she's reacting to something, can you help me??

[Therese's Mommy]

Ok, we have been at baseline for quite a while now. Last Friday I tried coconut milk in the hopes of making her some ice cream. It failed. Now since Saturday or Sunday (can't remember) she has had some eczema flare. It is definitely food related as it is even on each side. Ok, on Saturday I made her some ice cream and in it I put tapioca starch. She hasn't had that since March when I eliminated a ton of things in the hopes of getting us to baseline. She has been eating that daily since Saturday. On Sunday while I was out for a walk DH gave her a sandwich on some rice bread. This was another thing that had been cut out in March and I hadn't reintroduced it yet. It also has tapioca starch in it. It also has cellulose (wth is that??), fresh yeast, and fruit juice concentrate which is listed as pear, peach or pineapple juice. She is fine with peaches and pears (eats them all the time) but has never had pineapple.

So here is the list of possible culprits:
tapioca starch
cellulose (again what is that?)
fresh yeast
pineapple

Here is a list of her known allergies
wheat
dairy
egg
peanut
soy
banana
avocado

Here are the things that we avoid as we think she might be allergic to them
corn
coconut
latex
kiwi
all nuts and most seeds

Any ideas. I will not be giving her the ice cream or bread until she clears up, but was wondering if anyone has an idea of which food seems to most likely be the cause.

Thanks!

Beth

[riomidwife]

All of the various rice breads seem to aggravate my LO. Most of them have a lot of extras including the fruit juices and pineapple like you mention and we just have to avoid them. Sounds like since the flare up started saturday or sunday it is likely from what she ate friday. Coconut has also been a problem for my LO.

[Therese's Mommy]

I cannot believe that it would be from the coconut. She had probably no more than a teaspoon on Friday morning. She had a reaction (some hives) and never had anymore. The eczema showed up on Saturday or Sunday and has gotten progressively worse. So, I would be totally shocked if this was from the coconut. We are cutting out the bread and "ice cream" and hopefully she will go back to baseline. Once we get back there I will trial the ice cream again as it just has the tapioca in it.

Beth

[Chinese Pistache]

The bread has xanthum gum, right? That's corn derived and bothers some corn-allergic people. My dd was allergic to pineapple (still might be, we haven't trialed ii in a while). It could be the rice or tapioca, but those are less common. Of course, we all know that means nothing, right? You probably just need to cut those things again and wait until she clears to trial again.

Oh, on a side note about coconut. . . I think I and my ds are reacting to it after all. Last week, ds had a lot of coconut (pudding, yogurt, oil on his toast, ice cream) and since he'd eaten those things fine for months, I didn't put it together until he started getting eczema behind his knees (which is really unusual for him; he usually gets dry patches on his torso or arms and legs). Anyway, he started rejecting the ice cream, which I thought was really weird. And then, on Sunday, I ate a bowl of coconut ice cream and my mouth felt weird and I immediately got the worst headache that lasted that whole night and the next day. So, I don't know why. He'd been eating the oil almost everyday for weeks, but I think all of those things together pushed him (me?) over the edge. Even though my dd had outgrown (or seemed to outgrow) it, I'm not giving her any more right now just to be safe.

ETA: in your dd's case, I'd be really surprised if it was the coconut causing her flaring eczema now. i would expect to see a lessening of symptoms this many days after consuming it.

[riomidwife]

When my LO is having a flare up it usually takes 24 hours or so to show up, then persists for 3 days or so, then begins to settle down. I think this would be in line with what Beth's daughter experienced? Beth's daughter didn't eat the rice bread until sunday, but she said the eczema flare up could have started saturday. Even if it did start sunday, that would be the same day as the exposure to the rice bread, right? Everyone is different of course, but I typically see eczema starting closer to 24 hours later.

[Therese's Mommy]

Her symptoms really came to a head last night. Her eczema was really red and angry looking. Today it looks much better. I guess it is possible it is the coconut. Time will tell, as I will be trialing to find out.

As for some of the things that CP mentioned. I don't suspect the xanthan gum as that is in her hemp milk and she was still drinking probably about 16oz a day while at baseline. Rice is fine. Tapioca is a question as is the pineapple. Once she gets back to baseline I will start with the tapioca. This all wasn't supposed to go this way. Dh didn't know that I wasn't using the bread and gave it to her while I was out. Oh well, it isn't nearly as bad as it could be. She slept well last night and she isn't nursing so I don't have to suspect both her diet and mine.

Thanks for the insights.

Beth

[Heba]

Have you considered sulphites? They are used in processed coconut (pretty much anything unless you cut open the coconut yourself), processed corn products (including cornstarch) and fruit juice concentrate (so it could possibly be the other fruit juices you mentioned, even though she can eat them whole). Just a thought.

[annep]

Latex, banana, kiwi, pineapple and avocado all cross react with each other. If she is allergic to latex, she is likely to react to any of those foods at any time even if she is not allergic.

[KimPM]

Cellulose is plant fiber used as filler. Typically it comes from pine trees or palm (probably they are cheapest) but I'm sure they could use a whole range of other plants. Yes, it's possible to be sensitive to one or both of these. I can't tolerate pine cellulose. They often use cellulose in dietary supplements (vitamins, etc). Contact the food or supplement manufacturer to find out the exact plant source of the cellulose, if they can tell you.

Oh, you can buy tapioca starch (or just plain old tapioca) and test it alone. Of course you can do the same with pineapple, too. You can always make a loaf of your own rice bread with yeast and find out if baker's yeast is a problem or not.

And oh yeah, usually the coconut milks typically have one of the gums in them..so they are not really clean. Have you tried just plain coconut...you can get just shredded unsweeted coconut and try just one shred, or put one shred in something that she's otherwise eating.

[Heba]

Beth, did you get any answers? I may have missed it in another thread, but I was wondering how you were doing.

[Therese's Mommy]

Thanks for asking We are back at baseline and I am sure it is the rice bread that she was reacting to. Not exactly sure what in the rice bread she is reacting to, but I know it isn't tapioca starch : My best guess would be the pineapple as she has problems with tropical fruits. But it could also be the yeast (which would be a bummer ), or the mysterious cellulose.

Beth