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Allergies and intolerances

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Original poster

Egg challenge. Any experiences?

16 replies

DesperateHousewifeToo · 05/04/2009 22:35

Ds(7yrs) had skin prick tests a couple of weeks ago for egg yolk and white and at long last he seems to have outgrown this allergy.

He is to have an egg challenge in hospital on Wednesday.

He is very very excited that he may at long last be able to start eating things with egg in. I am warning him that he may still react.

It would be amazing for him to be able to add foods with egg to his diet. After years of having to persuade him to have allergy re-tests and telling him ''well. it might be this year, so you must do it''. The tears we have had

Has anyone else had a successful food allergy challenge? Or an unsuccessful one?

OP posts:

RambleOn · 05/04/2009 23:12

Slightly different circs, but I have recently done several home food challenges with my egg allergic DD.

We tried cake and there was no reaction. Then pancakes which just caused her excema to flare up. Then meringue which caused a pretty bad reaction.

I long for the day I could give her egg and toast soldiers for breakfast

trixymalixy · 05/04/2009 23:30

My DS has had a tomato challenge in hospital.

I think with allergies that can have more serious reactions they put a canula in, but DS didn't need one. A little girl there had anasthaetic cream put on her hand beforehand so it wouldn't hurt.

They basically started by rubbing tomato on his arm and waiting 15 mins then they taped a bit to his arm and waited 15 mins, then rubbed his cheek with it and waited 15 mins then rubbed his lips and waited 15 mins. then he was supposed to eat it but getting a 2 year old to eat something he doesn't want to is easier said than done!!

i had to trick him by offering his dummy and then popping the tomato in which he spat out. There was no reaction so although he didn't properly finish the challenge they thought it was safe to proceed at home.

i presume it will be a challenge on food with egg baked in rather than cooked egg on its own?

Good luck with it and let us know how he got on. It's nice to hear about DCs outgrowing allergies, it gives us all hope!!!

trixymalixy · 05/04/2009 23:32

Oh BTW DS wasn't allowed to eat anything else while the challenge was going on. I thought he would be upset as he wouldn't understand why he wasn't allowed anything to eat but he was fine.

At least your DS is old enough to understand. i would take some sandwiches for afterwards.

YumYumMummy · 05/04/2009 23:51

Successful conclusion to egg allergy here!

At 6 months discovered DD allergic to egg on weaning. Challenge (in hospital) at 2 years and reacted to skin test. Challenge at 3 years and no reaction - hurrah! Still advised to avoid raw or very softly cooked eggs.

Greatly relieved not to have to continue challenges - feel for you having 7 years of it. However, after only 3 years of not being exposed to egg, DD seemed to have developed a dislike (or not to have developed a liking for) egg. She won't touch things with egg in its basic state, and even for things like cake is not a particular fan. But things like sausages with egg in them (who'd have thought hey) she will touch. No particular effects except if she's had alot of egg in her diet her eczema seems to flare up.

So you may find that even if your DS is keen to have egg stuff, some things he may naturally may not like at first. But will be great not to have to read all those labels hey! Good luck

purpleduck · 06/04/2009 00:34

Reasonably sucessful peanut challenge

My son was (is...?) allergic to peanuts - his lips exploded the first time he came into contact with Peanut butter (he just put it up to his lips)

He had 2 tests a few years apart, then needed a challenge.
I let him decide when, and he just did it a month and a bit ago.

He did react when they put it on his chin, and the Dr left it up to us if we wanted to continue...we all did.

He ended up reacting a bit when he ate it (scratchy throat), but not a huge reaction.
SO, it was a success IMO - he is still mildly allergic - but we now know what will happen when he has it. Also he knows what it tastes like (and he HATES it ! )

I am really really glad we pushed through.
It is a very very long and boring day. Be prepared with lots to do.(Not just for your ds, but YOU too!!)
We left our 7yo dd at home and although she is very good, she would not have been happy there.
Good luck! I am SOOO glad we did it - it has been a relief!

Original poster

DesperateHousewifeToo · 06/04/2009 08:59

Thankyou for all your responses.

I think the consultant said he would be tested with 'well cooked egg'. I suppose if it is just an ingredient there is the very small risk of reacting to something else and what he gets will be very diluted.

He actually decided a few weeks ago to try some egg himself (later turned out he wanted to be sick so he did not have to go to school).

He took an egg out of the fridge, tried to crack it on his head (lol), then dropped it on the floor. Took some raw egg white and tasted it!

We were still asleep when this all happened. He had a very serious talk and a warning to never do it with nuts. The consultant was quite amused by the tale

Yumyummummy, I wouldn't be surprised if he does the same as your dd and not realy like plain egg things. But it would be great for him to have the odd cake, biscuit, icecream, fresh pasta, bread rolls.... We'll still have to read labels for his nut allergy but at least that is more easily understood by people (he hates the smell of peanut butter even though he has never really had it.

Purpleduck, I may have to re-instate his use of his Nintendo ds for the day after being banned yesterday for a week

OP posts:

Tiredycat · 06/04/2009 18:47

Heartbreakingly unsuccessful cooked egg one a year ago - made a cake for daughter to eat: she survived a crumb, a teaspoonful, a tablespoon, a huge piece.. I thought hooray, we're just hanging around for 2 hours to kill time, but an hour into the wait she became quite floppy and pale and then vomited profusely - I wondered whether it was from eating too much cake but they said no, it often takes a while for the reaction so don't get too excited early on.

Just failed sesame challenge a couple of months ago which was much more straightforward - instant hives as soon as a tiny bit was put on lips - at least we didn't have that hopefulness throughout the day.

Good luck!

wb · 06/04/2009 20:30

Ds1 has had 2 milk challenges. Failed first one after 2ml of milk, then 18mo later passed no problems.

Even getting to the challenge stage is a triumph imo.

Original poster

DesperateHousewifeToo · 06/04/2009 20:57

Tiredycat - had your dd had rast and skin prick tests that she had passed before the challenges?

I agree wb, we are definitely going in the right direction having been within normal limits on rast test last year and then 'no reaction' to skin prick test couple of weeks ago.

That's from a huge reaction on both tests since a 3yr old.

OP posts:

Tiredycat · 07/04/2009 16:18

Yes, she had a low result in the blood test so it was deemed worthwhile.. I was more keen for almonds which she was also low for (allergies: Nuts, Eggs, Sesame, Dairy but can tolerate butter, Fish and Shellfish). Seeing the allergy doctor tomorrow following an asthma episode in hospital for 2 days last week so hopefully can move forward with almonds then as they would be useful!

Original poster

DesperateHousewifeToo · 08/04/2009 18:51

Well, what a very long and extremely boring day.

Had dramas over the canula and on the second attempt (first one went on wrong place ) we had to pin ds down.

Trauma was soon over though.

Ds has learnt two things today:

He hates egg

He is not allergic to egg anymore

All the advice about taking food and entertainment were a godsend (didn't have any food offered to him (wasn't expecting to be fed myself) other than the horrible roll of egg that looked like a mini arctic roll- eurgh!

One very happy ds. He's already ahd soem M & S victoria sponge cake - didn't like it, and a chocolate mini roll - yummy

OP posts:

Tiredycat · 08/04/2009 22:00

that's great news!

trixymalixy · 08/04/2009 23:03

Wooo-hoooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

So nice to hear of kids outgowing allergies!!

amidaiwish · 08/04/2009 23:19

fantastic news!

did you request the egg challenge or how did you come about having it?
DD2 is allergic to egg (skin prick test and RAST test at 11 months positive). She is now 3.6 and has cake etc... (she had always been ok with cake even though hospital v surprised when i told them that).

anyway, she doesn't have any egg as a raw ingredient / lightly cooked - do i have to request a repeat test/challenge? I'm not under any consultant/care. They didn't think an epipen was necessary as lightly cooked egg is easily avoided.

TIA.

Original poster

DesperateHousewifeToo · 09/04/2009 08:52

ds wants to go shopping today 'to buy things with egg in'

amidawish- we have known he had an egg allergy since he was about 18months-2yrs old (although it was obvious he had an allergy to something when he was weaning, just couldn't work out what it was). He could not eat anything with egg in and would have an immediate reaction if he did. Never anaphylactic, thank goodness, but vomitting, hives, red,itchy eyes and on one occasion his face swelled.

He has been having yearly reviews since the initial test at about 3yrs (he is also allergic to peanuts, hazlenuts and various animals and house dust mite) with skin prick tests and rast tests done yearly.

Last year he was within normal limits on his rast but had a big reaction still to skin prick tests but this year did not react to skin prick. So decision to challenge was taken by the consultant.

Apparently, he could still react to softly cooked eggs as the egg he was given yesterday was pasterised and cooked to a leather consistency!

We are certainly going to have a cake fest this weekend. Might even go out and get him a birthday cake as he has not had a proper one for last 2/3 birthdays (had egg-free ones for a couple of years).

OP posts:

SparkyToo · 11/04/2009 19:22

My son had the egg challenge in hospital. It took quite a while as they start by touching his lips with a bit of egg, wait for a period of time, then wipe a bit of egg onto the inside of his mouth, wait another hour or so, and so on. He was fine throughout and it finally got to the end of the test where he has to eat a bit of egg. Of course, he didn't like the look of it and refused, point blank! It was about 5 or 6pm by this point and I was keen to get out of there. I ended up stuffing egg inside chips and giving them to him. Luckily he ate one or two and was fine.

So the main thing was that he had grown out of the allergy which was great!

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