What could my DS be allergic to?

[SalviaOfficinalis]

My 1yo DS has had one allergic reaction (rash all over and facial swelling). It happened 10 mins after having a small taste of my Indian takeaway. He had a bit of naan, paneer and chicken. I cut the pieces of paneer and chicken to remove the spices from the outside, but would have been traces left.

He’s had negative skin pricks for tree nuts, sesame and coconut. Now awaiting blood results to confirm negatives.

He eats peanuts, milk, eggs, wheat. He’s had a few Indian spices from my cooking - turmeric, coriander, cumin.

He hasn’t tried (that I’m aware of): shellfish, celery, mustard.

Does anyone have any unusual allergies? Any ideas?

I stick to giving him things I know he’s had before so it does limit us and worry me. I wouldn’t feel safe just giving him whatever we’re eating.

maybe tomatoes? (if it was a tomatoey sauce)

maybe garlic/butter/ghee (from the naan)?

I have 3 friend with allergies to cumin.

Thanks for the responses but he has tomatoes, garlic, butter and cumin from the food I’ve cooked with no issues.

It could be anything, which isn't helpful, but hopefully they'll keep testing.

It's often the 2nd or 3rd time you eat something the reaction shows.

I have lots of allergies to various medications. The only food I am allergic to is mustard.

You don’t always react the first time. Allergies get worse with repeated exposure.

Out of interest, how did they realise it was cumin specifically? Most dishes have a few different spices combined.

Thanks, I was wondering about mustard and that’s one that the hospital hasn’t tested for.

what kind of reaction do you get?

I'm allergic to chilli - you don't mention it specifically but I wondered if it was in the spices

Thank you for replying. He has had small amounts of chilli since the reaction and seemed fine

maybe cinnamon

at 1 it probably is a newish food, but the truth is an allergic reaction can come to something a person has had 1000s of times in the past. You can’t actually rule out anything completely.

Mustard, I'd guess. Mustard seeds are in a lot of spice blends.

Thank you, he’s had cinnamon quite regularly in his rice pudding.

It’s been a few months now since the reaction (should have put that in my OP). So I’m quite confident it’s not a food he has regularly as he’s been continuing to have them with no reaction.

Skin pricks can yield false negatives so still possible to have an allergy despite negative skin prick.

I'd try him on small amounts of the top suspects (sounds crazy but really is the best way).

My top suspicion here would be cashew; often blended into Indian curries.

Have you asked the restaurant for a full list of ingredients in those items?

My sister had anaphylaxis after having curry in a restaurant. The culprit was mango, which was added as mango chutney in the sauce. So, as for takeaway/restaurant made curry, I think it could be a lot of things, that special ingredients they add to make it their original recipe.

Yes I’d heard that about skin pricks but they’ve done blood tests too (not had results yet). The Dr said if the blood tests are inconclusive they might do food trials in hospital.

Cashew could be a contender as I’m 90% sure he had cashew butter previously so the reaction might have been the second/third time he had it. And I’ve not given it to him since.

Could it be chicken? My son has developed an allergy to it having previously having no issues with it. We avoid it now and use plant based substitutes instead

No he’s had chicken lots since.
I’m really surprised by all the things that can cause allergies… is it literally anything?!

Just feel like if the hospital don’t find out what it is we just have to play Russian roulette until it happens again and pray it’s not a severe reaction 😕

You have my sympathies OP, allergies are shit.

DS has allergies to lots of foods including nuts, legumes and dairy.

The hardest time for me was the "not knowing phase" when we had to test foods when he was little.

Anecdotally, he reacted the first time to several foods (lentil, for example) but on the 2nd or 3rd time to other foods (peas and hazelnut, for example).

The reaction was lip swelling and is rash. It was very easy to work out what it was as it was following a roast dinner with mustard and have had less severe but similar reaction since when it is in Mayo in a sandwich for example (so quantities far less). Beware it is snuck into most prepackaged sandwiches as it is in most mayonnaises.

I’m not sure. One of them started it in her 40’s out of nowhere. She identified it herself.

The other one just always knew she had it. Both of them have eaten it by mistake a few times, and ended up itchy and wheezy.

Could you ask the restaurant for a list of ingredients in the dishes? They should be able to give you a list of any common allergens at least.

Cashew is also in almost all jarred pesto sauces, so you could rule it out if he normally eats pesto pasta with no problem!

I'd call the restaurant and ask. Indian food has so many different spices
Asofaetida, black cardamom, cloves, some use MSG, food colourings etc.

I was going to mention lentils. My DS is allergic to them and it took us quite a while to figure out as he'd reacted to them in things where they'd "disappeared" like vegetable soups. Is there any chance there were lentils in the sauce?
It's an fairly uncommon allergy in this country so can easily be overlooked. It wasn't even suggested to us as a potential allergen and wasn't in the battery of skin prick tests he had done in hospital. In fact when they did eventually test for it I had to take some cooked lentils with me as they didn't have any of the liquid drops they normally use for skin pricks. But it's far commoner in other countries, for example its much commoner in Spain than peanut allergy is. (I don't know if that reflects genetics or increased exposure).