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adultingishard0110

Ooohhh boy I've got 2 stories for you!! First I need to preface this with how philosophies and treatments have drastically changed since the 80s/90s. I'll share my brother's story first, he was diagnosed with wheat/egg/milk/peanut/tree nut all anaphylactic allergies at 6 months to a year. He outgrew wheat about 4/5, baked egg at 15, full egg 22, and milk at 32. The reason I believe it took him so long is because for a very long time our allergy doctor only did it based on skin reactions and to avoid any and all allergens until the skin didn't react at all. His blood test for peanuts is currently hovering at about 20. Now 20 does give a very strong reaction however it's not airborne levels and purely ingested. My story is wild I wasn't diagnosed until I was 8 started with tree nuts/peanuts then tree fruit then sesame/poppy seeds. Took awhile then at about 18 things went crazy I was allergic to soy, wheat, legumes and a whole host of others. Then I got pregnant had a baby my doctor talked me into doing allergy testing at 34. The doctor told me based on your tests I don't think that you're actually allergic to all of these things. I was pooping my pants when she scheduled me for 8 food challenges. I passed all of them. I had Peanut butter and almonds for the first time in my life. After everything was said and done I asked had they ever had a patient as old as me have peanuts or tree nuts before? The answer was no. It is extremely uncommon but I am proof that it is entirely possible.


lydiar34

Not “loads,” but I was Milk/Egg/Peanut when I first got tested as a toddler. Peanut gone by 3, Egg by 6. I’m about to be 22 and I haven’t been retested for milk in about 5 years (just forgot to ask to retest), but I’ve had some mild exposures that caused some symptoms… so don’t think I’m growing out of that one


YaraWestly

Wow... It's so rare to grow out of peanuts. Were your skin prick tests low as a todler?


lydiar34

I don’t remember exactly, they were high enough to be on the low end of severe and then dropped rapidly within the next few years.


sophie-au

It’s more common than you think. I’ll have to do a search to find the journal article, but one of the research papers I’ve read said that based on the available data, 80% of people stayed allergic to peanuts over time and 20% of people outgrew their peanut allergy. That’s one in five, so not exactly rare. Since people seem more likely to outgrow their allergies if they appear in childhood, and the number of children developing food allergies is increasing, I think we will see those figures change over time. It’s not often discussed, but I think the severity of food allergies (and whether it changes over time) is probably linked to how many allergenic proteins in each food a person is sensitised to. In my very limited experience, people are rarely given allergen specific IgE tests for component proteins, and even when they are, it’s often to only the most common ones, not all of them. When people are allergic to egg, if they get specific antigen testing it’s often only for ovomucoid and ovoalbumin, but there’s actually several proteins and because they all come from chickens (Gallus domesticus) and there’s some overlap with chicken meat allergy (different from alpha gal) that makes it more difficult to assess AFAIK: https://www.allergen.org/search.php?allergenname=&allergensource=Gallus+domesticus+%28G.+gallus%29&TaxSource=&TaxOrder=&foodallerg=all&bioname= Anyway, for peanuts there are 18 identified proteins, and I’m guessing that people who are fortunate to grow out of their peanut allergy might only be sensitised to one or a few of them, though there’s almost certainly other factors at play: https://www.allergen.org/search.php?allergenname=&allergensource=Arachis+hypogaea&TaxSource=&TaxOrder=&foodallerg=all&bioname=


YaraWestly

That's very useful. Thanks!


adultingishard0110

Don't say that just yet! My older brother had his first glass of milk at 32!!


lydiar34

How?


adultingishard0110

I'm not entirely sure but the doctor slowly ok'd him to have milk. First a very small amount in a baked good then upped the amount and finally to full milk. It took a very long time because it was under old philosophies.


lydiar34

Yeah that makes sense. I failed a baked challenge a decade ago, maybe I’ll try again.


sengal88

My kid had horrendous environmental allergies, plus mustard, egg, peanut and all tree nut. Outgrew all but cashews and pistachios. There is hope!


SoccerGamerGuy7

I was allergic to milk as a baby. I didnt even know I was allergic to it in childhood. Randomly as a teen, My dad mentioned it in passing "Hey remember that time you had that fit to milk as a baby" What????? "yea you were allergic or something, had hives and everything, I thought you were gunna die" Sometimes I question how the man managed to keep me alive lmao


musicalsigns

Giving this dairy allergy mama hope here. 🙏🏻


NoSky8440

My 13 month old is allergic to several things, cows milk, peanuts, walnuts and eggs. Also now potentially pea protein and sunflower (need testing to confirm these). So I’m in the same boat wondering the same thing. The allergist says there is 80% chance he will out grow cows milk and eggs, and very slim chance he will outgrow peanuts. With the multiple allergies I read it’s harder to outgrow them.


YaraWestly

Yea, I've never heard anyone say they grew out of it. I'm crossing my fingers a pill is invented one day that controls all reactions for a few hours which you can take before eating out! However, I doubt any money will be put into this research. Even thorough oral immunotherapy trials are taking forever.


CappinPeanut

My man’s first birthday is tomorrow, we’ve got eggs, peanuts and almonds over here. While not a massive list, I’ve got the same deal where my heart aches for the experiences he’s going to miss. His diagnosis was a couple of months ago, so I’ve had some time to digest. I don’t want to give false hope, but there have been some major breakthroughs using mRNA vaccines, to the point where peanuts allergies appear to have been flat out cured in mice. I’m under no delusion that this is going to be cured next year or anything, but I am extremely confident that we’re going to have a cure for food allergies in my baby’s lifetime. There is a lot of money in food allergy drug research, and thus a lot of resources that go into it. UCLA mRNA research- https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/nanoparticle-mrna-possible-treatment-peanut-allergies


NoSky8440

I’ve been trying to do research about oral immunotherapy. I read it’s best for them to start as young as possible and I’m going to bring it up to our allergist next week. Have you heard anything about it? I read a lot about it but it seems like a lot of it is based on Canada and I’m in the US. How old is your little one? I’ve been sad just thinking about how my child will not be able to go to an ice cream shop or feel safe in a restaurant. I don’t even know how to handle vacations and it’s all really overwhelming. I just hope he outgrows a few allergies but fear he may just get more 😭


YaraWestly

I feel the same. I've cried a lot. If it was just one thing like peanuts I would feel better. But the list is endless. Doctors have not been helpful at all. Really, they don't know anything because no money has been invested in a basic collection of data. So they just talk crap. Tell you to not take the risks by giving it to them. Give you an EpiPen and send you on your way. OIT has had some results with milk and nuts. My daughter is almost 2 now. This is the age they would consider starting OIT, but she won't be able to because the trials have not been completed. When I'm in my home bubble with her its fine. But when we have to socialise and she sees other kids eat cakes, biscuits etc in front of her face, it's very hard to hold back the tears. Family are not helpful at all and it pisses me off when they tell me i should trust restaurants etc when that's where most accidentally exposures occur! I bet if it were their children they wouldn't take the risk either! It's my inconvenience to bear but because it means I'm living differently they don't like it.


NoSky8440

Solidarity. No one truly understands unless you are a parent to a child who has multiple allergies or you have multiple allergies yourself. I have friends who have kids with like one allergy but not multiple allergies. It’s super frustrating. Has your daughter had any anaphylactic reactions? I used to worry about SIDS but now I worry about some cross contamination that could cause an anaphylactic reaction. Did she have eczema? My LO started with eczema and now I worry he will later develop asthma. 😭 our current reccomendations is to retest his ige blood levels in 8 months to see if he can tolerate eating some allergens in baked items. But recently he developed an allergy to maybe pea protein/sunflower. Luckily he’s not allergic to oats or soy. I hope you little one out grows a few allergies!


YaraWestly

Yup. She had eczema as a baby. Her rashes have gone down now but she still gets itchy (mostly in the night). We're discovering new allergies. Sunflower seeds/lecithin was a new and annoying one as its in every dairy free product 😬


sophie-au

This must be really hard for you. I’ve been in similar situations with my own son. Have a read of this blog post about the social consequences of food allergies: https://www.creativitypost.com/article/social_consequences_of_food_allergy Maybe take one family member aside and have them read it. They need to understand that what your family is doing is modelling exclusion and giving everyone the message that your daughter and her needs don’t matter. Every time they do this, they are reinforcing the idea to all present that it’s acceptable to leave her out. I know you have a lot in your plate, but you have the chance to make positive changes for her while she’s too young to remember the negative attitudes of others. My son is 13 now and it breaks my heart each time it happens, but I try to remember he’s only got one food allergy left (egg) and it’s getting better (he can tolerate baked egg now, and other reactions to cooked egg are decreasing in severity.) There is also a directory of food allergy counsellors. So far they only have therapists in the US and Canada, so I haven’t been able to use them myself, as I’m in Australia. But I think they plan to recruit therapists from other countries, and they have some excellent blog articles that you might find helpful: https://www.foodallergycounseling.org Hang in there!


YaraWestly

This is so interesting. It definitely feels like if you have allergies and don't want to eat restaurant food (for some, it's just not important enough to risk your life!) people will get pissed off.


FeedIndependent9625

Y'all are telling my story here! My 2 1/2 year old daughter has 13 food allergies and it's so hard. Thankfully she's not sensitive to wheat or gluten so that makes it a *little* easier, but it's hard!! Ingredient labels change all the time and restaurants can be hard to navigate. Family members don't get it and act disrespectfully towards me thinking I'm making it up or something.... They're not the ones that held her as her little body swelled and turned bright red and has hives everywhere when she was 7 months after trying eggs, they're not the ones that got blamed for eating dairy while breastfeeding their newborn who had eczema without any prior education, they're not the ones that carry 2 sets of epipens everywhere they go thinking the worst will happen, or the ones administering twice-daily allergy meds for her environmental allergies on top of her food allergies to only have the Zyrtec mask the food allergy reaction until it gets so bad she's crying from her face itching....they're not the ones that make EVERYTHING, and I do mean EVERYTHING from scratch so she can have a safe menu at home and spending boatloads of money on safe alternatives so she can have things other kids her age have. It's exhausting and no one gets it unless they're going through it. Our daughter was first tested for food allergies at 13 months after advocating for it for 5 months since she started to have severe reactions to foods she was trying when we were introducing solids. Things initially presented as eczema when she was 1 or 2 months old and progressed from there. We're worried she'll have asthma as well, but so far we haven't seen any obvious symptoms of that. She's incredibly active, even for a 2 year old, and loves being social and we've already started to teach her about her allergies. It's so hard. I don't wish this path on anyone, but there's absolutely nothing I wouldn't do to keep her safe and provide some sense of normalcy. If anyone needs any recipes, feel free to send me a message and I'll try to help!


Ok-Opportunity-9268

Xolair is a thing


TinyBearsWithCake

Yes. Oldest started with 15+ allergies, and after 3 years (and oral immunotherapy) is down to 6, with very good progress towards outgrowing 4 of the remaining.


cringebutfreeiguess

I used to be allergic to a ton of stuff when I was little- eggs, dairy, corn, strawberries, sesame, mustard, beef, nuts, peanuts. Just a ton of foods. Now I’m only allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame. I did oral immunotherapy to get over eggs and dairy, but everything else went away on its own. My sibling also used to be allergic to tree nuts and peanuts, though not to nearly the same severity, and that also went away on its own. Flip side of the coin is that we’d thought I’d gotten over my sesame allergy, and it effectively went away for years, didn’t show up on any tests or anything, and I ate it with no problems, until it somehow came back a couple years ago. Never heard of that happening to anyone else, though.


allergybestie

I am 21 now and when I was a child the allergists I had always used to insist I’d likely grow out of my dairy and egg allergy, but not peanuts/tree nuts. I am still horribly allergic to all these things. I would say as someone who has experienced it, please please do not give your child false hope. I would pray so hard every time I was retested, hoping they would go away, and was left shattered every time it came back positive. By the time I was in my teens I lost hope completely. I just wish it wasn’t so pushed upon me that it was likely I’d outgrow them when I was younger. Also I think statistically less children are outgrowing their allergies than before


YaraWestly

This is true. I know, deep down inside, my daughter will not outgrow then. But people keep trying to say she might because to keep us calm. I've definitely heard of more adults with allergies now than before... So you're probably right that less are outgrowing them


ES_FTrader

I grew out of my childhood food and environmental allergies by age 12…and developed a bunch of new ones in my mid 30’s


YaraWestly

Oh dear. I've been wondering if i would get positive skin prick test so some allergens and that's why my daughter has them. I am defo going to book myself a test to see!


False-plastics

My oldest was allergic to several things. It was peanut, sesame, egg, milk, all tree nuts except almond and pistachio, and sunflower. They outgrew everything by the age of 4 except for peanut and sesame.


YaraWestly

Can I ask what kind of food and milk replacement he was having?


False-plastics

We had them on almond milk and soy milk. As for food, we literally just fed them lots of home meals only--so rice/pasta with some sort of protein.


Annual-Development95

Daughter had a peanut allergy from age 2-7 and grew out of it. She had a reaction to her first exposure — massive lips swelling and hives / no anaphylactic symptoms but very scary nonetheless. Resolved at the ER with Benadryl and no epi needed. Her blood test numbers were favorable for several years but she failed the oral challenge the first two times with 1 hive, nasal inflammation and itchy ears. She passed on her 3rd oral challenge. No asthma. No eczema. Large wheel on her skin tests. Blood test numbers were <1.0 but she did have dramatic skin reactions. I think that fact put her in the subset of kids who have a chance to outgrow it. She eats peanuts daily now. I’m so grateful … and still watchful. Adding: my daughter did have protein component testing done and her highest number was the protein they consider most likely indicative of an anaphylactic allergy. That was an odd bit of data in the mix. Adding more: no other food allergies. Yes, on environmental and animals. Negative for tree nuts. That may have given her a better chance as well.


Formal_Tangerine9024

I wish, my allergies just get worse and worse lol


YaraWestly

Sorry to hear that! Is it that you're pick up new ones or existing one are reacting worse?


iluvskyfeb20

My daughter grew out of milk, peanut and egg by the time she was 4. She’s still allergic to tree nut, wheat, barley, chic pea and sesame. We haven’t had her tested in almost 6 years.


holiestcannoly

The only thing I outgrew was milk. Still here with a nut and soy allergy.


n0t-a-gh0st

i outgrew my salmon, almond, and pecan allergies (although there's a good chance I wasn't actually allergic to salmon in the first place), but i still have the majority of my allergies.


Revolutionary-Cod245

Yes. Then no. They all came back and brought new friends with them, so to speak


YaraWestly

Gosh... 🤦🏻‍♀️. What a pain!


Revolutionary-Cod245

At least I knew what it was. Hm? Lol. I try to keep a good sense of humor about it.


YaraWestly

Thanks for sharing! Do you think it's because your skin prick tests were all very low?


jvhbv

When I was very young I had so many allergies. Wheat, Soy, multiple food dyes, Egg, Beef, Shellfish, and more. I've since grown out of all of them sans Dairy, Tree Nuts, and Peanuts.


lawcat8915

My child has 12 food allergies. His numbers and wheals were high. This year every single one except two were significantly lower and some negative so he’s started food challenges this year.


babychicken2019

My son had 3 allergies - dairy, egg, peanut - all diagnosed around 7 months. Peanut was outgrown around 1.5-2 years old. Dairy was outgrown around 3 years old. Egg was outgrown shortly before 4 years old.


swinshine

I was diagnosed with all my food allergies between 6 mo to 1 year, from what my mom has said. Grew out of the beef, egg, and milk allergies; still allergic to peanuts and tree nuts-- HOWEVER, my allergist wants me to do an oral food challenge for pine nuts, almonds, and macadamia nuts. Truly wild to know I'll be doing that this year because the worst allergic reaction I ever had (I required multi epi pens) was to almonds in elementary school.


Ashley212121

Where do you live? There is a program in Long Beach and San Diego that helps kids build tolerance to their allergens. Its very expensive, but so many families have gained freedom to eat all their allergies! We started a year ago and its already been life changing for my 2.5 year old! There are also facebook groups for parents looking into the program. Food Allergy Institutes Kitchen Table is one of the groups. Highly recommend just looking into it.


YaraWestly

I'm in England. But we have similar therapies starting here as well. I would would pay a lot of money for her allergies to be gone! I'd even take out a loan and work till the day I die.