Talking Allergies

My little guy Joshua is deathly allergic to eggs. We found out 2 weeks before his first birthday. I gave him a half a sandwich made with chicken and mayonaisse (he had tried egg yolk the week before and done fine) and he seemed to be enjoying it. Next thing my husband (David) and I knew Josh was screaming his head off. The side of his face looked like someone had wacked him with a stick. By the time I asked my husband "What the heck is that?" his entire body had swelled to almost twice the normal size, he had turned a weird shade of reddish/purple and white lumps were popping out everywhere, and he was literally trying to rip his ears off his head (itchy I guess). We grabbed him and rushed him to the hospital (I didn't even have time to get him in his carseat) He had stopped crying by the time we got him to the van and he was barly breathing, just little hitches. I don't think David or I have ever been so scared. We had no idea what was going on... neither of us had seen an allergic reaction before. He's 2 and a half now and we haven't had to use his epi-pen yet. Thankfully! It took us forever to find egg replacer so I could bake him stuff like cookies. The one thing I find really annoying is that most people shrug it off. "Oh he's allergic to eggs? What does he get... a tummy ache?" No one is careful no matter how much I stress how dangerous egg is to him. Geesh! I don't know how some of you do it with more than one allergy! We are keeping our fingers crossed that our daughter Piper doesn't have any allergies and if she does I hope it's to egg.
Robin

if you are interested, I have a really great recipe for a chocolate cake. All the kids love it. It is egg and milk free. I can post it in the recipe section if you are interested. My son is allergic to peanut, milk and eggs. His egg allergy is not as bad as the milk and peant. He has an appointment late summer to be challenged with egg.

Bev that would be fantastic!!! I haven't been able to find a chocolate cake recipe that works out with the egg replacer so I would love to get the recipe! Thanks!

How exactly does a challenge work? Our allergist has Josh going for a blood test every year around his birthday to measure antibodies and he said eventually we'll do a challege but I didn't quite understand. It has something to with them outgrowing an allergy right?
Robin
P.S. I can't imagine how you work around all three allergies! We'd be lost in this house without milk! My husband and I drink ALOT of it. It was the only thing that got me through my pregnancies!

I have found that I can usually use the following in any cake recipe where the egg is used for leavening:
1 1/2 tbsp water
1 1/2 tbsp oil
1 tsp baking powder (Majic brand is egg free)

Mix together and use as you would for an egg. Double for two eggs; triple for three.
I wish I'd known this years ago when was camping!

Hi. I put the cake recipe in the recipe section. If you don't have a good chocolate cake recipe, this one is great.
About the egg challenge, this is his second egg challange. He had blood tests done a few months ago and the the number of his egg is lower than before. The allergist said there is about a 30% chance he has an egg allergy now according to the blood test results. Two years ago, he wanted us to bake something with egg in it and bake it well so that the egg is baked very well I guess. Egg loses some of its potency or something if you are allergic to it in a baked product. I baked a banana bread. We took him to the allergist at his clinic -in the hospital- very nerve wrecking! My son takes a little bit, waits awhile, then he takes another bite, waits awhile, another bite, waits. Each time he takes a bite, the allergest is there to watch him take it.He ate 1/2 slice of banana bread in total and did well, we thought. We were so happy. During the week we gave him a half slice for a snack (this was fine by the allergist) but we were still a little apprehensive about it.. On two occasion, he woke up at about 2:00 am and threw up. About the same time both nights. He was't sick the next day so it must have been the banana bread. He hasn't had anything with egg in it since. The allergest wanted to try something else but I didn't want him to. So we are going to try it again this time it will be scrambled egg on its own. I think it is in August sometime. I probably wouldn't do it but because he has asthma, cold induced, I would like him to have the flu shot but it has egg in it. I think if he didn't have asthma, I wouldn't get it done. This was decided only after a lot of conversation between us and his allergist. It is scarey but he is at the stage where he should be challenged with it.

Bev: That is scary... Good luck! Josh's antibody levels are going down too, not very quickly but they are going down. That must have been sooo nerve wracking to watch him eat that banana bread! And now scrambled egg?? I don't know if I could do it! Let me know how it goes.
Thanks for the cake recipe! I can't wait to try it. I've got a good white one that egg replcer works well with but kids love chocolate


Susan: Thanks for the tip... I didn't know about that one. For the longest time, before I found egg replacer, we were using baby food to bake things. The only drawback was the item you were baking took on a very ... interesting flavor LOL I love banana bread made with pureed bluberries. LOL
Robin

mommybird, I have Food Allergy Cookbook and have never tried the Gingerbread cake. Will definitely give it a try soon.

The challenges are really hard. I've been told I can try to challenge myself with Shellfish. I haven't had the guts to do it yet. The conditions never seem to be ideal...too late in the day... too far from hospital...had a beer...
If you've stayed away from this stuff all your life and suddenly told you can try it, it's scary!
I don't even know what it tastes like, and don't care to find out. However, it would mean being able to offer my family another source of protein, and for those of us dealing with milk and egg allergies, that's huge!

Spring,
I'd be terrified to challenge any food I was allergic to too. If you were anaphylactic to shellfish and you'd like to try it, I would suggest asking your allergist if you can try it in his/her office so you can get medical assistance if you need it. Those allergy tests just aren't accurate. I know that the allergist I used to go to would never allow me to try anything new let alone anything I was once allergic to outside of his office.

I'm with Lisa. A challenge is just that a challenge to see if a reaction occurs. Because there is a possibility of an anaphylaxic reaction, to do this anywhere other than a medical facility (office/hospital) would be foo hardy. Any one who suggested such a thing to me would lose mega points with me!
I have heard of naturalpaths who suggest this and to me it is an indication that they just don't get the severity of it.

Spring: Definitaly go to the hospital and sit in their waiting room to eat the shellfish. At least then you have help right when you need it if it all goes bad.

Bev: Thanks ... let me know how it turns out. What is the name of the cookbook you are using? Is it called t"The Food Allergy Cookbook"?

Robin

My 3 year old son is also severly allergic to egg (and sesame seed/peanut/tree nut/fish/etc). I just wanted to mention that our family also uses the egg substitute mentioned by Susan (baking powder/water/oil) and it's GREAT! I make pancakes with it too, and you'd never know the difference.

Hi,
I don't have an allergy to egg, but wanted to add something on the challenges. When I was 10, I was told I was anaphylactic to shellfish too as I already had the fish anaphylaxis. I had stayed away from all shellfish for 12 years and had many more tests done over the years that showed that the allergy was close to none... The allergist offered me a challenge of one shellfish of my choice (I chose shrimps!) and made an appointment with the hospital. It was a very gradual test (skin, rubbing on lips, putting in mouth, taking little bite, etc.) over a half day until I actually ate the whole shrimp. During all of that time, I was plugged to an IV, blood pressure monitor, etc. to make sure that if something was happening that they would know about it and they could react fast! I think I've never been that scared in my life! I had only a minor reaction, so the allergist offered me to do the same with lobster the next week to rule out anaphylaxis and we did it again. In doing that, I was able to eliminate the anaphylaxis part of the allergy, but I still have a minor allergy, which is why that was the last time I ate shrimp and lobster. I was actually very dissapointed as I remembered it tasting soooooo good from when I was young that when I tasted what was my favorite food, lobster, I don't think I would eat it that much if I didn't have the allergy...

Based on that experience, I don't know if I would actually accept a challenge on my other allergies if it gets offered... I don't think that after years of not having any that I miss it that much... but I'll see if it ever gets offered, but for now, even 6 years after doing the shrimp and lobster challenges, I remember the stress I was under when doing it and it's not worth it at this point in my life.

Mylène

I have a nine year old son who is allergic to eggs and nuts. At our last trip to the immunoligist he suggest that we subject my son to a peanut challenge as his skin and blood test came back negative. I was assured that the test would be safe as we would be in a prominent children's hospital in a "CONTROLLED SETTING". Trusting that the information was true, my husband and I brought my son to the peanut challenge. During the exposure, my son started complaining that his legs hurt. The doctor suggested that his boots were too heavy for him. My son then started to complain that his mouth and tongue "felt funny". The doctor examined my son and told us that his symptoms were "symptom symatic" ..he thinks it, therefore he feels it. To make a long story short within a few hours, my son went into complete systemic shock. His circulation halted (hence the pain in his legs), and his ogans began shutting down. Medication was administered but did not work. We then had to run through the hospital to the trama room (so much for "controlled environment").
We spent numerous hours in the trama room trying to revive my son. Thankfully my son has now fully recovered The fear of that day has haunted me ever since. My son was a healthy active child that almost lost his life that faithful afternoon and for what, to see if he could eat a food that he has lived without his entire life. When I walked into the hospital that morning I prayed that my son could lose one of his allergens, after his reaction I was praying that I wouldn't lose my son. I will never forget the words of the trama room doctor to my allergiest: "you mean you did this on purpose?"
We are now struggling with trust issues with our son. For those of you considering a challenge, please think long and hard. Is eating a peanut butter sandwich or an egg salad sandwich worth your child's life?

VERY good point Donna.... don't think I'll EVER do a challange with my son if it ever comes up. God! You must have been terrified. I'm sorry you had to go through something so traumatic. Thank you for posting this story... it must be hard to talk about.
Robin