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Children's health

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anyone have a child with an intolerance to citric acid?

2 replies

sunglasses · 19/01/2010 11:52

My daughter 2 and a half has eczema which we believe flares up after eating certain things. We thought initially it was tomatoes then sugary things then we noticed a big flare up after eating satsumas around xmas time however we think we may have narrowed down the main culprit to citric acid which is present in tinned tomatoes and a lot of sweet cakes/desserts etc and juice. Anyone else have experience of this? We were really struggling to control her symptoms which were often an itchy rash on her torso and sore itchy patches on her face especially around her eyes and mouth. A lot of creams prescribed by the doctor seemed to make things worse and then we looked at ingredients and low and behold citric acid was often present. We have now tried to simplify her diet and are using epaderm as a moisturiser and hydrocortisone 1% and anti histamine should it flare up and this seems to have made a big improvement. My question is can this be an allergy that she will have always or a sensitivity which she may grow out of? Any experience and advice greatly appreciated. Doctor very reluctant to send her for allergy tests.

OP posts:
Ginormica · 19/01/2010 20:48

I don't have a child with this, but my father was intolerant to citric acid for a couple of decades. For him, it brought on asthma attacks and also urticaria (large, red, itchy patches; mainly on his chest and arms).
He did have the benefit of allergy testing, but he had to pay for it privately, which wasn't cheap - he was an in-patient in a London hospital for a week when he had that done, but that was 30 years ago, so maybe things have changed. What hasn't changed is the GP reluctance to have it done on the NHS.
Citric acid is tricky to avoid as it is a preservative in many foods and creams.
Happily, my father no longer seems to have the citric acid intolerance. I am reluctant to say "outgrown" at his mature age. However, it took a good 20 years for him to be able to cope with it.
I should add that the tests showed him allergic to many foodstuffs as well as citric acid. Sadly, he still cannot risk eating the other allergic foods.
I am sorry if this is a bit doomy. I would push the GP for further tests. Good luck.

sunglasses · 20/01/2010 12:25

Thanks for this. I might push for tests and hopefully she is young and may grow out of it. Hope it doesn't take as long as it did for your poor dad.

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