Should I look for a referral to a consultant for dd1?

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DD1 was diagnosed with an egg allergy after reacting at 14 months. At the time we saw a private consultant and he said to keep her egg free and keep an antihistamine with us at all times.

At 19 months she was diagnosed with asthma and is under a paed consultant for this. He repeated the allergy blood test (but not skin prick) last summer and said she had outgrown the egg allergy.

We introduced egg in baked things (biscuits mainly) with no problem but she had skin contact with raw egg and had a reaction where her face swelled up and she broke out all over her body with hives. We went egg free again but she ate a pancake with egg in the recipe at playgroup and reacted with hives.

She is starting pre-school in September. Should I push for a referral to an allergy consultant? Reading on here that asthma is a factor in deciding if an epi-pen is needed makes me nervous. She hadn't been diagnosed with asthma when we saw the private allergy consultant and at the time he said she was too young for an epi-pen.

We can't afford to go private again - it cost us €800 for the visit and tests last time and we just don't have that at the moment.

There is probably a huge waiting list to be seen but I have lost faith in the paeds knowledge of allergies after the egg disaster.

Thanks

yes definitely ask for a referral or for more comprehensive allergy testing. Because of her age and given the circumstances and history of asthma they may be able to push through an urgent referral for you. It is quite clear she has a bad reaction to egg and with the facial swelling and asthma, she is at higher risk for anaphylaxis.

My mum had this exact same allergy and asthma but because of allergy testing when she was young it wasn't picked up as quickly and she was hospitalised 6 times. After they established that she was allergic to eggs they gave us an epi pen for her and her asthma was also much better controlled as she wasnt coming into contact with those allergens which can exasperate asthma.

As your daughter is starting school and it seems she may have an airborne or contact allergy to eggs I think she will need an epi pen as I don't think the school will be able to guarantee no eggs .

I really wish you all the best for you and your daughter and I hope she gets the specialist help needed to control this.

i agree with everything previous poster has said.

You could ask for a rapid referal. I know the specialist dept at the hospital where we go has this facility for GPs. I think in you cases you have a good argument for this. Good luck!

my ds allergy apt came through in about 6 weeks so I think speed depends on the area your in and PCT iyswim.