Question:
I'm not at all experienced with food allergies, I don't think there is a single
person in my family allergic to any type of food. So for those of you familiar
with the symptoms one might experience can you help me make sense of this? While eating dinner last night my 9 year old non verbal son started
experiencing what seemed to be pain(we were having rice/vegetables/chicken with
a chinese flavor packet) He walked around wincing and moaning...then
eventually made himself gag and brought up a thick mucous. He kept putting his
fingers in his mouth and when he would pull them out he would have thick
strings of mucous. Then he started getting blotches all over his face, and
went purple/red around his mouth..not the lips or tongue..the skin around his
mouth. I did give him Benadryl just in case it was an allergic reaction.
Do any of these symptoms sound like food allergy? He has had that identical
meal before with no problems.
Answer:
I definitely sounds like a food allergy to me. Sometimes allergies
appear after several exposures to a food, rather than the first. Holy cow, YES. Not just an allergic reaction, but a fairly serious one -
the line between what you saw, and needing to go to emerg is a fine one.
Get your kid to the doctor and ask to be referred to an allergist. You
need to find out what he was reacting to so you can avoid it in future. Yes,it sounds as though your son had a pretty severe allergic reaction.
You need to see an allergist promptly, and get an epi-pen even more
promptly! You also need to track down exactly what the trigger was.
(You can start the process by writing down every single ingredient in
the meal that he ate immediately prior to the reaction.)
A book that may be of help is "Is This Your Child?" by Dr. Doris Rapp.
You should be able to get it at your local library or independent
bookstore. Or you can click on the title at my web site, which will
bring you to amazon.com, where you can purchase it, too.
Here's a rough sketch of how allergy testing works:
First, be aware that testing will only work if the allergist tests for
what your child is actually allergic to. If the allergy is sesame but
the allergist tests for eggs, you won't get any satisfaction. Right?
So you need to do some homework right away.
First, find out the COMPLETE (if possible) ingredient list of the meal
or item that triggered the reaction. One of those should be the
culprit.
Second, start keeping a comprehensive food diary of EVERYTHING your son
ingests (food, vitamins, medicines ...). On the facing page of that
diary, put a summary of how your son has been acting and feeling that
day. Is he aggressive? Quiet? Sniffly? Rashy? Allergies can have
MANY symptoms, not all of which lead to classic go-to-the-hospital
reactions.
Take the diary to the doctor, along with the list of ingredients for the
meal that caused the initial problem.
There are several test that the allergist can do.
1. Skin prick test. In this one, the doctor will prick your son's skin
up and down the arm or back, and put a tiny amount of allergen (one
per prick) extract on the prick. He'll come back about 20 minutes
later to see if there's been any reaction.
This one is hard to do on small children (who don't know yet how to
cooperate), and can be dangerous if the reaction has a potential to
be anaphylactic (inability to breathe due to swelling).
2. RAST test. This is a blood test. The doctor will draw blood and
subject the blood to allergen testing. (I know that there are pros
and cons to each of the first two tests relative to each other, but
I'm not sure about RAST test details.)
3. Elimination diet/challenge. In this YOU will be asked to eliminate
certain foods from your son's diet. For example, all dairy
products, even trace amounts, or all shellfish. Or all common
allergens at once. That's the elimination part. Then, after two
weeks of this, under the doctor's supervision you will "challenge"
your son by giving him a tiny amount of a suspect food that has been
eliminated.
The elimination diet is the "gold standard" for allergy testing (all
other methods being imperfect) but it's harder to do, and the
challenge part can be dangerous if the reaction is severe.
For more information, I strongly suggest reading Dr. Doris Rapp's "Is
This Your CHild?", which you should be able to get at your local library
or independent bookstore.
Whatever else you decide to do, you should see your pediatrician
immediately (if you haven't already) to get an epi-pen for your son
along with instructions on how to use it. The epi-pen should ALWAYS be
with your son, no matter where he his. (Most doctors will prescribe 2
or 3 so you can keep one at home, one at school, and one in his
backpack.) An epi-pen gives your son about 10-20 minutes of easier
breathing, which gives you time for the ambulance to arrive.
