We do allergy testing on kid #2

We went through a big rigmarole with Olivia with suspected egg allergies over a span of five months. Around 9-10 months, she had her fourth bite of egg and developed a rash around her mouth. Her egg white blood test with the pediatrician came back negative and while we awaited the allergist appointment, she continued to get weird rashes from pancakes and other egg-baked goods. But then her skin test at the allergist turned out to be negative too. Ultimately, despite the weird anecdotal history of rashes, Olivia’s food challenge turned out negative as well and that was essentially the end of it.

So of course, I’m thinking all this with Emelia as I gave her her first dab of peanut butter a few weeks ago.

June 9th—Emelia’s alleged peanut butter rash

I knew I wanted to try this in the morning in case Emelia had a reaction. But she seemed fine after she had tasted a bit of peanut butter off my finger and we went on with our day.

Soon after Emelia’s afternoon nap, I arrived home with Olivia after visiting my parents. Chris showed me a rash on the back of her neck and head. This was about 5:00 pm so I went CRAP. and called the triage nurse. She had me give her a dose of Benadryl and recommended I see her pediatrician about this, but reassured me that this was a strange reaction, if it was one. Normally, food allergy rashes appear on the face and occur soon after the allergen is introduced—Emelia didn’t show either of these things. Homegirl slept in a histamine-induced stupor all night and the next morning, I met with her pediatrician via the iPad and at that point, her rashes had disapeared.

Only to come back later that afternoon—same place on her neck, but in a different area of her back.

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There were more rashes on her back the next day and then they were gone. We got a call from the clinic to set up a peanut blood test as her pediatrician wanted to just make sure, even though she wasn’t 100% convinced this was related to peanuts. Emelia did fantastic with the finger stick a few days later and the test turned out to be negative. Her doctor did still recommend an allergy consult to cover our bases since she could still have an allergy even if the blood test turned out to be negative.

June 19th—Virtual allergist appointment

Luckily, we got to consult with the allergist that had worked with Olivia, and he’s wonderful. He agreed the way the rash presented itself in Emelia was strange. But because peanuts are a pretty big deal in the allergy world, he thought doing a skin test was a good idea.

As far as introducing eggs, he recommended we start out with muffins, and then move to french toast or pancakes—still baked, but contain eggs—and then progress to trying scrambled eggs.

The next morning, Chris made blueberry muffins for breakfast and it was a hit. Emelia was obsessed.

Despite the look, she was ravenous for muffins. Actually, now that I look at this photo again, I see a certain desperation there…a girl that needs to consume all the muffins at any cost. Especially with butter.

After I put her back on the floor, relatively free of squished muffins in crevices, Chris noticed she had some rashes on her back and forehead, with one of her cheeks red.

The next morning, she had another muffin and got rashy again. With my kids, nothing is cut and dry. So when the allergist clinic called to schedule the scratch test, I asked if we could add on egg testing as well given the circumstances.

June 30th—Allergy testing

I was kind of dreading going to this appointment, given how difficult it was with Olivia’s drama when Chris was there. With Emelia, I would be going alone and wondered how I’d keep her occupied during the test when I would have to keep my hands away from the oils on her back.

Turned out, she’s a lot more keel than her sister when it comes to things like this and she took the initial scratches like a champ. And then I just kept her straddling my waist and let her nurse for the next 15 minutes while we waited.

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The “H” on her back is the histamine, so we’d expect a rash like that.

But luckily, thankfully, it turned out to be negative. I was so relieved. Dr. Helm came in when the test was done and said we can do small bits of peanut butter and work our way up, watching for any reaction. As far as eggs, we should try muffins again, and then progress to pancakes and scrambled eggs. He said if she gets any rashes, to take photos and call him.

Dermatographism

Some babies just get rashes by looking at them. He’s brought up dermatographism with Olivia in the past, and I’m suspicious this is how Emelia is too.

According to the Cleveland Clinic:

Dermatographism is a common, benign skin condition. People who have this condition develop welts or a localized hive-like reaction when they scratch their skin. It can also happen when the skin is exposed to pressure or rubbing. This condition is also called skin writing, dermographia, or dermatographic urticaria.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17793-dermatographism-dermatographia#:~:text=Dermatographism%20is%20a%20common%2C%20benign,%2C%20dermographia%2C%20or%20dermatographic%20urticaria.

So I don’t know. My kids like to get rashes. Actually, the way he described it, the common phrase is “My kids have really sensitive skin.” I haven’t done a ton of research on it, but it’s definitely interesting.

I’m just glad everything turned out fine with the testing. We’ll see how she does with these foods in the next few weeks.