[honeybee]

Ds2 was intolerant to dairy until he was 2 yo, at which point he outgrew it and has now been fine with it. He will be 3 in a few months.

But, for the last several weeks, he has been getting a rash around his mouth after eating. At first I was able to pinpoint peanuts. I stopped giving him peanut butter and the rash seemed to go away for awhile... only to reappear. It seemed to come out any time he ate anything that had an ingredient that came out of a box or bottle. So, I think it's soy. I have been trying to avoid anything processed, and no soy. But I am also wondering if other nuts may also be a culprit. I have tried testing almond butter, but the results seem inconclusive. Sometimes it takes awhile for his rash to fade... or I'll think it's gone and then look in another light and notice there is a bit of rash there. Just when I think I know what the problem is and avoid it, it seems like he reacts to something different.

Help! Should I take him in for allergy testing? I would like to avoid it, especially if it isn't very accurate. Right now, it is only a rash that does not seem to bother him in the slightest, but my worry is that the reaction will get worse and become more serious.

Does anyone have any tips or advice for me as we try to figure out the allergy issue? How about resources/info about allergy testing?

 

[kjbrown92]

Have you tried taking milk out again? That would be my first guess (because we kept thinking my DS outgrew it only to have it come back with different symptoms). My DS gets the rash around his mouth for soy, and accompanying tantrums. The rash stays for 7-8 days after 1 exposure. His is pretty obvious though. He's had skin prick testing once and intradermal testing (needle under the skin) once and neither of them showed soy. He did show positive to soy (only mild) with ALCAT testing. The best thing is elimination diet with food journaling, but you can always get traditional allergy testing to rule it out (although from what I understand, it's not all that accurate anyway).

 

[Chinese Pistache]

Besides soy, corn is in virtually all packaged food.

Personally, I wouldn't mess around with nuts. If you already know he reacts to peanut and you suspect other nuts, you should get an epipen. Those reactions can escalate with no warning. Today, it could be a rash, tomorrow it could be anaphylaxis. And you never know when/if he might have an accidental exposure, so imo, it's not enough to say you'll keep him away from peanut products.

 

[tanyalynn]

I think there can be IgG allergies to nuts in addition to IgE (the kind that can turn anaphalactic). It took me forever and a day (really it was probably 6-9 months) to figure out that the rash around my son's mouth was a food allergy due to cashews--we ate them a couple times a week, so at times the rash was sorta permanent, and I was wondering where my son's beautiful clear skin had gone. But I don't know how typical our situation is, I'm pretty sure none of our allergies are IgE.

I'd go back to dairy and take it out given your history. We are gluten and dairy free, and to me it seems like they are two that are slower to heal and more prone to change expression over time, and it seems like they cause systemic irritation that allows other allergens to start or get worse.

After eliminating gluten and dairy, I journalled to figure out the rashes, it turns out it was only cashews and chocolate, so pretty easy to deal with.

I can't help with testing, since our situation is pretty straightforward, we haven't done any.

 

[kjbrown92]

My kids are IgG to nuts as well (their only IgE allergies are environmental). But it's better to be safe with nuts, since it can be a bad one.