy in the whole K-8 school. The public school (which has smaller families) however seems to be overrun with kids with nut, wheat, egg allergies, there seems to be at least one in every class. I've wondered if anyone has looked at that, if you have 5 kids are you more likely to not be crazy about a little dirt when they're babies? Does it make a difference? Or just a weird coincidence?
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