Egg allergy that gets worse before it gets better?

[xvcxcewer]

My daughter has an egg allergy. 1 year ago when she was around 10 months old, she tested at 2.2 IgE kU/L. This year, after a year of baked egg goods, her levels had risen to 11.8 IgE kU/L, pushing her from a Category 2 to Category 3.

The allergist basically told us that they are not sure why her response to the allergen had worsened. While I understand the data seems to point to children generally outgrowing egg allergies, I have also read some evidence to suggest it isn't necessarily because they were being given baked eggs.

Has anyone had a child who's allergy got worse before it got better? Or should we just be prepared for her to be allergic to eggs forever?

Any anecdotal advice welcome, but I'd also love to hear from anyone with a science/medical background who might be able to give me a more in depth understanding of what could be happening. Is it possible we weren't exposing her to a high enough concentration of baked eggs?

 

[orachii]

@xvcxcewer My sons egg allergy got worse and has continued to get worse on test. His reactions are less severe the older he gets.

I’d be concerned that your allergist said they don’t know why it went up? Our allergist was and is able to explain all the changes up or down and why they may or may not happen.

Sometimes other factors can come into play making the immune response higher on the blood work; seasonal allergies, a cold, eczema flair ups, really any number of factors can come into play here.

You can always request a food challenge at the allergist office where you give the child a small amount of baked egg and wait for a reaction. For me it’s more comfortable in the controlled environment of the doctors office in case something goes wrong.

 

[john89]

@xvcxcewer My kid’s and my own allergies flare big time when our immune systems are compromised. Either viruses, infections, or being run down/exhausted make both of us way more vulnerable to dramatic reactions. Allergist pretty much shrugged and said “that’s weird” but allergies and especially atypical allergies aren’t a heavily researched field. The attitude seems to be that an epipen either helps or nothing will.

 

[xvcxcewer]

@john89 Hm, I hadn't even considered this. She happened to have a cold while we did the test this year. Interesting. Thanks for sharing!

 

[john89]

@xvcxcewer You’re welcome! I hope it give you and your specialists something to work with.

 

[wrb]

@xvcxcewer Wait, is the recommendation to expose to baked eggs with an allergy?

 

[nani00]

@wrb That was the recommendation for my daughter. She tested at 43 (the allergist literally wrote on the printed results “Very high!”), but when she was 2.5 years old the levels came down to about 11, at which point the allergist recommended we do an egg ladder of baked goods. She got 1/4 of a cupcake a day for 30 days, then 1/2 a cupcake a day for 30 days, and finally a whole cupcake a day for 30 days. The 1 cupcake a day period was tough—it’s a lot for a kid to eat. I ended up switching things up towards the end and started baking donuts that had the same ratio (2 eggs in the recipe, makes 12 servings). Now we have to try and make sure she eats something with baked egg in it every day. She won’t get retested until this summer so we’ll see where her levels are at.

 

[xvcxcewer]

@nani00 So this is one of my concerns. At 2.2, we did the baked egg challenge, she had like 1/2 a muffin and no visible reaction. We chose to use store-bought baked goods at home, which I regret in hindsight. Now a year later, they haven't recommended repeating the challenge even though she's at nearly a 12. The expectation is that I feed her the exact same recipe and hope she doesn't have a reaction. I don't understand why they wouldn't want us to repeat the challenge? I'm considering reaching out to request we do the challenge again for my own peace of mind.

 

[nani00]

@xvcxcewer Our allergist gave us a recipe to follow so I had to bake like a bajillion cupcakes over a 90-day period. Like I said, towards the end I switched to donuts for some variety but made sure the ratios were the same. I’m also perplexed as to why your doctor is reticent to retry the test—is there another allergist you could reach out to for a second opinion?

I actually get allergy shots for environmental allergies, and after I had an adverse reaction to a specific concentration, they pulled me back and kept me at a reduced level for a while before trying again at the level I reacted at. That’s what I assume they’d do with your kid.