Talking Allergies

My son tested positive for an egg, peanut, tree nut allergy last year.

I’m a bit confused about the egg allergy because the allergist told me that baked product “should” be okay.

We avoid eggs, mayo’s or sauces with raw egg, and stuff with high quantity egg.

He seems okay with this, but I curious to know what others do.

The peanut and tree nut we avoid completely obviously, but I’m torn with certain products when they state egg in the ingredient list. I still let him have cake that I’ve made with egg in it. He’s been fine with it.

Does someone have a broader understanding of this allergy that can help me better understand it?

Comments?

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DS 5 yrs - Allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, egg, mold, dogs, cats, asthma & seasonal allergies
DD 2 yrs - Allergic to penicillin

Is the allergist suggesting you do a challenge? Any challenge should be done under medical supervision.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Our son has the same allergies and our allergist told us that stict avoidance to all egg products (cooked or otherwise) must be honored. He does not eat anything with egg in it or anything that contains traces of egg.

I would never allow my child to try something that "should" be OK without trying it under medical supervision first. I suggest you work with your allergist to do a challenge in their office or hospital to determine your child's tolerance level - if there is such a thing.

We did a challenge when he was about 5 and he did not pass - reacted after eating the equivalent of 1/4 of an egg in the form of french toast. Based on this, our allergist said, 100% avoidance. Son is now 18 and his egg tests (prick and RAST) have not changed in all these years . . . .

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adult son allergic to peanuts, most tree nuts, eggs and penicillin.

Does he/has he already eaten foods made with egg (like cakes & cookies)?

Oops, I just went back and reread your post and noticed that you do feed your son cake made with egg.

Here is my experience:

We have 2 different egg allergies in our home.

My husband cannot eat egg made by itself, or egg that is in sauces, etc, or else he has an allergic reaction. He can, however, eat egg that is baked into things like cakes and cookies.

My son cannot even eat traces of egg without having an allergic reaction.

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Married mom of 4 living children and a baby girl in Heaven.
Between myself, my husband, and our children we have way too many allergies to list.

See you gotta get Allergic Living mag for all the latest on the f.a. research.
(Immodest of me, but it is true.)

Here's the article we ran in the Summer issue on Baked Egg and Milk challenges. (FYI, we don't post them all.)
Our senior editor saw the new research presented in New Orleans. There's been a major change in the thinking:



http://www.allergicliving.com/features.asp?copy_id=384

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

This is a late comment, but my son is also allergic to eggs. What his allergist told us is that if it was cooked in a frying pan then not to give it to him. In the oven, should be okay. He is not anaphylactic having it either way, but does break out into hives and is itchy. I did once give him a pasta that had I believe egg in the noodles that had then been baked in the oven. He started out eating it. Within a few minutes he pushed it away saying he didn't like it (kid loves pasta of all kinds). He broke out and was itchy. I think it's primarily eggs in baked goods that he can have. Probably there is too high a "concentration" of egg in the pasta, even though it had as the doctor told us been baked in the oven.

"Should be..." advice from a doctor = "may contain" label from manufacturer.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Updated allergy news from our front. We went to the allergist to a "eating test" of baked and fried egg (french toast).

Reason: he did another skin test that he passed then did a RAST test that he "failed" = "Very high 5.41

Because we have been feeding him baked egg without a problem he wanted to do an ingestion test in his office.

We brought in 3 things:
- mini PC chocolate chip muffins (he had had a reaction to this before but we thought it was a peanut cross contamination... ??)
- a muffin I baked with 1/3 of an egg
- a piece of french toast.

He decided to do skin testing with those 3 things first.

He reacted to all 3
French toast the worse obviously
but close second was that little mini pc choc chip muffin.... weird.
Dr thinks they just must not be baked as long? Or they have way more egg in it.
My muffin I made with 1/3 egg he reacted too but not as severely?!?!

Doctor seemed a bit confused.

He had an anaphalactic reaction to the mini muffin about a year ago and now I know it was due to the egg... crazy! This is such a learning curve.

Dr said again - don't change what you are already doing. ie: if he's eating cake with 3 eggs in the whole cake and he seems fine with one piece that let him continue to have it. But now I'm second guessing everything.

I need a GOOD egg free recipe!!!

There really is no black and white in the world of allergies!!! SIGH

So glad I have all of you to lean on and vent.

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DS 5 yrs - Allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, egg, mold, dogs, cats, asthma & seasonal allergies
DD 2 yrs - Allergic to penicillin

I agree, there is nothing simple or straightforward about allergies. I'm curious about something, did your son eat all 3 foods on the same visit? Our allergist will only test one food per visit or there could be a delayed reaction happening to the 1st food which will then look like a reaction to subsequent foods tested.


What we used in all cakes, cookies, bread with out ever an issue of baked goods not turning out was

1 1/2 tbsp. veg. oil
1 1/2 tbsp. water
1 tsp. baking powder

This equals one egg. There is even an amazing pumpkin pie (eggless) recipe on the egg thread,it uses corn starch and works wonderfully/tastes identical.

Good luck and I hope your son was fine after the oral challenges.

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DD 12 yrs -no allergies
4 yr old DS - asthma/eczema Anaphylactic to Peanuts, all tree nuts, sesame , all pea/lentil legumes, gelatin.
Allergic to trees, grass,ragweed, feathers, dander, mold and dust.
Outgrew eggs, fish, shellfish

The oral challenges were planned but never happened because of his skin test results...

I think he was thinking of trying the muffin and if he was fine then the french toast.

The other muffins were a last minute add on as he had had a reaction to them in the past...we brought them mainly to talk to the doctor about it.

Thank you for your reply on the egg replacement, I will try this week for sure! You guys are the best!

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DS 5 yrs - Allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, egg, mold, dogs, cats, asthma & seasonal allergies
DD 2 yrs - Allergic to penicillin

Frevic, I searched for the recipe and pasted it below for you. I even made eggless cheesecake once (for me ). I used that same fake egg concoction (water, oil, baking powder) and it was fine. A tiny bit soft but tasted great, I just left it in the fridge. We can't use gelatin (anaphylaxtic to gelatin) but the fake egg did the trick.




I still use Pilsbury pie crusts as they are tasty, easy to use and pn,tn, sesame and egg free.


Egg Free Pumpkin Pie Filling

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 Cup corn starch
1 can (15 oz.) canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
1 can (12 fl. oz.) Evaporated Milk (Carnation)

MIX sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves and cornstarch in small bowl. In a larger bowl mix pumpkin and dry ingredients. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.

POUR into pie shell.

BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

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DD 12 yrs -no allergies
4 yr old DS - asthma/eczema Anaphylactic to Peanuts, all tree nuts, sesame , all pea/lentil legumes, gelatin.
Allergic to trees, grass,ragweed, feathers, dander, mold and dust.
Outgrew eggs, fish, shellfish

Frevic, As confusing as allergies are, I find cooking egg-free one of the easier allergy challenges.

Get a good egg replacer - e.g. Pane Riso or Ener-G, they're pretty widely available now. Plus there are many ways to just cook without egg.

- Here's a great Allergic Living column on homemade egg replacers: http://allergicliving.com/index.php/201 ... ting-eggs/

- Another on subbing for egg white: http://allergicliving.com/index.php/201 ... k-or-eggs/

- And see our "Recipes" link on the green bar above - the majority are made either without egg or work with an egg replacer.

- You can also look for the "Advance Recipes Search Tool" and just sort according to the allergens you are avoiding. It's a great tool. http://allergicliving.com/index.php/advanced-search/

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

Yes, there are many recipes available, try using a search engine and look up vegan recipes, Wacky Cake or use the subs above in regular recipes.

For a mayonaise substitue , we like Veganiase.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

You can also search for recipies I've posted. I think everything I've posted in Egg free . . .

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adult son allergic to peanuts, most tree nuts, eggs and penicillin.

Hang in there, this really does seem to be unfolding as we speak with respect to baked milk and egg.

Strangely, when my ds had the baked milk challenge last October, they continued with the challenge despite his positive skin reactions. When I asked the nurse about this, she said that almost everyone still reacts positively on the skin, but in their experience 99% have gone on to pass the oral challenge (I doubt her 99% was a scientifically-arrived number...). Indeed, while he had milk tingling during the lip and tongue stages (and measurable flares during the skin test), he had no reaction from the oral challenge. If you see my thread about it, you'll see that he has had some reactions since (but not anaphylaxis), but our allergist says we should continue, as evidence points to the possibility that consuming the baked version may help them eventually tolerate less-cooked versions.

I really wish allergists would get together on this one, I do feel like we're sometimes flying solo. I actually tried to get my ds into the Mt Sinai baked milk challenge study recently (TOTALLY willing to fly to New York for the necessary visits), but they replied that his RAST was still too high. I read their first study, and with this new study they are trying to identify which kids are most likely to tolerated baked based on their most recent RAST results. I think 35 is their current cutoff, and my son is 58. But he still tolerates some milk baked into cakes.

I feel like we're getting closer ... just hoping that they get there by the time my ds gets to university so he can enjoy digging into a pizza at midnight on pub nights, just like his mommy , and not have his friends mistake his subsequent sickness to too much drink rather than an allergic reaction. Seriously, I worry about this. Might determine whether or not we let him live in residence.