Ds1 had an allergic reaction last night...

[wb]

...and we don't know what it was to.

That says it all really. Either some nut traces got past my defenses (and my defenses are pretty good) or we have a new allergy to deal with. The main contenders being celery, fish or sulphites (typically it had to happen at a big complicated meal I'd cooked for my mums birthday so really it could be all manner of things).

Its the first reaction he's had since he was 6 months old and was definitely more worrying as it affected his mouth and possibly his throat - last time it was just hives. I'm feeling really low and weepy (realise I was cherishing the totally unrealistic hope that he would grow out of his nut allergy and we'd ride off into the sunset with him no longer being an 'allergic type' person. Bollocks!)

The good news is that the hospital will see us today for some blood tests, so we may have an answer soon.

Have no idea (now I'm writing this) why I'm writing this but somehow it makes me feel better. Last night I felt like I did when he was newly diagnosed ie sick and panicky.

Thanks for reading.

[trixymalixy]

It is horrible when your Dc develop new allergies.

Could it have been something related to peanut allergy like lentils, beans, chickpeas, soya or peas rather then a new class of allergen?

[OrangeFish]

My sympathies

Agree about something related to peanut allergy, we need to be careful with most legumes just in case (from beans to peanuts). Ds ended up in hospital the other day after eating a bit of humous. We were told his test for sesame seeds was negative and he had chickpeas before so it's all very confusing.

Awaiting results of tests now...

[wb]

Thanks guys



Actually, I don't think so. These are very common on my menus but not last night.

Am hoping (well you know what I mean) for fish allergy as this is the easiest to avoid but am thinking sulphites. I'm quite sensitive to these (and allergic to sulphanamide drugs) and so is my FiL as it turns out. Still, the allergy clinic have been brilliant at fitting us in so soon so maybe we will have some answers in a few days.

[tatt]

hope the tests actually tell you something. Celery is a common allergen in France, or so I'm told.

Any chance of lupine contamination?

[BlueBumedFly]

Hi WB - I am so sorry, the 'needle in the haystack' allergic reaction is so stressful. Perhaps you can tell us what you cooked and someone might spot something?

Good luck with the test results - what did they do? xxxxx

Tatt - I don't want to hijack this thread but have a question for you, shall I start a new thread called 'Tatt can I ask you something'?

[wb]

The tests were RAST tests - couldn't do skin prick tests yet cause of all the piriton he'd had.

The food was risotto bianco (risotto rice, vegetable stock cubes, onion, celery, olive oil, white wine (cheap bottle with sulphites)Parmesan cheese) with baked halibut (halibut, olive oil, olives, courgettes, lemon) and of course he had ketchup with it (my kids will eat anything smothered in sauce).

I have double checked and nothing I used said 'May contain traces of nut' or anything similar but of course there is no way of telling for sure. The stock cubes were a brand I've never used before (are now in the bin) and the risotto rice was a new packet (ditto) but things like the olive oil I'm 3/4 of the way through the bottle so if it was accidental contamination I'm sure we'd have known by now.

Tatt-hadn'thought of lupine. They don't need to put 'May contain traces of lupine on packaging yet do they?

Since Thursday night he's had dairy and ketchup again (before I realised that had celery in it ) so its not those (or possible celery in large quantities. Since posting the first time my FiL has told be he can't handle white wine at all and thinking about it I'm not good with it either unless its very good (ie expensive) wine which does not happen in our house - its the cheap stuff that is full of sulphites. Of course we don't get proper allergic reactions just headaches/gutrot respectively. Speculate, speculate....

Any ideas would be welcome!

[Kayteee]

Had anyone been near any animals? It's just a thought because my ds suddenly reacted to a few guinea-pig hairs recently, that his friend had been holding We think the hairs must have been transferred to ds while they were playing. It's a long shot

[BlueBumedFly]

WB - that menu sounds just lovely!! You must be an excellent cook.

Right, here is my forepeneth. I agree with Tatt on the Lupine, you can have a lupine allergy with our without peanuts.

My second thoughts are with the new stock cubes. Maybe the stock cubes were contaminated? Do you know if they had hydrolized vegetable/plant protein in them? This can be an issue for nut allergy sufferers and I am pretty sure they are used in some production of sauces/soups etc.

My third thoughts are the wine. I have seen clinical studies testing the incidence of food allergens in wine and linking them to nut allergies amongst others. There is also a chance it is the sulfites/sulfides if you are sensitive too.

Did they say when the results would be back?

[ASHKAN]

hi

[ASHKAN]

HI,JUST A quick msg for trixy,sin as tho i have an allergy and its a very bad one too,you shud try prednisolone tablets,thats wat i take at the moments and also epi pens aint 2 bad either but if u use them like i do,bout 3 times a week then they just wont be so effective anymore,i wud like to see pics of ur ds's swollen lips to see if we suffer the same thing,u can also try the skin test they do at the hospital but pretty useless if im honest.

[wb]

BBFly - yes the stock cubes did contain hydrolyzed vegetable protein in them - can you tell me more about this cause it only lists soya and celery in the 'allergens' box? HAVE NEVER HEARD OF HYDROLYZED PROTEIN BEING A PROBLEM (oops ) - am ignorant, not arguing .

Kaytee - no animals. I'm sure it was something in the food cause the reaction started after a couple of mouthfuls.

[tatt]

wb - I diddn't know off hand but the FSA site seems to say they have had to since 23rd December 2008.

Menu sounds nice with nothing obvious to test for. Another thought - how much exercise had he had and had he sneaked any snacks between meals? If he'd been running around a lot maybe it could have been a reaction to something from hours earlier?

BBF - will come back later to see if you've started a thread.

[BlueBumedFly]

wb - I had never heard of it either until I started looking closer to soups and stocks when SDD was told not to eat wheat, soya or diary alongside nuts. Apparently it is usually soya flour derived but it can be peanut flour as a derivative as well. In Canadian materials I have seen they list Hydrolized Protein as a total no-no for peanut allergies. I only know this as a friend is Canadian and she is the font of all knowledge.

I wonder if this could have been the problem? Maybe cross contamination? Maybe bad labeling? Do the usual stocks you use have HVP in?

Tatt - off to post now.

[trixymalixy]

That's really interesting about the hydrolised veg protein.

Ashkan, he picture of DS with swollen lips is still on my profile. What are you allergic to that means you need to use an epipen 3 times a week!?!?!?!?!?

[ASHKAN]

yep,he lukd lyk me few days ago,i have allergies to 65 food items that i have counted so far,mostly nuts and spices,not easy

[OrangeFish]

We avoided hidrolised protein for a couple of years. It is mostly soya, and it is mostly everywhere (it is used to extend the shelf life of products). If you have a child very sensitive to peanut, chances are that he is also to soya.

However, from what I remember from those times, I read that there had not been yet a reported case of soya induced anaphylaxis. Obviously, this could have changed in the last few years, but at least, at the time, knowing this provided some comfort.

[wb]

V. interesting about the hydrolysed protein but the packaging definitely said 'from soya' Cross contamination could well be a possibility though.

Am pretty confident he's not sensitive to soya as he was on soya formula/yogurts etc as a dairy substitute as a baby (until I found out that wasn't a good idea and went back to the GP ). The amount of soya in the meal was minimal and he has had it since in bread, biscuits etc.

Babybarrister - I hope to God it isn't celery as that would be an utter nightmare complete PITA to avoid.

My bet is sulphites, followed by fish, but this is based on my own allergies rather than anything logical.

[wb]

Babybarrister, thanks - that made me smile . See?

Actually I could quite happily live without celery (and I'm sure ds1 could too) it was the stock and especially ketchup issues that were making me sigh.

[BlueBumedFly]

wb - when can you expect to get the test results?

[wb]

Got partial results yesterday BBF.

Celery - negative
Fish - negative
Peanut - RAST has dropped from 0.8 last year to 0.7 so they don't think it was accidental nut contamination.

They couldn't do sulphites (not in their normal range of tests apparently) so I am taking him in tomorrow to discuss things further (thanks to a cancellation by someone else, they are not usually quite that quick).

So that leaves:
rice allergy (I know its possible but don't think so)
Possible lupin contamination
Sulphites (still my first choice)
Act of God

Will let you know what they say

[MissusT]

I THINK IT WAS THE STOCK CUBE!! Hi i'm from New Zealand, but picking that you have Maggi brand over there as well, anyway even if it isn't Maggi, I don't know of ANY stock that doesn't contain MSG or flavour enhancer 621-623. My whole family has a dreadful reaction to this - i myself ate something with it in the other night and was awake from 1am to 5am with my tongue glued to the top of my mouth. I felt like someone had turned my head inside out and blow-dried on high heat for about an hour.
If the stock cube doesn't contain Msg (highly unlikely) then the rice risotto definitely will.
Have a look on the packets.
Hope you find out soon - I know exactly how you feel if one more person says, 'oh hopefully he'll just grown out of it' i'm going to bop them on the head.

[BlueBumedFly]

LOL at Act of God. Glad you were able to get seen so quickly, look forward to hearing what they say. On the face of it it looks good if peanut allergy decreasing and the others are ok. I am still with the stock cube!

[tatt]

it's really annoying when you have no idea what's wrong.

Leaving aside the meal for the time - could he have contamination on his hands? Could any of the surfaces/ utensils used have been contaminated?

Have been in this position a couple of times without getting any answers unfortunately.

RAST 0.7 seems very low?