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Allergies and intolerances

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Introducing egg to overcome allergy

4 replies

indigobarbie · 05/11/2011 12:20

My DS is allergic to egg and I discovered this when he was weaning at about 6/7 months I gave him some chicken coated in breadcrumbs that had been homemade and dipped in egg. He rashed over his face, and this disappeared within about an hour. An egg allergy test from paeds told me to keep all egg products from his diet.
I was back at the paeds for his check up and they seem to think he now shows a lesser reaction to egg, and asked me to re-introduce it. If I give him for example, a cake - where the egg is fairly dilute and well baked, he still rashes. According to the Dr I must keep exposing him to this, to allow him to become used to it. I have to do this in a controlled manner, and work slowly up to giving him things that contain more egg.
I don't actually feel OK about this - as far as I can see, he is still rashing on his face, or where the egg touches him (presumably also inside his body then??) , so why did they ask me to cut it from his diet? If exposure is one of the keys to overcoming it, why couldn't I have done this when he was younger. Although I've been advised to give him piriton if he has a reaction - I've never had to do this yet.
Can anyone advise if they have carried out this method? Sorry, I just don't feel right about it. Thank you xx

OP posts:
indigobarbie · 05/11/2011 12:20

Sorry, should say my DS is now 21 months. We visited paeds at 18 mths and they said re-introduce.

OP posts:
eragon · 05/11/2011 17:02

NO WAY! imo.
you are dealing with IGE allergy, so this has to be done carefully under medical supervision. EXPOSURE is NOT the way to overcome ige allergies, not after allergy has been established.

if he is reacting to cooked egg, he is still allergic to all forms of egg. normally if skin prick test or rast/blood test to cooked egg allergy idicates outgrown, thats one thing to try, ( we were lucky we did a controlled test for cooked egg in a hosptial ward , with a nurse on standby, my son was 7yrs at the time.) for raw egg allergy, again that depends on testing for the raw egg.

my son has failed his food challenges over the years and we are very grateful that each was done in a hosptial setting. however this is due only to the fact that we live in a area that meant we could be reffered to a london allergy clinic.

give piriton to your child after ANY egg exposure if he reacts, dont hang around waiting.

I think you should ring the anaphylaxis campaign helpline for advice, i think you need to ask for the nearest pead immunologist to you or a part time nhs clinic run by one. (allergyuk can help as well)

I suspect they will advise you to stop giving your child egg. and use antihistamine.
they will also suggest that your child might need further testing as he grows older, for instance peanut allergy and egg allergy seem to go hand in hand in the early years of an allergic childs life.

egg still can be outgrown, but this does take time and is indvidual and ige reactions can be different every time, and can be severe.

other factors that may need care are for ezcema and asthma, esp the latter as that is a huge factor in food allergies.

your instinct as a mother means alarm bells are ringing. listen to them, your're spot on.

good luck.

freefrommum · 06/11/2011 10:27

Ditto what eragon said. It is highly dangerous to do a food challenge at home.

Iscreamtea · 06/11/2011 10:39

I'd seek further advice. My DS has outgrown his egg allergy but was always ok with well cooked egg in cakes which is apparently a good indicator that it will be outgrown. We were only advised to try less well cooked egg after the prick tests showed he was not allergic.

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