skin prick test results

[amidaiwish]

DD2 finally had her allergy test today, all came back clear except egg yolk.
Nurse just said "you have a follow up appt with the doctor in May, in the meantime keep her away from egg"

are there degrees of allergy? does this mean she could be anaphylactic to egg?
we had previously thought it was egg white (in lightly cooked egg only) as she reacted to scrambled egg but is ok with egg baked in cake etc...

any ideas?

allergies can be unpredictable but if she hasn't had an anphylactic reaction to it yet I wouldn't start worrying yet. It's possible, and not uncommon, to be allergic to raw but not cooked food so she may be fine with egg in cakes. The nurse just wants you to have some advice from a doctor before you run any risk. Also this is one of the allergies that can be outgrown so if she's quite small you may only have to put up with this for a year or two.

thanks, i am relieved nuts came up clear.
She is now 18m and had the reaction to egg at 9 and 11 mths.
Dairy came up clear though she does get eczema and constipation on it. Am going to try Rice Dream.

By what age do they often grow out of egg?

bump

I hope your DD does grow out of it, but in the meantime, I would disagree with tatt re anyphylaxis.

The first time your immune system comes into contact with a substance it doesn't like, the reaction is likely to be quite mild...with repeated exposure it 'recognises' the substance and can react much more violently. I had this with crayfish. First time, itching and tingly throat, but nothing to worry about, in fact I didn't even make the connection until the second time I ate it when I had quite a severe reaction with swelling of my tongue and lips, blothcy rash and flu-like symptoms. i won't be going anywhere near crayfish at any time in the future.

Not sure about growing out of it, perhaps your HV or doc would be able to answer that one.

Has she been OK with her vaccinations?...they use egg albumen to culture some of the childhood vaccines...I think the MMR is one of them

thanks Daisybump - the first time she had scrambled egg she got a bit sick (just had a spoonful), the next time she got ulticaria.

she hasn't had lightly cooked egg since! But she has had homemade cakes, with egg in, and has been absolutely fine.

she hasn't had her MMR yet - we are waiting for a hospital appt for it, the GP won't do it because of her egg reaction, even though the hospital insist there is no risk as it is no longer cultured in egg. Quite glad the GP isn't willing to take any risk.

haven't done the new meningitis one either

This says about 3, so maybe not too long to wait .
www.sickkids.ca/kidshealth06/section.asp?s=Winter+2006+Volume+7+Issue+1&sID=16937&ss=Cracking+Down+on+Egg+Allergies&ssID=16969

well that's something... thanks for link.
so strange it is the egg yolk she is allergic to.
i still don't get how she has been fine with homemade cake. strange.

Hi
My sister (now 26) has had a life long allergy to egg yolk. She is fine with it cooked into things such as cakes but can not eat it on its own or in a food that has it in large proportions, she can't eat say scrambled eggs or egg sandwiches/ real mayonnaise or custard, things like that. She also has a problem with animal fats such as butter, full fat milk etc. This is down to some kind of enzyme problem in her stomach that she inherited from my father who also had it.
To be perfectly honest it hasn't been too much of a problem in her life and basically means she just eats extremely healthily and avoids eggs and most dairy and she is vegetarian to avoid fatty meats. Her symptoms are usually severe stomach problems and generally feeling very sick. I don't know that she has a rash but I will ask her.
Jeanette

thanks for posting, very reassuring.
when you say stomach problems, is it constipation? DD2 has really suffered from it. i wonder if it is linked?

Generally sick, upset stomach at times constipation at times. She generally feels ill and throws up some times. It makes her far less unwell these days obviously because she avoids it but if she does get in contact with some its really just an upset stomach for a few hours to a day.

tests aren't 100% reliable, you need a food challenge to be sure with allergies. Cooking changes most proteins so she probably is going to be Ok with cooked egg and will hopefully grow out of it.

Lots of babies suffer from constipation but something (forget what off hand) in the gut is an important part of the immune system so maybe allergic ones have more problems. Recommend trying probiotics anyway.

yes 4mm
so do you think i should avoid egg even in cakes? she has seemed fine to that so far.

Allergies to some substances do worsen with repeat exposure or are very unpredictable - they are the ones that are rarely outgrown. Egg allergy is often outgrown. If your child has eaten cooked egg more than once they are probably going to be OK with it. I wouldn't deliberately feed it to her but I wouldn't panic over accidental exposure either. For more reassurance try this site www.nutritionandeggs.co.uk/eggs_allergies/egg_allergies_1.html

MMR rarely cause any problems even when it was cultivated in egg, although they used to do it in hospital to be ultra safe.

thanks. v interesting.