Food and Environmental Allergies

While my son, Tristan, started out with eczema from a young age, which you can read about here, he definitely followed the true “atopic march” progression quite clearly and moved on to develop asthma and allergies. He has multiple IgE diagnosed food allergies (dairy, walnuts, hazelnuts, and pecans) as well as a few sensitivities to foods (gluten, tomatoes, corn, and soy) that cause his eczema to flare when each is consumed too many days in a row.

He also has multiple non-food related allergies: nearly all pollen, though tree pollen is the worst for his eczema (skin tests have always been false negatives) and animal dander (dogs and rabbits for sure). Since he is asthmatic, anytime he has an allergic reaction, his asthma flares up.

Tristan’s had a few anaphylactic reactions, which were absolutely horrifying and I wish no one in the world ever had to experience it themselves. But Tristan’s first anaphylaxis was a real learning experience for me, so I’ve written about it in hopes that it will help others be more cautious in terms of allergy testing and false negatives or positives.

https://itchylittleworld.com/its-just-not-worth-the-risk-our-anaphylactic-experience/

Then there were the worries about how my son would deal with his first anaphylactic reaction emotionally. You can read all about that here:

https://itchylittleworld.com/after-anaphylactic-reaction-the-road-to-recovery/

Now, for food sensitivities, they can be a bit harder to determine. Confused about the difference between food allergy, food sensitivity, and food intolerance? Learn about the differences here:

https://itchylittleworld.com/adverse-food-reactions-explained-symptoms-of-food-allergy-sensitivity-intolerance/

We’ve tried a few food sensitivity tests with mixed results. In the end we found carrying out a food elimination diet was the best bet to find the foods that triggered my son’s eczema. But for more information on all the tests that are available, make sure to check out this post that clarifies the testing options for food allergies and sensitivities.

https://itchylittleworld.com/adverse-food-reactions-which-test-is-right-for-you/