Final results!
You'll see quite clearly that sesame is still the monster. But the long and the short of it is, his egg and peanut allergies have gone down significantly! YAAAY!! Only 1 in 5 kids outgrows a peanut allergy and the doctor said that while at his 1 year appointment the egg allergy was a 12, it is now a 4. I think he meant size-wise, in millimeters. Because what happens now is that due to the egg and peanut hives being small enough, if his bloodwork comes back consistent with these results, he is eligible to do oral food challenges for both. This is done at the hospital, in a controlled environment, where he is given increasing amounts of the food to see how he reacts. This is one of the last steps in greenlighting these foods!
A little bit of background here for those who don't know. Ashton had awful eczema as an infant and it was suggested that he might be allergic to something in my diet that was coming through my breastmilk. I cut out dairy, wheat, soy, nuts, eggs, everything - a complete elimination diet with the hopes of gradually introducing the foods back in one at a time to see what might be the culprit. Except his eczema never entirely cleared, so they did a RAST test, which is a blood test used to determine what substances someone might be allergic to. And lo and behold, the sesame allergy was the standout. Although I cut out a lot from my diet, I was still eating hummus...which is made with tahini...otherwise known as ground sesame seeds. When I found out, I cried for a really long time. I obviously had no idea that that was what was causing it and felt beyond awful I had caused my baby so much discomfort and pain. I stopped eating it immediately (I found that Trader Joe's makes a good tahini-free hummus, actually) and Ashton's skin was clear for the first time in almost his whole life. All the prescriptions, wet-wraps, and dry, itchy cracks were a thing of the past. He literally glowed. But so began the story of his food allergies. We carry an Epi-Pen but thankfully have never had to use it, so I'm not sure what would happen if he ingested any sesame. I don't want to find out. His skin does remain very sensitive and we smear Hydrolatum on him nightly after bathtime, which I swear is thicker than glue. He'll randomly get some breakouts from time to time or have scratches from itching (he gets dry patches behind his knees and on his ankles, for example) but we treat those with a steroid cream and overall, we manage it quite well.
Interestingly enough, when the allergist looked at those RAST results about two years ago, he said he thought it was a good possibility that Ashton would eventually grow out of everything but the sesame allergy. It's looking like that's the track he's headed down, fingers crossed! We should get the bloodwork back in a couple of weeks and see if we can go ahead with the food challenges.
All in all, I know it's a funny way to feel, but I was so proud yesterday. Yay Ashton! He has turned into such a big boy and the thought of doing something as simple as giving him a PB&J or scrambling up some eggs makes me beyond happy. Who needs sesame anyway :)
Oh p.s. for my records - at almost 2 years 7 months, he is 34 pounds and 3 feet, 3 inches tall.
UPDATE: Bloodwork from this appointment.
02/26/2014 11:03
IgE 185 units/mL H 0 - 30
Allergen, Aspergillus <0.35 kU/L NA
Allergen, Alternaria <0.35 kU/L NA
Allergen, Pen Mold <0.35 kU/L NA
Allergen, Birch <0.35 kU/L NA
Allergen, Mite <0.35 kU/L NA
Allergen, Cat <0.35 kU/L NA
Allergen, Dog 1.94 kU/L NA
Allergen, Almond 1.15 kU/L NA
Allergen, Brazilnut 0.70 kU/L NA
Allergen, Cashew 0.68 kU/L NA
Allergen, Hazelnut 0.95 kU/L NA
Allergen, Pecan <0.35 kU/L NA
Allergen, Pistachio 1.11 kU/L NA
Allergen, Pine Nut 0.48 kU/L NA
Allergen, Walnut <0.35 kU/L NA
Allergen, Egg White 5.08 kU/L NA
Allergen, Ovomucoid <0.35 kU/L NA
Allergen, Peanut 1.91 kU/L NA
Allergen, Sesame Seed 46.30 kU/L NA
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