Some more food intolerance/allergy questions

[mommyoftwo]

Linnea has been tested for food allergies and they came back negative, but she seems to be highly intolerant to wheat, corn, dairy, and eggs. Now I'm wondering if she is reacting to soy as well. She is repeatedly getting the most foul poop that is literally burning her skin off. I've been trying to figure out what is causing it. It will just start to clear up and then boom she's having way more than the average number of bowel movements and her skin is being burned off again. The only thing that I can think of is that she has been having a lot more soy lately. I'm going to try to avoid soy for the next week or two to see what happens. We have been passing illness back and forth for a while now so it could be that I suppose. The only thing is that no one else seems to be having the same problem. Of course, we don't have diapers except for Amelia so that would make a difference, but Amelia isn't having any trouble. Can a food intolerance develop after multiple exposures? I would imagine that it could just like allergies but if someone could let me know that would be helpful. Normally when Linnea eats something she can't tolerate, she starts vomitting and if she gets enough of it, she gets green mucosy diarrhea. I stopped giving her eggs because it seemed to be giving her the burning poop rash. Is there anything I can do about this? Should I really be concerned that she has undiagnosed food allergies even though she tested negative? Thanks for any advice and insight you can give me.

[caheinz]

What kind of tests were they? (Skin, blood (RAST), or challenge?)

RAST's aren't very helpful. You can have a low number and be allergic, or a high number and be fine with it.

I think skin tests are better, but I'm sure there's still a bit of wiggle room.

Challenges are the most accurate, but also the biggest PITA to do. (Has to be a mix of a controlled diet and in doc's office, for one thing.)

The best thing to do is probably to eliminate things you suspect, and then add them back slowly, one at a time, starting after she's not showing any symptoms at all. Anything that doesn't cause a change can't be the culprit. Since poop-related reactions can take a day or two to appear, it sounds like you'll have to spend some time on this...

Good luck! (Dealing with this stuff is a PITA....)

[mommyoftwo]

She had skin tests done and RAST tests were ordered. She has been sick so I haven't had a chance to get the RAST tests done yet. I'm hoping to do it this week. She definitely seems to react to the other things. I think milk is the worst. I have a low dairy diet to begin with (lactose and milk protein intolerant) but I had to do a strict elimination diet to remove even hidden dairy. She had blood in her stool and had to go on nutramigen for a few week to give her system a rest. Fortunately, we have been able to continue breastfeeding. Wheat is the next biggest culprit. Everything except for eggs which I'm not sure of, causes vomiting and diarrhea within a few hours. It doesn't take much to cause it either. A cheerio is usually enough to cause it. The lactose in hylands teething tablets caused an awful reaction. I do my absolute best to read all labels and to keep her out of Amelia's food but sometimes things happen when I'm not looking. I can always tell when she's got at something she can't have when she gets sick for no explainable reason. I'm going to eliminate soy for a few days and see what happens.

[Tondi G]

curious.... has she eaten blueberries or anything with blueberries in it??? My neighbors little girl and my DS both love them but when they eat them they get very acidic poops that cause horrible diaper rash..... it even happened with Blueberry yogurt with my DS! I am pretty sure it's not an allergy he just has a sensitive bottom and gets red quick if his BM is acidic!

I hope you can get it figured out. Good luck

~Tondi

[caheinz]

Unfortunately, it can take a LONG time for the allergens you ingested to make their way out of the BM you produce. A week or more, if I remember right.

I wouldn't worry much about the RASTs. If she has problems when you or she eat something, that's better evidence.

As much as Amelia might complain, it might be easier to put everyone on the same diet. Would certainly help to keep Linnea safe. (Keep in mind that her reactions are likely to get WORSE with repeated exposure, and you could be risking the need for an epi-pen if she continues to be exposed!)

DS has an allergic colitis (produces bloody diarrhea, which yes, is horrible to his bottom) reaction to eggs that started with his earliest exposures. Just recently, it seems to have expanded to dairy as well, though not as badly. The egg reaction definitely got worse with continued exposures over time -- faster and more severe.

[mommyoftwo]

I've been contemplating eliminating the things that Linnea can't eat from our diets, but it's so many things that we would all be extremely restricted and Amelia is a super picky eater to begin with. I am seriously thinking about getting rid of milk though because Linnea took a sip a couple of weeks ago (grabbed Amelia's cup and took a sip before I could stop her) and she got horrible diarrhea for days. The thing I'm confused about though is whether it's an allergy or an intolerance. The allergist said that if she didn't test positive, it was an intolerance and would be an inconvience to her but not actually dangerous. I don't know what to think any more. I would imagine that you would classify her reaction when she was an infant as allergic colitis though. Green mucosy diarrhea and blood in her stool which made her absolutely miserable plus she broke out in excema. It took several weeks of giving her system a rest to get things under control. She had very severe acid reflux too which muddied the waters a bit. I couldn't always tell if she was vomiting from something she ate or just because of her acid reflux. That's why it took me a little while to figure out she was reacting to wheat and corn. The green mucosy diarrhea was what gave it away.

[mommyoftwo]

She does have blueberries occasionally but hasn't had any recently and is definitely having problems with her poop at the moment. Thanks for the thought though.

[mommyoftwo]

Well, Linnea's bottom is already looking better and while she's already had three bowel movements today, they are a lot more normal looking. So we'll see what happens but it really makes me suspect soy is the culprit. The poor girl is just not going to be able to eat anything at this rate. :(

[dotgirl]

This doesn't address the allergen issue, as DS doesn't seem to have any allergies. However! He has the most sensitive skin you've ever seen, and sitting on a poopie diaper for more than a couple of minutes always gives him a rash. We've had rashes so bad that he's been bleeding and crying for us to stop cleaning him. Anyway, something that always helps with the rash is to, after you clean her up, smear ointment (we prefer Boudreaux Butt-Paste, but whatever) all over her, and then completely cover it with cornstarch or powder (we use plain cornstarch). Also, we did it every changing, not just when he had a rash.

Once we discovered this (on these boards, I think!), we had far far fewer issues with rashes.

[supercalifragilous]

How do you feel about probiotics? It might help with allergies AND the acidic poop...

[spanannie]

This is the best source for determining food *intolerance*, which is what you are speaking of https://www.enterolab.com/Home.htm

They send you a container to collect stool and if you want the gene test, a swab, to collect DNA. This is far more accurate than any blood test.

I highly recommend it, and they can test for all of the things you are concerned about.

[bisous]

I've been thinking about your posts...

It seems like you have tested for the most common allergens. I know that those are more likely to be an issue for many children. I just wanted to chime in and say that my sister is allergic to many random foods that don't often get mentioned. She is NOT allergic, for example, to fish, shelfish, soy, wheat, milk or eggs. One that she is terribly allergic to is Blueberries but she is also allergic to almost all other berries, watermelon, and some other obscure foods. It sounds like you found the culprit this time around but just wanted to let you know that there are other possibilities out there that can make little people really miserable. :)

[mommyoftwo]

I've definitely wondered about that kind of thing happening. I'm actually going to switch peds as soon as I can find a good one because our current one is not supportive of my breastfeeding Linnea now that she is older than one and is not at all on top of her health issues. We definitely need to get some help here because Linnea is just not the average healthy child. I'm going to be doing more research to become as educated as I can and I'm going to find some doctors that can help us.

[mommyoftwo]

We already do probiotics but we're out at the moment. I need to order some more. It's hard to find around here especially dairy free probiotics. I think it definitely helps with some of our rash issues.

[mommyoftwo]

Very interesting. I will definitely check that out. I've never heard of anything like that.

[ilovetivo]

Jessica, I just saw this. Have you checked out my thread on food allergies? I can't remember. http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=37&topic_id=396578&mesg_id=396578&listing_type=search

I highly recommend www.kidswithfoodallergies.org . I mention it several times in the above thread. There are many many parents there that can help. I'm "ilovetivo" there too. you can do a free associate membership or paid family membership (nominal for what they do to help your research and sanity at $25 a year.)

I believe Linnea's symptoms to be allergic based on all you said (but i'm not a dr). You may want a second opinion. We had to get one and switched from our local, highly regarded allergist, to the best in the area

From all i know from the top allergy doctors, is that reactions mean more than test results. There are also conditions that are not IgE mediated (traditional allergies) that react negative on the tests, but are still serious allergic conditions. Also in my above thread. One of which is food protein induced enterocolitis. The reactions start like 2 hours after ingestions. DD has it to milk, as well as allergies. There's also eosiniphilic disorders.

W/ the stool tests with intollerances, i think the jury is still out on that. I know most allergists don't believe in them. They also don't believe in rotation diets and such to help allergies. Probiotics is still inconclusive too (we use them though...what can they hurt?)

hope that helps. Let me know if i can help more. Good luck!

[mommyoftwo]

Thanks so much for responding. I have a bunch of questions for you but I'll send you an email when I get a chance. We've discovered yet another intolerance (amaranth flour) so I feel like things keep getting more and more complicated.

[ilovetivo]

I look forward to your email. We can chat on the phone too if you want. Sorry things are getting so rough! Maybe celiac is an issue too. I can't remember if amaranth is gluten related or not.

[mommyoftwo]

I called and left a message for you. I'm interviewing two new peds tomorrow hoping to find one that is more on top of things than our current doctor. I think I'm going to request testing for celiac disease once we get that settled. DH just accidently let her eat peanut butter cookies today (ACK!!!!) so I'm just waiting for the fallout on that one. I imagine we will have vomiting in the next couple of hours and I'm praying she doesn't have a peanut allergy.