A few questions ie. dairy and also unexplained hives *update-bad doc appt*

[kittywitty]

1. My last three kids had dairy allergies when they were babies and I went dairy free. It looks like my 1 month old may have it as well. Unfortunately I have major mommy brain and can't recall the details about how the other kids reacted and when. My dh says it seems late for her to now show signs of dairy issues-the hives have just started really the past few days though we've noticed them very lightly once or twice in the past few weeks. She sometimes, but not always has the green mucousy looking poop, and the colic has been going on the past week, though not late into the night like my other kids. She's been vomiting majorly the past 2 days and refusing feedings (though still has wet/poopy diapers and is eating, just not as much and seems to get angry at the breast). So I'm cutting dairy, hoping it's not dairy and I'll retry it in a few weeks, but dh thinks it's late for this to be starting. When did other kids' allergies manifest?

2. My 6 yo is going to an allergist in about 9 days and she has growth issues, digestive issues, and skin issues. I should not cut dairy or anything else before seeing the allergist, right? Are skin tests fairly accurate at her age? I want her checked for dairy or celiac's. She had a skin test at a little less than 2 years old, I believe, at a different doc and it was all negative which even the doc said seemed inaccurate as she was obviously reacting to dairy in his opinion. But shortly thereafter at 2.5 she stopped puking & getting hives when I ate dairy and then when she had some. So would a blood test be more accurate? Or was it just her age?

3. For the past week or so I have been getting hives when I get out of the shower. No new soaps/shampoos and it's been doing this through 2 different detergents-one I've been using for months (Charlie's) and through the new Rockin Green I got. I didn't know if it was from the towel but that seems unlikely for that reason. Same towels we've had for years, too. What in the world could be causing this? It only lasts less than an hour and then goes away and is almost entirely on my face/chest/belly.

[tanyalynn]

I can't help with most of that.  I can say that our chiro felt that many babies didn't start to show any food intolerance symptoms for the first 2 weeks, and after that is when it usually showed up.  I don't know if it's true of most kids but it seemed like that for mine--not that I really twigged to it that early.  It sounds like removing dairy is worth a shot.

I don't know anything about testing, so I can't help there, except that food intolerances can cause quite a few of the same issues you've talked about and regular allergist testing wouldn't show intolerances.  My kids are sensitive to gluten (non-celiac), for example, but I have no doubt that it wouldn't show on normal food allergy testing. 

I don't know about the hives, but it sounds like it's the same general timeframe as your LO becoming fussier?  Maybe both of you are having more problems than before with something, some combo of dairy and a change in an enviro allergen?  Something like that maybe, other than that, no guesses.  I hope it goes away soon!

[kittywitty]

Well, it seems to be definitely dairy and reflux. I had dairy last night on accident (didn't check my calcium supp I hadn't taken in awhile) and she had a horrible green poop and vomiting about 2 hours later. I also ate out earlier in the day.

I saw the allergist about my 6 yo today. Wow. That was ridiculous. He says he's not qualified to help us as he knows nothing about celiacs and isn't comfortable testing little kids. He says just to feed her even though I explained several times she has no appetite, will not usually eat, vomits, and has stomach pain. He says she's probably anemic but if she's having dairy issues still she'd have hives and just to keep feeding her dairy to "get her over it". So he told me to try and take her to the Children's Hospital to get a better idea of what's going on.

[changingseasons]

Wow- sorry about your appointment. That guy was.... wow. Can you find a pediatric allergist? And with those symptoms for your 6yo, I would probably see a pediatric GI if you can. They would definitely be more knowledgeable about celiacs.

For your hives- it's probably not something that you're reacting to in the shower. Heat will bring hives to the surface of the skin, so it could really be from anything. Possibly something new in your diet? Have they improved since you cut dairy?

[sbgrace]

An allergist told you to keep feeding an allergen to get her over it? Wow. That's bizarre. We had a bad allergist once but not that bad.

Her regular ped. should be able to order a celiac (and check for anemia as well).

Is the six year old having hives too?

It sounds like you've narrowed it to dairy for the baby. I'm sorry! If it helps my son didn't show signs until a bit older too and he did outgrow his dairy allergy in time.

The most common cause of hives is actually viral. It's within the realm of possibility that you and the baby have viral hives. It does sound like there is a dairy issue too though.

Allergy testing prior to two is often inaccurate. That may have been the issue or it may have been that you were dealing with an intolerance rather than allergy. You'd avoid either way. Generally negatives on allergy tests are (statistically) accurate but some kids test more accurately with either skin or blood. Either way though any allergist worth their salt would say that reactions trump test results. So you correctly pulled dairy for her.

The older daughter--I sort of agree with the allergist that celiac/growth/stomach pain are sort of out if his/her expertise and you may need pediatric GI if you don't find the cause. If you have a cooperative pediatrician I can suggest another test if you can't narrow down the pain cause for her to food. But food and/or celiac seem the most likely culprits I agree.

First, though, I would see if the pediatrician will run a celiac panel on her. You need that and she does have signs. It may be the only issue. Don't pull gluten until you get her tested. She has to be consuming for it to be accurate. If the pediatrician won't run (even if he/she will perhaps given the growth issues) you would want a pediatric GI and that's probably what the allergist meant by the children's hospital or maybe he was saying that a pediatric allergist would help? I've no clue!

To figure out if my son's GI stuff was food related I put my son on a four day food rotation (he was six too) and then kept a food diary. Finally we figured out his food trigger and pulled it and he's not having the GI stuff now. He has documented food allergies but I suspect this one might be an intolerance instead/next time he gets allergy tests I'll have them run it to check. He won't be eating it though!

[changingseasons]

The most common cause of hives is actually viral.

This doesn't seem right to me. Can you point me to some information about this? Everything I've ever read about hives say that they are usually from an allergic reaction (or from an unknown cause.)

Especially when you're looking at other symptoms that point to issues with food (like the OP mentioned), I certainly wouldn't assume that the hives aren't an allergic reaction, and a serious one at that.

[sbgrace]

Surprising isn't it? My son's allergic reactions to foods have always been hives. That's why I suspect the GI only thing was an intolerance rather than allergy for him--he had no hives.

This is the most recent link I can find but I think anything that talks about hives will mention similar things. http://allergies.about.com/od/faq/f/causeofhives.htm

The most common cause of acute hives, particularly in children, is a viral infection. This may even be true if a child has not had any obvious recent illness. Acute hives can be related to other infections, such as strep throat, athlete’s foot and urinary tract infections.

I only know this because of my son's hives (which were chronic and allergy related for him).

On the OP I agree the hives could well be part of the dairy reaction and as I said the baby does appear to be reacting to dairy. She already posted that it was dairy and she's pulling the dairy. But the OP was wondering about her own sudden hives when nothing has changed and she's an adult. I was mentioning viral because she has them and the baby also has them at the same time and I can't tell from the follow up post if the six year old does as well. If three people in a family suddenly develop hives I personally would be thinking virus and that includes in my clearly food allergic child (he's anaphylactic). But the baby and her hives may well be unrelated. I hope the dairy takes care of all the issues for the baby.

My MIL gets hives from heat now (new thing for her). My dads were a delayed reaction to ibuprofen. Another family member got them from stress and if my kids were sick like the OP's I would be stressed. My son's hives have always been a direct (and nearly immediate) reaction to food. I guess I just want the OP to know her own hives may not be related to food, soaps, etc. at all for her.

As you probably know most food allergy hives come on very quickly after ingesting the offending food. So until that GI reaction I never struggled to figure out what my son was allergic to! Eat an orange and break out in hives is pretty clear!

[kittywitty]

I will see about talking to a GI.

Yeah this guy is crazy. After the appt., he went out and started poking at my other 3 big kids' eyes to see if they were pale (anemia). It wouldn't have been that off if he had told my dh what he was doing, introduced himself, said anything before pulling on their eyelids, or checked to make sure they were my kids.

And he wasn't saying the stomach pain was out of his expertise, exactly, but that testing & dealing with children. Which made me mad as our doc referred us to him and made the appointment knowing her age.

The baby is still getting hives but was getting better until my calcium. I wasn't having her tested, either, I'm just doing the elim diet-this allergist appt. was all about the 6 yo. I called our pediatrician back and they said there is a doc that comes from about 6 hours away once a month and does allergy testing and when they figure out her name, they'll try and set us up for an appt. with her. But they didn't comment about the iron testing or to see if they could run a celiac test, so I'll try and talk to them again when they call back.

For my hives-nothing in my diet has changed except eliminating dairy. I've had this happen before in the past where I get unexplained hives with no other symptoms and never figure it out. I must be allergic to something I can't pinpoint or it's viral. Who knows!