Come and talk to me about egg intolorance please!

[Jojay]

Ds2 is 2, and when we started weaning him, at around 8 months we introduced egg in the form of omelette.

After eating a few mouthfuls he became agitated, then a hives type rash appeared around his mouth ad neck. He scratched at it frantically making it bleed. I had no antihistamine in the house as I wasn't anticipating a bad reaction - no other allergies - but immediately sponged his face down with a cool flannel and the rash subsided after 5 mins or so.

I took him to the GP and she advised avoiding egg until he was over 1 and slowly reintroducing it after that. She also prescribed an antihistamine in case he should need it.

So we followed that advice, and from about 15 months he had the odd egg noodle or mouthful of cake with no problem. He also had normal vaccinations etc after we decided his reaction was mild.

Tonight I got a bit too brave and gave him some omelette. He seemed fine at the time but once he was in bed - an hour or so after eating it, he vomited everywhere - yuk! No hives rash, just vomit.

I assume this means that it has developed into an intolerance, rather than an allergy.

Why would he be able to cope with egg as an ingredient but not in it's purer form?

Is he likely to grow out of it?

Forgot to mention that at about 18 months I wasn't thinking and let him lick out the bowl when I'd made a cake. He vomited then too, no rash.

TIA[ smile]

Oh gawd, I put a typo on the title

intolerance

I would not necessarily assume intolerance over allergy, vomiting can be one sign of an allergic response. Egg allergy is a tricky one, as it is possible to be able to tollerate cooked egg products, as in cakes etc, as the protein structure is changed through heat.

I would suggest you try and get a referral for allergy testing.

BTW, it is one allergy that is very common in under 4s, and is quite often grown out of...

It sounds like an allergy rather than intolerance. DS is allergic to multiple foods, including egg. His reaction to egg has reduced from hives and vomiting to just vomiting. I would ask for a referral for allergy testing and avoid egg for now.

OK yes we have this with both DSs. They would both immediately vomit if they had something like cake mix or something with uncooked or lightly cooked egg. And would come up in hives if touching it.

So over the years we have basically avoided stuff with egg in and it's been fine. They are now 11 and 9, and the 9 yr old seems to have more tolerance of things like cakes now, although if its something more than usually eggy he says his throat feels itchy. The 11 yr old remains suspicious of anything with egg in and wont eat it, so don't know where he is with it really.

We haven't had allergy testing or anything as actually it hasn't had a major impact on our lives.

You just have to watch labels. One that has caught us out more than once is ice cream - the posher the ice cream the more likely it is to have egg in it.

And the other thing we did was to have certain vaccines that are cultured on egg protein administered at a hospital, just in case.

DS had egg allergy, we had hives & vomiting - now 8 he has outgrown it (though he has replaced it with coeliac !!!)

DS1 was allergic to egg, but he never vomitted becuase he only ate it once, and twice came out in hives with contact, but RAST testing showed that he was very allergic.

The reason your ds has been able to eat noodles etc without a problem is that the proteins in the egg become less allergenic as they are cooked, so raw egg/mayonnaise are more allergenic than say scrambled or fried egg, which in turn is more allergenic than well cooked cake, say in cake or noodles.

It could be that his allergy was mild and he would always have been able to eat noodles without an allergic reaction, or perhaps he is starting to outgrow it now.

Ds1 has now outgrown his allergy completely. Retintroduction was done when skin testing resulted in a minimal reaction. First off, he tried sponge fingers (well cooked egg as a lesser ingredient), then a few months later, he was tried on a boiled egg. After that, I was to rub egg white on his skin to make sure he didn't have reaction to that. It was all done very gradually, over the course of about a year or so IIRC.

I would be asking for a referral tbh.

HTH

DS has an egg white allergy, but also only when in its most basic form.

The Dr explained it to me like this - all allergies are caused by the body reacting to the proteins in the food. However, when proteins are heated at certain temperatures for certain lengths of time, they change composition and stop being allergic.

That's probably why your DC can eat egg noodles/cakes/biscuits etc.

My DS also comes out in hives, then clearly gets an itchy throat (tries to stick his fingers down the back to scratch is!), and sneezes repeatedly every 4-5 seconds!

Just make sure you always have some Piriton in the house, and steer clear of raw/lightly cooked eggs.

I'd also recommend a visit to the GP to get a referral for an pin prick skin test to see (a) how severe the allergy is, and (b) if there's anything else he's allergic to.

I'm not certain about the difference between allergic and intolerant, but I remain hopeful that my DS will grow out of his, as the Dr's have suggested. still no sign of improvement at 3 years old though!

NoWay - I think I remember reading somewhere that the average for outgrowing an egg allergy is around 4-6yo, so plenty time for your ds yet.

Thanks mawbroon!!

Yes - my DS started being able to tolerate cake at about 6 and now at 8 is OK with raw egg (cake mix !!)

Thanks for your responses - there's obviously many of us out there in the same boat.

He doesn't seem to be allergic to anything else. He eats anything and everything, pretty much, though he used to get reddened skin around his mouth after eating raw tomatoes. He seems to have outgrown that one luckily.

He does get wheezy though - viral wheeze not allergic asthma, and also gets mild eczema, so he is a little prone to these things.

The change in protein structure when food is cooked makes sense.

I think we'll just avoid lightly cooked egg for the time being, but he'll be relieved to know he can carry on with cake.

Thanks for all your replies

I really would think a referral for allergy testing is a good idea.

I realise every case is different, but as a word of advice, my egg allergic DD was able to tollerate cooked egg, but became re-sensitised after progressing up the egg-ladder to hard-boiled. In plain terms, after a nasty reaction to scrambled egg, she is no longer able to tollerated baked-egg products, such as cake.

Her RAST tests are now reading negative for hens egg protein, but she still has a clinical reaction. She has multiple food allergies, though. I don't know if this makes a difference. I don't mean to sound preachy, but I would proceed with caution, as one of poor DDs nastiest reactions has been to egg, after previously being able to tollerate it.

Good luck.

I had the same with ds1 and got a referral for a test because whenever he had a vaccine I would say he had an allergy and not really know.

Turns out he has an intolerance which explains the food poisoning type reaction. He can eat shop cake and a bit of quiche now but doesn't really like egg. He's 9. He used to get the hives and vomiting etc when younger.

Found out hecwas allergic to cats which we weren't aware of!