Allergy vs intollerance

ectomorph

Fri, Mar 08 2019, 5:29 am

amother wrote:

The skin rashes and tummy aches may not be related, especially seeing as the tummy aches are new.

That could be cause of many things.

Pinworms.
H Pylori.
Celiac.
A simple need for a good probiotic.
May not necessarily be an allergy.

Would recommend speaking to your pred first, about the tummy aches. GI would be my first stop, if I were you.

About the skin: If the flares are not severe, burning red and flaky, then try antihistimanines during a flare, moisture, like Eucerin, humidifiers, etc., before running to a derm for steroid cream which can be dangerous if used in the wrong manner. And no, the derm probably doe not know how to safely RX.

Hug away, you huggers.

Op please ignore this post. Lots of terrible ideas.

Definitely start at the allergist because of the history of eczema
one of my kids was just diagnosed with multiple food allergies - I had no idea e had no standard symptoms. But when she did the scratch test she came out positive to four different things.

One of my other kids has a lot of stomach issues and probiotics made it much worse

nchr

Fri, Mar 08 2019, 6:02 am

amother wrote:

Why did you first go in the most extreme direction? No need to run to a GI for tummy aches, which are pretty common and usually harmless. OPs child has a history of eczema and probably allergies, which can cause tummy aches. Our DS has tummy aches a few times a week and we've never been to a GI or had our pediatrician recommend one. We've ruled out a lot and I also get tummy aches - when I drink too much water, eat rich food, etc. DS is probably like me and neither us nor his pediatrician are concerned.

amother

Azure

Fri, Mar 08 2019, 6:46 am

Stop and notice the history.
The child has had eczema for 6 years.
Tummy aches are new. They are probably not linked, because if he would have been having tummy aches in the past, he would have complained about it for at least a year or two, once he was old enough to communicate.

I'm not saying that the eczema doesn't have an allergic basis, and the stomach issues MAY be connected, but they may not, as the histories do not coincide.

When it comes to allergy testing, there are many times false positives. That would mean that foods a child may be okay with would be pulled, causing additional, unneeded suffering.

If you want to do allergy testing, ask your regular ped to do a workup that includes both RAST testing for allergies as well as tests for GI issues.

Get a good overview of what is happening before running to specialists, especially because each one will want to prick them and run their own tests. If you have all the tests already, then each can just look at the lab reports and go from there.

Addionally, if you want to see a specialists, try to do it within a week or so having the tests run, because the lab saves the bloods for about two weeks, so if additional testing is needed, you can request the lab to use the same sample instead of poking your child more times.

In regard to probiotics: There are certain issues that can cause probiotics to be not tolerated, such as FPIES, but that is a rare case, and according to an FPIES research specialist, the reason FPIES children cannot tolerate probiotics is due to an overgrowth of candida. She RXs nystatin for a while, then introduces pre- and pro-biotics, at which point most FPIES kids can handle them. Many kids do not need the probiotics though, and the FPIES just vanishes with time.

Ectomorph: Just because the advice goes contrary to what you imagine is the correct path to take, doesn't mean that it is wrong. I've been dealing with these things on a semi-professional level for quite a while. The "standard" path is often the path to iotrogenic illness. Again, I'm not ruling out allergy. I'm saying be smart about it the investigation process.

Allergists, specifically, frequently have a standard protocol that says when a child presents with a rash, they insist the parent "clear them up" by using a steroid for two weeks. Now, steroids CAN be safe. But when the rash is on the face, for instance, or on an infant, what happens is that the child runs the risk of developing a new condition, caused by overuse/incorrect use of a steroid.

Most doctors know little about safe steroid use and have fallen into the trap of believing these powerful drugs to be relatively harmless. They have become lax in using the correctly. And many, many people are harmed.

ectomorph

Fri, Mar 08 2019, 7:13 am

amother wrote:

My experience with allergists is that they try to find an underlying cause and do not prescribe steroids quickly. Pediatricians are much more likely to prescribe steroids. Blood tests for allergies are very accurate, and if eliminating foods that show up as positive don't alleviate symptoms, there's no reason anyone needs to feel forced to keep eliminating them. It's not at all unusual for allergy symptoms to change or become progressively worse over time. I would absolutely test first, eliminate anything that comes up, and see what progress has been made after one month. At that point a different approach may be needed.

Actually one of my kids allergies that they never openly reacted to is nuts but they tested positive on the blood work. Dr said we must remove nuts because there's a possibility of a sudden reaction ch"v and we were prescribed an epi pen.

amother

Silver

Fri, Mar 08 2019, 8:53 am

amother wrote:

If a kid has eczema and gets positives on either a blood allergy test or skin allergy test, that would not be considered a false positive. It would give OP an idea of where to start eliminating. No need to avoid allergists just because they might prescribe a steroid. OP can politely decline the steroid and politely request allergy testing.

OP the stomach aches and the eczema flares may or may not be related, but eczema is very closely related to gut health so you are not so far off thinking there may be a connection. Testing with an allergist is a good place to start, but please be aware that with symptoms like these often standard testing may not yield any results, and the doctors will keep brushing you off, but that doesn't mean it's really nothing. You can keep digging until you find the cause. Many parents find that taking a child off gluten and dairy help remarkably with both stomach and skin issues, even if nothing shows up on testing, so this is something you might want to trial for about 6 weeks to see if it helps. Good luck!

amother

Orange

Fri, Mar 08 2019, 9:25 am

I’ll post because I have a severe *allergy* to wheat. Not celiac! Amother becaus it’s actually not so common.

1) Reactions to foods may not come right after foods.

2) Reactions may be an accumulation of a response.

3) Testing isn’t so conclusive. You must be currently be having a reaction for some of the tests. Testing can be difficult, painful, and expensive.

4) Symptomatic treatment is still, currently, most common (Ever hear of thyroid meds being based on symptoms not just one lab? It’s a similar idea)

5) New symptoms can arise with an ongoing reaction, including anaphylaxis and stomach aches, when the the food is still being ingested.

The best thing is to do after speaking with a pediatrician and if you don’t find a more obvious source would be an elimination diet. It has to be strict and has to be followed for 6 months. I’d start with milk and dairy.

Allergies are a not well understood art vs science IMO. It’s also about lifestyle and what you can tolerate giving up.

Hatzlacha