What are your DCs allergic to?

[garliclover]

Just wondering whether it is rare to have an allergy to more than five foods, and whether there are any links between certain types of allergy (e.g. is an egg allergy usually accompanied by a nut allergy?).
My DS is allergic to milk, wheat, eggs, sesame and lentils and we have just discovered he is also allergic to peas.

Absolutely nothing thankfully. In our little french village primary school there was only one child with allergies she also had asthma as well. Now there are more English kids the number of allergies to foods has risen, it would be fascinationg to know why that is.

The first thread I ever saw on mumsnet was very similar to this. It was started by babybarrister, I think . Loads of people replied and I found it really, really useful, as I was then in the process of trying to establish which foods in my diet DS was reacting to in my breastmilk.

The same culprits seemed to come up time and time again...

DS (aged 3) is allergic to:

dairy (v. high positive RAST test)
eggs (v. high positive RAST test)
tree nuts (high positive RAST test, but don't know which ones)
pulses (has had fairly serious reactions to peas, haricot beans and lentils so avoiding all pulses for now)
bananas (this is an odd one, but he reacts with loads of immediate hives)
sesame (weird blistery rash on skin contact; allergy doc says to avoid, and I have also never dared to try any other seeds)
garlic (another odd one, but he has hives on skin contact and refuses all food with even the tiniest trace)

He is also not great with the following:

tomatoes (can't eat raw or tinned, but is fine with ketchup and with small amounts of tomato puree)
onions (and I don't like cooking without onions! However, there's no point including onions in our family meals because DS won't touch anything which contains them - even though he is fine with the 'kibbled onions' in a McDonalds hamburger )

Although DS had only a v. low positive RAST score for peanuts, we were told to avoid them anyway.

I just thank our lucky stars that he is okay with wheat and soya!!!

DD1 (2.5) allergic to dairy, egg and tree nuts. Anaphylactic reactions to egg and dairy plus v high RAST and positive skin pricks. Hives and swollen eyes on touching cashews then positive skin pricks to cashew, pistachio and macadamias (all my favourites...). Positive skin prick to peanut too but have since tried her on peanut and she's fine (although hates the flavour of peanut butter/bamba so have to 'hide' it in food).

DTs (8 months) not allergic to anything SO FAR

When is the peanut challenge babybarrister?

DS allergic to milk, wheat, eggs and nuts (don't know which ones yet). Reacts on contact to milk & egg but not wheat. Had wheat challenge last year and had anaphylactic reaction. Extremely high RAST results to milk (off the scale), wheat & eggs, moderate to peanuts.

Thanks for your replies -- all v interesting!

babyb, is your DS ok with other legumes apart from lentils and peas? Were you surprised that he might be ok with peanuts? My DS is ok with baked beans, but am a bit worried about chickpeas etc having witnessed reactions to peas and lentils. I thought we could stop at 5 allergens but it seems to go on and on!

greenbananas how interesting about bananas. Exactly the same happens to my DS when he eats them but I haven't counted it as one of his allergies because the reaction is not as dramatic (no wheezing or vomiting) -- having said that, the staff at nursery know not to give him any...

DS is allergic to
treenuts
seseme seeds
plasters
hayfever
cats (tested positive but doesn't have a reaction to our cat)
was allergic to peanuts but grew out of it and now eats no problem.

He also says chickpeas and poppyseeds but haven't bother testing.

DS allergic to

Tomato ketchup.

Contact rashes to other sauces? sensitive skin?

Hayfever............. and

Thin air His reactions never seem to have a trigger/ allergen. They just kinda happen.

Thankfully they are becomming less frequent and dare I say less severe so fingers crossed we're on our way to them going.

Did do a little at rats

wondered what the study consisted of!

garliclover I don't think it's unusual to be allergic to several/many foods in the same food group - when I was a child I was allergic to "fish" including cod, haddock, plaice, sardines, mackerel - after which my parents thankfully made the connection (Friday evening=Barbarian has asthma attack) and stopped experimenting.

I think you would be very unlucky to be allergic to 5 different types of food but I'm sure it happens . Ds1 was allergic to milk, peanuts and celery/celeriac but has now thankfully outgrown the first two.

babybarrister 'horses and rabbits' - that's interesting. I have life-threatening allergies to both but have never come across anyone else with that particular combination before (I am allergic to cats and dogs too but not as seriously).

DS1 is allergic to milk, egg, nuts (almonds, cashews, peanuts), cats (but not dust! )

Milder - too many tomatoes make his eczema flare up, ditto to overuse of perfumed washing liquid & fabric conditioner but all totally manageable unlike when he was a baby when it took over our lives.

I always understood there was something called an "atopic person" which basically means someone who is allergic to things.

Re allergies being linked. . . I always thought milk and egg allergies went together. I knew DS1 had a milk allergy so I never gave him egg as I had a feeling he would also be allergic to it. Thank God I didn't - when he was tested he was more allergic to egg than to milk!

Well DD2 is allergic to egg but has lots of dairy no problem. She tested positive to peanut but negative to other nuts (never eaten any so far). She's only 2.8 though so has plenty of time to develop other allergies. She's never had shellfish, for example...

DS1 is allergic to:
Eggs
Sesame
Chick peas
Lentils
Dust mites (mild though)
Cats

He is thankfully fine with nuts, peas, beans, soya, dairy, wheat. He used to react to cows' milk with hives but thankfully outgrew it around 2yo.

son allergic to, peanuts /eggs/kiwi fruit/beans/brazil nut/yeast extract/dogs/cat/dustmite/mold/tree pollen/hay fever/ avoids raw tomato due to high histamine content. other, as yet unknown causes still currently under investigation.

Thank you -- am learning a lot from these messages. It's interesting that no one so far has mentioned fish (apart from BarbarianMum being allergic to it in childhood) and I wonder whether that has anything to do with being in the UK? I've heard that it's a much more common allergen in Mediterranean countries...

plenty of people with fish/shellfish allergies, have a rellie with fish allergy and met a few people with fish allergies!

of course japan for e.g have fish and rice allergies , rather than peanut.

DD (4)

dairy (v. high positive RAST test at 7months, 7mm skin prick at 3yrs)
also reacted with full body hives to sip of nutramigen at 10months, horrid eczema went away when I gave up dairy)
eggs (9mm skin prick at 3 yrs)
tree nuts (7 mm almond,3mm hazel skin prick at 3 yrs but never tried eating them)

used to gets lots of hives from contact with traces of dairy, now seems more to get wheezey. had a few v scary reactions to traces of something but don't know what...

also can't tolerate
tomato
citrus
blackcurrant

It's weird to see so many people with similar lists of allergies. Don't know anyone in the real world.

Ds is 10yrs.

He now very allergic to hazelnuts and peanuts.

Also, non-food - extremely allergic to house dust mite and horses (not been tested for rabbits!). Very allergic to grass pollen, cats and dogs.

He outgrew an egg allergy around the age of 7yrs which changed his life! He also reacts to many washing powders and gets itchy nettle rash.

His most life affecting allergy now is the hdm which makes him wheeze, cough, get itchy eyes, sinus infections which then affect his ears and throat. He has missed a fair amount of school because of his non-food allergies.

DS is 3 years old, he is allergic to tomatoes and oranges. Although oranges only presented in the last 6 months and tomatoes about 2 months. I have been told he will hopefully grow out of it.