hospital dash

[sphil]

It's me again - no sooner do I join MN than I have an emergency on my hands. DS2 has been suffering from eczema on his chin since coming off the yeast free diet recommended by BIBIC. (We did it for the recommended period and then gradually reintroduced yeast, on the advice of their nutritionist.)We're spending the half term in Somerset with my parents and almost as soon as we arrived the eczema flared up badly. We can't work out why - he hasn't eaten anything we know he's allergic to (dairy, eggs)and my poor mum's been hoovering for England. I've been treating it with Fucidin H (hydrocortisone cream).

Anyway today for lunch he had shepherds pie and a cup of fruit smoothie (the 'Innocent' raspberry and cranberry one - just fruit, nothing else in it at all) Immediately afterwards he began scratching like a maniac. I put on more cream (he was due a dose) and his top lip swelled up hugely, he started to cough and i thought I could hear a faint wheeze. My Dad drove me to A+E (DH is working at home)where they gave him Piriton and he was better almost immediately, though it took a couple of hours for the swelling to go down and he still looks like a prizefighter.

Any thoughts anyone? Could he have developed an allergy to the cream? Could it be the smoothie? (He's had them before but not that flavour)Or is he now showing a sensitivity to yeast? I am really worried that he's going to become more allergic as he gets older and we're going to have to deal with anaphalactic shock on top of everything else. (Sorry, but it's been a stressful day)Before the last couple of weeks his eczema had hardly been a problem for a year.

[doormat]

sphil got no advice but thinking of you

[Lillypond]

Oh no, that must have been very frightening.

I've no idea what could have caused the reaction but hopefully someone else might come along who knows. You might find someone on the Health board who could help as there are a few threads over there about allergies.

[Chandra]

The only thing I can think of is about one of the allergens hidden in a "safe" food. (ie. DS had a strong reaction to a brand of baked beans, there was none of DS's allergens indicated in the label so I rang the producer and found out the product contained milk even when it was not specified in the label. However, DS reacts differently to milk, so... I supose DS is allergic to another "secret" ingredient that is only mentioned in this supermarket's proprietary product label as "flavourings".

BTW Some frozen potatoes contain milk, any chance they may have been used for the pie?

[hub2dee]

Aside from food, I guess also focus on what might be different at your mum's - trees / fields of crops / animals ?

If you contact the smoothie people I'd be interested to hear if there were any other added (hidden) ingredients.

Hope little one is better soon.

[r3dh3d]

As of November it is no longer legal to sell a product containing a known allergen (eg milk, nuts, etc) without labelling it clearly in the ingredients. (Most manufacturers are also including a separate "allergens" section on the label though, unfortunately, there's no law says that bit has to be correct .) It has been illegal to manufacture anything unlabelled for some time - the Nov date has just been to let them shift old stock on the shelves - like those baked beans. On the basis smoothies have a v short shelf life, anything in that smoothie must be on the label. Or they're breaking the law.

Don't know if that helps any.

[sphil]

I really doubt it was anything 'hidden' in the smoothie as the Innocent company make a big virtue on the carton of the fact that they only use pure fruit. But it could have been one of the fruits. My parents do live in a rural area so it could be crops or something I suppose - but we come here a lot and this hasn't happened before.
Anyway he's fine today, but the eczema on his chin is still very red and sore. He keeps scratching it, that's the problem. (And he obviously knows he's not supposed to, because he hides when he does it!)

[jenk1]

sphil-what your son has sounds like a mild anaphylactic reaction to what he ate especially if his lips swelled.

My dd has anaphylaxis to egg and various other allergies and we have had to rush her to A and E on more than one occasion, we always give her piriton if we see ANY reaction around her mouth and are hoping to get an epipen next week when we see the paediatrician.

Have you got an epipen for your ds?

Im only asking because dd has been following a strict diet as advised to by the hospital dietician and it was she who told us that if she was to come into contact with one of the foods that she had been avoiding for a while then the reaction would be more severe, just wondering if this is what could have happened to you ds.

HTH

[hub2dee]

Don't suppose it could have been pesticides on fruit etc. ?

[sphil]

Jenk1 that is a really good point. We are seeing the paediatrician on Monday so will ask about an epipen then.

[SoBlue]

Do you think its a reaction to going back on the yeast? Maybe more sensitive to it now its out of his system. My ds has eczema mainly chocolate and colourings one cube of chocolate for a mild flare up, with colourings its more a slow build up in his body that sets it off.

[sphil]

I had wondered that too. Have just e-mailed the nutritionist at BIBIC to ask whether she thinks it could be yeast related. I am really hoping it's not - doing without bread was so difficult. I'll let you know what she says.

[rummum]

the shepards pie...
was it home made??
did it have milk in the potatoes?

[Chandra]

R3dh3d, It doesn't matter how regulated labeling is, some things (specially if they are in tiny weeny amounts and NOT nut related), may not be properly represented in the label. Besides, the lists you are given by the dr about what to avoid are generally rather general.

Ingredients are sometimes listed in irrecognisable forms... ie DS is severely allergic to soya and soya sometimes is listed as E322, how would I know about it? I doubt the doctor knows that (not enough professionally trained allergicians or too many new food chemicals added per year so keeping the list updated might be close to impossible). Or... the label may say it contains ham, although ham is not a chemically pure element, it is not the thing you will expect to have milk in it.

But agree that it could also be related to the environment rather than the food.

Sphil, good luck tomorrow, please keep us informed.

[r3dh3d]

Er - Chandra - I'm puzzled now. I'm working off info that my child's condition support group have been given by FSA, GOSH dieticians etc. We were told that the new EC food labelling directive (2003/89/EC, amending 2003/13/EC)now means that a list of 12 allergens (inc milk, soya, nuts) HAVE to be labelled if present in any quantity. Not as an E-number, as recogniseable food names. By the "ham" thing do you mean the old 25% rule? (ie any ingredient which itself makes up less than 25% of the product does not have to be sub-listed; so milk added to ham in small quantities was not listed if the ham itself was a minor ingredient) because again I've been told that is now illegal under UK law. If the ham has been treated with milk, the word "milk" must appear in the ingredients list.

Per EC site here and FSA site here

Sphil - really sorry for the hijack. But DD's condition means that dairy gives her brain damage and there are a hundred or so parents currently working on the assumption that what we have been told about the new law by the authorities is gospel truth.... So if Chandra knows better I need to kick off some frantic emails.

[mymama]

anaphylaxis includes wheeze or persistent cough and swelling of the lips or tongue. This sounds like your son's reaction. It really sounds like your son reacted to something he ingested. Was there any ingredient in the two items that he had not had before??? It could be an ingredient in an ingredient. My son is allergic to fish and I check shepherd's pies for worcestorshire sauce and hp sauce as they sometimes contain anchovies. IFYSWIM

[bobbybob]

Ds went to A&E last night with same thing (only he got V&D as well, just to make the whole thing really pleasant).

I have resigned myself to the fact I won't know what caused this one - just like I won't know what caused the one before.

Get a medic alert bracelet and an epipen, and resign yourself to the trips to casualty and the ridiculous question "do you know what he ate?" Well if I knew I wouldn't have let him have it would I?

My money is on the fruit smoothie - fruit is so variable - some people react to certain apples at certain times of year for instance.

[PeachyClair]

My Dh is allergic to raspberries- these were in the smoothie weren't they?

But it could be so many things, right down to the plastic the bottle was made from.

Can you give the BIBIC nutritionists a ring (they might be in Wales, we're seeing them today at the new centre )

I hope you find out what caused all this. And get the eczma sorted too.

[bobbybob]

Has he had such a lot of red fruits before?

[sphil]

rummum - the shepherds pie was homemade, so nothing in it he's allergic to.
bobbybob- you may have a point about the red fruits. The Innocent smoothies are very concentrated and he has had a mild reaction to strawberries in the past if he's had them every day for a few days.
I haven't heard from BIBIC yet, so they may well be in Wales.
DS2's face is still very sore looking but doc says not infected. She advised using ordinary Fucidin with a thick wad of vaseline over the top at night to keep him from scratching. We'll see...
We're having a group photo session on Saturday for all my mother's grandchildren for her 70th birthday present - so am hoping he looks a bit less scabby by then, or that they've got airbrushing facilities!!
Seriously, thanks for all your concern and advice - much appreciated. And I don't mind the thread being hijacked at all -it sounds as if you have a much more serious problem.

[Chandra]

r3hd3d, I only talk from my personal experience. I was told by the doctor to avoid soya (not difficult in his words) but I was not given more details about it, obviously I'm not in London where I have heard things are quite different so most information I have had access to had been by parents or people in allergy related associations.

About things not being properly labelled (again from personal experience) please check this , considering how appologetic Sainsbuty acted I assume they had not realised until they investigated the problem after my call, that the batch had milk on it even when the label didn't mention anything about it.