Talking Allergies

I have a question about dairy and egg allergies, and thought someone on here might know as I forgot to ask the allergist the last time we were there.

Both my children are allergic to egg (skin test for DS and IgE for DD), but before DD was formally tested, I found she could eat baked goods with egg as an ingredient without reacting. She does still have mild reactions to uncooked egg like mayo, even in trace amounts. Her IgE test was quite low the last time, and the allergist thinks she'll outgrow the egg allergy in a couple of years.

DD recently outgrew her dairy allergy, but even when she used to react to milk out of a carton, or ice cream, she was not reacting to yoghurt or skim milk powder in baked goods. DS still reacts to very small amounts of milk, cheese, etc, but is able to eat fish crackers and Breton's crackers, both of which contain skim milk powder in the ingredients. I haven't tried giving him any yoghurt yet.

So, my question is: since they are able to tolerate milk and egg in alternate forms, does this mean the allergies are less severe and that they're more likely to outgrow them?

I have heard that cooking food makes that food less allergenic (not for nuts or peanuts, though, as far as I know), and I've also heard of other people being able to tolerate yoghurt but not other dairy products.

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

There seems to be research coming out about this. Our allergist who is normally very conservative was speaking yesterday about a time when he might consider encouraging us to challenge our daughter with cooked egg. (but not yet,the wheal was to large, we'd have to do the blood work first and I need to read the articles he sited. I'm not sure how her asthma would come into play or if it would at all)

I would suggest that you contact your allergist, that is the best person to determine what is best for yor children.

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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

Thanks Susan. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing until we see the allergist next.

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

My middle DD was diagnosed with dairy and egg allergies at one year although we discovered the dairy at 5 months. As an infant she had skin contact reactions to dairy. Just touching contaminated toys could give her hives. She never had any serious reactions though.
At 3 we had her tested again and she reacted to both on the skin test however on the blood test her egg was undetectable and the dairy was low. We were told to go ahead and start introducing both in baked goods. At first she had a reaction to the egg (2 eggs in a batch of muffins) so we cut back a little (one egg in a batch) and she was fine. She is now eating all kinds of baked goods with egg with no reaction. We also did the same with the dairy and just this weekend, six months since starting the process of introducing dairy she ate pizza with cheeze for the first time and had no reaction. I really don't understand how we go from total avoidance to building a tolerance, but it has worked for her.
My youngest reacted (hives) to dairy products at 7 months so we avoided them completely. At 11 months we had her tested and she was negative to dairy but reacted to egg and peanut. She now eats dairy but we were told to avoid egg until she is retested again around 2. Most interesting though was that she had a reaction on the skin test to peanut (it was not a big reaction) however I had already been feeding her peanut products. Of course the allergist said in this case to ignore the skin test and keep giving her peanut. It really makes me question how reliable the skin tests are. She eats peanut butter several times a week and has no problem. So confusing!

You can have false negatives to the skin test and false positives to the RAST. Both tests are very subjective and require someone with a lot of experience to read them in the context of the individuals history and other contributing medical conditions.

This is why they say the gold standard is a challenge where the food is eaten. If you can eat it with out side effects, you aren't allergic. Due to the unpredictable nature of reactions and because reactions can be sudden, swift and deadly, tests have been tradtionally conducted in hospitals and now are conducted in the Dr's office.

I would never recommend that tests be carried out at home. I would have serious issues with any Dr who advised me to do so.

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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

Lots of research is surfacing saying that many allergic individuals can tolerate eggs and dairy in baked goods because (insert educated guess here). Mostly, it appears to alter the protein structure to process it at the high heats that baked goods go through. Talk to your allergist to determine if a food challenge is in order to see if baked goods can be tolerated at your house. Just thinking about it makes me nervous, but excited at the same time. I was thinking of talking to our doctor about this too!

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Daughter #1 eczema, asthma, and allergic to eggs, dairy, beef, nuts, soy, wheat, dogs, cats, and grass
Husband intolerant to dairy, allergic to grass and dust
Daughter #2 "outgrew" allergy to dairy and egg

Thanks - that's helpful. Since both children can eat skim milk powder in crackers, we are continuing to give them to them. I'll ask about trying egg baked into something next time I'm at the allergist. Since they're both allergic, and I've found some great vegan recipes for cakes and cookies, I'm in no rush to try it. Also, if DD were able to tolerate but DS couldn't, we would probably still stay away from them in our house anyway. Will repost if there is an update. Thanks.

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema