Allergy clinic........even more confused now

[dreamchocolate]

DD (11 months) had her appointment at the Allergy clinic today and proved negative to everything they tested with the skin prick test - egg, milk, wheat and fish. The egg result was particularly strange as she only ended up in hospital with an severe egg reaction 3 months ago. I was hoping they'd test for the other foods I suspected, as well as dust mites, pollen, etc but they said that was too much for a baby so young. So poor DD still has a body covered in eczema and I still have no idea what's causing it. We have to go back in 3 months for further tests. Arghhhhhhhhhhhh, sorry, just needed to moan. :(

oh..good luck when you have the second visit...I can only say I know what you are going thru, son has egg allergy too, very scared as we have been told to try him on it to see if he has out grown it.......x

Dreamchocolate, these are excellent news, if she is not reacting to these main foods it becomes far easier to feed her. About the egg reaction 3 m ago... is it possible she has outgrown the allergy?

Unfortunately, eczema may be also caused by intolerances to certain foods too. Intolerance differs from allergy in terms of the time it takes for the body to react (not immediate as allergy). DS is not allergic to glutten but intolerant to it which in DS's case means that he can have glutten as long as he doesn't have it very often (i.e. 3 days of glutten in a row and he gets diahorrea).

Unfortunately, intolerances are far more elusive to detect than allergies. There are tests to find about them but from my experience they are not very accurate. I believe the best "technique" to find about them is by keeping a diary of foods eaten and reactions, and then get to see the pattern on that.

There ar so many things that can cause eczema that you would drive yourself crazy trying to find out. Do as much as you can to keep it under control and with time tings will get better. Promise. (But in the mean time keep washing everythin in non bio detergents, vacuum clean as often as you can, wash pijamas and bed sheets at 60 degrees, and try to air them under the sun (what sun?).

Skin prick tests are not reliable!!! Food challenge is apparently the 'gold standard'. \link{http://www.allergy-clinic.co.uk/food_allergy_for_public.htm\Allergy info}

Unfortunately, a good number of allergic clinics and allergists refuse to do food challenges at least until the child is 5m old

5 yrs old

DS was just over a year when they did challenge. It is hard though just to get them to eat or drink something they may not like.