Eczema and food allergies

[Jimbob]

I wondering how many people have found that their eczema or their childs eczema is affected by food. My son had severe eczema until we had tests done for food allergies. Once we had removed all the foods he tested positive to we were able to control his eczema much better. We were also able to pinpoint other foods that James was reacting to. When I asked our GP, HV and Dermatologist if my sons eczema could be linked to food allergies I was told that it rarely is so not to even bother looking into it. It was not untill we ended up in A&E with James because his eczema was that bad he could not sleep, eat or drink properly because he could not stay still long enough that we were refered to a fantastic paed consultant. The first thing he did was book James in for RAST tests and change his emollients as they seemed to be making his skin worse. I often feel terible that I did not insist on allergy tests sooner but at least we got them in the end.

[JulieR]

Our doc said the same thing but he couldn't have been more wrong! It wasn't the 100% cure-all but wow, what a difference. We also made changes to our indoor air quality and building up the immune system. Life is good! Finally! I'm a bit down on docs since we went to 9 of them and nobody could help. Online research was much more effective.

Hope all is well.

[Jimbob]

I am glad things are much better for you now. I really don't know why so many medical professionals dismiss food allergies when it comes to eczema.

[AnnaB]

We are just getting food allergies looked into after very specific flares to one item.

I will also be pushing further as I am a mother to a 1 year old and 3 year old. Both had eczema from birth. My 3 yr old suffers greatly. My 1 yr old is under control. The difference is she is allergic to milk so is on a full dairy free diet !!

[jparnell]

Hi Jimbob,
Just wondering what kind of foods that James is particularly sensitive to? I have been trying to get allergy tests done all my life but without much success. I know certain foods like ones that are spicy or have a lot of colouring flare my skin up, but I can't tell much more than that. I have tried cutting out dairy products from my diet without much success.


James

[1635Mary]

The hospital that my son attends did an allergy test (they were taking bloods anyway to do with commencing azothropine). It came back that he had a moderate reaction to cow's milk, wheat, peanut, and mixed food allergens, low reaction to soya, very high reaction to house dust mite and mixed grass pollen. They said the high reaction is normal for anyone with eczema and was to be expected. They also said that this result meant he wasn't allergic to these food groups.

I would have thought a moderate reaction was allergic enough!!!!

On saying that however, we have tried him on a dairy-free diet and a citris-free diet. I had brought Eoin to a natural therapist some time ago and she advised eliminating all of the above along with tomatoes (can't think of anything else but the list was long).

I haven't noticed any difference to make the inconvenience of these diets worthwhile and believe me, I'd do anthing if it was worthwhile. so maybe the hospital was right and it is just his 'make-up' as we are a family of allergies . I've asthma, daughter hayfever, other daughter psoriasis

Mary

[AnnaB]

Mary

Although a little different we have just had 2 rounds of patch testing. There were areas that had clearly reacted but because it was not blistered it is considered an irritant not an allergen, therefore the hospital take it no further. I was told that to be an allergy it would have to involve the immune system not just cause irritant symptoms.

We have more food tests to come next month. It is tough, as much as we did not want a positive result, in a way it would give us something to work around. My 1 year old is allergic to dairy so we understand the difficulties of restricted diets.

I'm not sure how we will get to have more food allergy tests done, we have referal backto specialist we saw 12 months ago. Then my son was allergic to egg, but has since out grown this. But then we could only get the Dr to test for foods which caused specific reactions, not just eczema.

Does anyone have any advice how to push for full allergy tests, we've never even had a blood test, they say that that tests for IEG's (i think something like that), but the eczema would raise that anyway!!

I am fed up of having tests offering hope only to be told results are false!!

Anna

[1635Mary]

Hi Anna

Yeah its tough all right. You worry so much about the effect this is having on your child, both because of the appearance of his skin and the harm/side effects of the treatments.

The blood test we had was Allergen-specific IgE. It would have been lovely if he was allergic to some group, as you say it would give you something to work with.

Although I keep trying eliminating things from his diet, I kinda do think these allergies run in the family. But on the other hand certain foods could agrevate it, couldn't it???

Take Care
Mary

[AnnaB]

Mary

Both of my children have had Eczema from within days of birth, both were only breast fed. My daughter is much more under control, the only difference is she had an allergic reaction to formula at 4 months and went on to test positive to dairy. She follows a dairy free diet.

Our medical team have always shrugged off links to food, but with this brother sister link I feel they are at last thinking along my lines and may agree to try it out for my son. They say it would be a big task, but actually it would be easier to have the same food options only for the children.

Anna

[lululu]

Hi
My nephew has had skin problems since he was born, my brother has given up with hospital and has had a test done himself to identify any food allergies, it's a great test and they tested for the 4 nti-bodies involved in allergic rections, not just the IgE antibodies, which are normally associated with sudden reactions, such as peanut allergies anyway, We have been told that IgA tests are more useful as they are the antibodies involved in delayed reactions, usually involved in eczema and as they can take up to 3 days to develop after eating a food it's very difficult to pinpoint what's causing it. The test tests for 400 foods and inhalant allergies, pollen and dustmite etc.

The company usually only give you the IgE results but you an ask for all 4 of the antibodies to me tested. We have found it very useful and we are seeing improvements.

The owner of the site gave us some general advice via email too, she has told us to swop washing powder to Bio-D washing powder as all the so-called sensitive washing powders in supermarkets are full of optical brighteners and all sort of chemicals. We have purchased some and my nephew's itching at night has improved considerably. You can goodle Bio-D to find someone who sells it. We have also been advised to get a wholehouse water filter ut in, as chlorine is a considerable factor is eczema, we have been told that sitting in bath water which is unfiltered is like sitting in bleach - yuck!!

Anyway hope this helps you.