Anaphylaxis 3 Weeks Ago - Developed All Kinds of New Allergies - HELP!

[allerav]

I am hoping to get input from those of you in the FA community.  My DS, 6 yo, had his first anaphylactic reaction 3 weeks ago.  He has PA, TNA, Sesame, egg, SFA, and some other seeds.  He is not allergic to wheat or milk and has always been fine with those.  After the reaction, he is now getting hives and stomach aches almost every time he eats. We have taken wheat out of his diet as a possible culprit over the last week or so.  He also seems to be reacting to tapioca - an ingredient in virtually all prepared/boxed gluten free foods. 

Question: What is going on? Is his immune system on hyperdrive? Should we expect that the reaction will lead to other allergies? We are obviously going to discuss this with our allergist (today!) but I am looking for practical advice/experience.

Thanks!

[Mfamom]

Glad you found us!  Sorry about the reaction though and what you've been dealing with since. 

Do you know what caused the reaction?  I hope the allergist is able to help you get to the bottom of this.  Did they prescribe epi pens for your child?  If not, be sure to ask for a prescription when you're at the dr.   Did you know about his allergies before the reaction? 

Hope you get some answers.....would you mind coming back to share after the appt? 

[allerav]

Thanks for the response - just want to clarify.   Allergies generally are not new and we have EPIs, go to Hopkins, etc.  We have been dealing with the allergies for 6+ years so we were aware of everything and had kept things pretty controlled so that he had never had an ana. reaction up to that point.  We do not know precisely what caused the reaction but it happened at a restaurant while on vacation (Disney) and we assume it was cross contamination with maybe shellfish or nuts.  We talked with the folks at Hopkins just after the ana. reaction and they agreed with us that it was probably cross-contamination.

I will share what I learn from Hopkins regarding all the new food reactions.

[CMdeux]

This kind of hyper-reactivity (and even non-specific reactivity) is not that unusual after anaphylaxis.

We've seen this with previously outgrown allergies which then 'flare' and it seems as though for a few weeks, everything causes reactions.  Everything... 

My own hypothesis is that the person's immune system is temporarily on overdrive to grab ANY IgE which is complexed with its target, even if ordinarily it won't dock and cause an allergic cascade.  (This is where "false positive" stuff comes from on RAST's, obviously-- IgE that exists but generally isn't functional in terms of clinical features upon ingestion.)

Is your child a person with positive RAST results to a lot of things that s/he doesn't react to?

Might be a good idea to explore this with your doc... I've wondered if, in at least some people, it isn't a good idea to offer a more extended period of steroids in the wake of a major reaction in order to tamp things down longer.

Glad that you're talking to the docs about it.  What a pain!! 

[GoingNuts]

I would also suggest that it is post-reaction hyperdrive, but was also wondering whether there has been any illness in the meantime - even just a cold.  Could also be viral hives, which can go on for weeks (or in DS's case - years  ).

I hate that post-reaction hyper-reactivity. 

[YouKnowWho]

DS1 is a child who tests positive to everything via SPT and RAST.  It's kind of a nightmare.  We have finally been able to nail down that his true allergens are wheat, rye, barley and egg.  But I have to say that post stomach bug (and we got slammed with them last year) and post reactions (which make him prone to stomach bugs), there is a long list of things that he cannot tolerate that go along with a lot of the stuff he tests positive for.  Oats and milk being two of the big ones. 

With my drug allergies, reactions can be longer lasting than say with food allergies because it typically takes longer for a drug to leave your system than food.  A few years ago, I started reacting to Pantene post sulfa reaction.  It was a bottle that I had been using, no formula changes and it resulted in what I refer to as "drip hives" where the shampoo washed down my back and hind end (as if the humiliating inner thigh hives weren't bad enough).  Initially I attributed it to just hives resulting from the drug reaction (I can react with hives up to two months post ingestion) until my scalp sores and dandruff kicked in.  Yeah, I was not a happy camper.  Now granted, I have a long history of most soaps making me hive up and many shampoos causing horrific dandruff but this was 10 fold worse.  I can and have used Pantene since IF my allergy cup is not full (no post reactions, no seasonal onslaught), otherwise, I am a mess.