Should I be more worried - GP v.laid back about egg allergy...

[Jackaroo]

I've just been going back over some allergy postings here, and wondering what to think..

DS had a tiny bit of someone's quiche at 10 months, and came up in hives (ie red blotches/welts on his face), nose streaming etc. Antihistamine made it go away. Unfortunately he'd had other things in the quiche so I didn't realise it was an egg thing. 1st birthday party, had 3 egg sandwiches () and almost immediately started swelling up, projectil vomiting, red very unwell feeling (from what we could tell)..etc etc.. medised again, eventually OK. No obvious breathing problems.

I had the GP get a blood test last month @ 18 months), unfortunately I was away when the results came back, and GP just called DH and said, yes, he's allergic (99 on some scale or other?) just keep him out of the wya of it for a while.

I'm now worried that another mistaken taste might lead to anaphylaxsis (sp?! def. wrong!)and also about assoc. allergies (nuts etc).

He's already not drinking milk (has prescription formula) but only intolerant, not allergic.

Thoughts ? BTW, amidaiwish, if you see this, I'm not following you around, honest!

I suspect that your Gp is laid back about this because the chances are very good about your child growing out of this allergy.

That said, its worth considering asking for a referral to a pead immunologist ( ring the Anaphylaxis campaign to see IF you have one in your area !)

Sadly allergies dont often come in ones, for instance peanut and egg are common allergies for young children to develop.
( 20% of children grow out of peanut allergy by the time they are 7 yrs old , after 7 it appears to be a life long allergy)

You may want to consider having epi pens for this reason, but its a big descision to make and life does change as a result.
If your child is over 25 lbs your GP will be able to prescribe epi pen juniors .

It is possible to be both intolerant to food and have classic allergy at the same time.

Egg is outgrown by many by five years, although a smaller proportion may take longer to grow out of it.

Some children are allergic to all egg in any forms or simply can only eat is when it has been exposed to very high temp during cooking.
Egg white has the protien which causes the problem but all egg has to be avoided as its impossible to completely remove traces of egg white from a yoke.

My son followed a common path to out grow his allergy, the only problem was that instead of growing out of it a young age it took until he was ten to completely out grow it!
He was able to eat egg in well cooked food at 7 yrs ( sponge cake etc)
then raw egg at 10 yrs.
His food challenges where carried out in hospital, for safety reasons.

I hope this helps.

I'd also suggest asking if you can see a consultant. You'll probably have to settle for a doctor with an interest but if you can see an allergy consultant I'd travel 100 miles to do so. They can do tests for other things but 18 months is still a little young for that. You don't really want skin prick tests for nuts yet as it exposes them to the allergen at an age when its best avoided. Still with allergy lists as long as they are your child could be 3 before you see anyone!

You can talk to a consultant about whether an epipen would be desirable or not. Personally I wouldn't be without one if there has been facial swelling but some families do go without. You need to have antihistamine with you at all times. A pharmacist can sell you a small empty bottle. You decant a bit of antihistamine into it. Ask for one without a child resistant top.