Potential Egg Allergy - in need of clarity

[momma2boys]

I'm thinking right now zyrtec daily could help too.

[bamarine]

Welcome.

When you say your whole body shuts down when you have eggs, what do you mean?  What exactly happens?  How soon after you eat eggs does this happen? 

Why did it cost you over $30000?

1st off, thanks to everyone for helping! 

Good question about the 30k?  I have done every test known to man and those things add up.  Then doctor A, after ordering 3k of tests, says, he can't help you so you're on to the next doc and so on.  GI's want to endoscopy you upon meeting, I'd at least like if they bought me a drink first.   I got my head checked too, just in case and that's cool except that sometimes I'm a poor poster (sorry guys above). 
A Johns Hopkins doctor diagnosed me with SIBO (Small Intestinal Bowel Overgrowth) and i've been following therapy, diet, since seeing them last.

Egg reaction -  about 6 hours after eating, i feel like I have to "think" about breathing.  My sleep suffers and i'm pretty much bed-ridden for a day.  I can't hear alarms, function....weird, but it happens. More on the rxn - I'll be breathing normally and it feels like my breathing goes down to about a straws area and i have to tilt my head upwards or pull on my throat for extra air.  Then the GI gurgling/discomfort occurs along with headache/foggy mind/dizziness/difficulty focusing.  Initially, GI discomfort is mild to unnoticeable, but on day 2, i'm sick to my stomach and until the "cloudy stool" passes - about 24 hours later, i'm waiting for it.  If I increase breathing, then GI symptoms dismiss temporarily.  It's weird.

-Feel free to keep asking q's

[momma2boys]

Maybe a weird question,but do you still have your gallbladder?

[Janelle205]

TT - I hadn't read the allergist mom link you posted, but when I clicked on it, my antivirus had a complete temper tantrum about it.  Just wanted to warn anyone else, though it could be my computer.

[lakeswimr]

I haven't heard of Small Intestinal Bowel Overgrowth.  What does the GI suspect or think he/she may see with an endoscopy?  I have had an endoscopy and it really is no big deal as far as the experience.  It can offer very good info you can't get any other way and could be invaluable depending on what is going on with the person.

What you described does not sound like an IgE mediated food allergy.  It actually doesn't sound like anything I have heard of before.  I'm not saying it isn't something very real but that looking under the IgE food allergy rock might be the wrong place to look.

I wonder, do you have asthma?  Do you have breathing trouble other times other than if you have knowingly eaten egg?  Have you been avoiding egg but are finding you are now having breathing trouble?  Breathing trouble, no matter the cause, is a serious thing.  If you want for it to be what you consider 'life threatening' to do something about it you could very well wait too long.

If it is caused by asthma, then you should be on some type of inhalers to control the breathing issues.  If breathing trouble is caused by food that is almost always considered anaphylaxis (even if it is 'mild') and is treated with epinepherine and a trip via ambulance to the ER.  Reflux can cause asthma-like symptoms in some people.  There are a few other conditions that can cause breathing issues. 

People having a food allergic reaction who have breathing issues can go from having mild breathing issues to very serious ones in a matter of seconds.  It isn't something to wait and see what happens next.

But IgE mediated food allergic reactions start within minutes to up to about 2 hours of ingesting the food 99.9% of the time.  They almost always start within minutes to 30 or at most 45 minutes (as in close to 99% of the time!). 

Strangely, tic bite induced beef allergy starts outside this window but causes the same types of symptoms and is treated with epinepherine.  That is the only situation where I have heard of a food having a delayed anaphylactic reaction. 

From what you wrote about how you feel after eating egg--breathing is certainly an IgE mediated food allergy symptom as is feeling poorly.  GI pain is as well.  Difficulty sleeping, headache, mental fogginess, dizziness, difficulty focusing and cloudy stool are not, though. 

I am wondering if maybe you have several things going on right now.  Maybe you have asthma.  Maybe you also have a GI condition.  You have been diagnosed with Small Intenstinal Bowel Overgrowth. 

If you think eggs are causing this, then avoid eggs.  But it sounds like you are already avoiding eggs and it is still happening so to me that says there is some other cause other than eggs.

It took me a long time to figure out some of my son's food allergies.  I had many false starts with figuring things out.  It is very difficult to figure out food related things unless you have a clear case of eat x and then hives, etc start.  Then it's quite clear.   I have GI issues that took many, many years to figure out as well.  I know it can be very complicated. 

good luck!
Egg reaction -  about 6 hours after eating, i feel like I have to "think" about breathing.  My sleep suffers and i'm pretty much bed-ridden for a day.  I can't hear alarms, function....weird, but it happens. More on the rxn - I'll be breathing normally and it feels like my breathing goes down to about a straws area and i have to tilt my head upwards or pull on my throat for extra air.  Then the GI gurgling/discomfort occurs along with headache/foggy mind/dizziness/difficulty focusing.  Initially, GI discomfort is mild to unnoticeable, but on day 2, i'm sick to my stomach and until the "cloudy stool" passes - about 24 hours later, i'm waiting for it.  If I increase breathing, then GI symptoms dismiss temporarily.  It's weird.

-Feel free to keep asking q's

[bamarine]

1

[bamarine]

Maybe a weird question,but do you still have your gallbladder?

Yes

[rebekahc]

I just did a little research on SIBO and it seems most of the symptoms you're having now don't really fit, so hopefully that means you've recovered. Were you treated with antibiotics?  Did you do an elemental diet for a couple if weeks?  From what I read, if you have/had SIBO, you should avoid proton pump inhibitors (Prilosec, Prevacid, etc.) unless a doctor advises you otherwise.  Did your GI address the underlying cause of your SIBO?

[Macabre]

Okay--I get some of your symptoms. That spaciness--and I've not been able to tie it to low BP--I thought it was connected, but I've had it twice when my BP wAs measured and it was okay (it's typically fairly low though).

My sesame reactions are 20 min, but shellfish, unless airborne reaction, is 2 hours. Then GI symptoms: cramping, D, etc. FWIW I used to get that at 20 min after having peanuts--but I think I've outgrown that (I test negative to them now, too).

Anyway, with both sesame and shellfish, after anaphylaxis I have had cramping for three days--not the kind you'd get (uterine), but it was definitely a symptom from the reaction that I experienced several days--also abated by Benadryl. And yes, after Ana, I take Zantac as well, per doctor.

If you suspect an egg allergy, be aware than egg is in so many things. Also, companies don't have to label for shared equipment with egg, so if your threshold is low, you can be reacting to trace amounts in foods you might not suspect.

[bamarine]

I just did a little research on SIBO and it seems most of the symptoms you're having now don't really fit, so hopefully that means you've recovered. Were you treated with antibiotics?  Did you do an elemental diet for a couple if weeks?  From what I read, if you have/had SIBO, you should avoid proton pump inhibitors (Prilosec, Prevacid, etc.) unless a doctor advises you otherwise.  Did your GI address the underlying cause of your SIBO?

SIBO, yes, I was treated with antibiotics and noted an improvement, but it didn't really stick.  The GI Doc essentially started treatment and expected me to improve, and when I did so temporarily, he mentioned he couldn't help me.  I'm following the SIBO protocol, but still it's a little bit of a mess differentiating between SIBO or allergies.  I haven't done an elemental diet and only recently learned of that - 2 stars as most people don't know that exists!
Did the doc address the underlying cause of the SIBO?  I believe so, since I was given rifaxamin for 2 weeks.  Hard to say if it's that, eggs, or otherwise. 

The lingering effect of this thing has me looking in both directions. 

[rebekahc]

Rifaximin would treat the bacterial overgrowth in SIBO, but does not fix whatever caused the overgrowth in the first place.  From what I've read, unless you treat what caused the SIBO to happen, it will probably come back.  That may need to be where you look for answers.

[maeve]

Have you had skin prick testing or RAST testing for allergies? I think until that's done, you really won't know if it's allergies. My daughter is allergic to egg (and peanuts and tree nuts) and the symptoms you describe and the timing of onset do not sound like an allergic reaction.

The only way you'll know if it's an allergy is through testing.

[lakeswimr]

Unfortunately, food allergy testing has a very high false positive rate so even if he tests, it won't mean that he is for sure allergic.  The false positive rate has been shown to be about 86% according to a recent study.  So, I would not rush in to test unless the symptoms fit an IgE allergy.