What could our toddler be allergic to? Tomato? Herbs? Meat?

In My Humble Opinion
1

FTR: We saw the pediatrician today, and RuffLlama (age 33 months–he’ll be 3 in April) is getting blood drawn tomorrow to try and determine what caused the reaction. My concern is they aren’t, or can’t, screen for what may have triggered the reaction.

Last night, I served my family spaghetti with a homemade sauce that included a new brand of Italian Seasoning mix. Within moments of ingesting a few bites of it, RL broke out in a bright red, bumpy rash on his face, mouth, scalp, and hands and started scratching his cheeks… We had the same thing the night before, too, and I noticed a similar but smaller reaction, but DeathLlama initially dismissed it. The room was poorly lit and so the reaction wasn’t as obviously visible, but my Mommy alarm was sounding. The reaction faded fairly quickly the first night, and last night a bit of antihistimine seemed to take the edge off. Alarmingly, we did notice a weirdness to his breathing–but that might have been him being a toddler, bored, and making noise, and we may have been overly keen to hear something. He also seemed very thirsty.

Regardless, I called the pediatrician first thing this morning and got him in. She said because the reaction was on his face (in particular, around his mouth), fast, and more severe than the night before, we needed to have epi-pens on hand. She gave us two–one for us, and one for his preschool.

He’s getting blood drawn tomorrow, but she said there aren’t tests for the spices I’m concerned about. She’s checking tomato, carrots, and other veggies, but I’m not inclined to think those are the culprits.

It is something in the sauce, I’m almost certain. He ate the noodles and parmesan alone without effect. It might be the carrots he had as a side dish, but that seems unlikely. Sauce ingredients were just canned Hunt’s tomato sauce, canned stewed tomatoes (don’t know the brand! trash day already took the can away), ground turkey (turkey burger), and Italian seasoning. I emailed the spice company to get the ingredients on the seasoning–it’s a mix of rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram, basil, and savory.

I have Googled herb allergies, toddler food allergies, and multiple other variations and really haven’t gotten a solid lead on what it could be. I have my doubts on the tomato as he had spaghetti at school for lunch yesterday without noticeable effect, but who knows. Can there be herb allergies this severe? (All I found Googling were allergic reactions causing gastrointestinal upset, rather than the hives and swelling.) Could it be an ingredient in the stewed tomatoes? Can ground turkey do this?

I’m looking for leads, here. It’s frightening not knowing what did it, and that the next reaction may be worse, still. Looking for the experience and wisdom of the Dopers while we’re inbetween doctor appointments…and of course, I know YANAD.

2

I doubt that very much. AFAIK, testing for allergies just requires exposing the patient to a controlled amount of the suspect allergen. I’m going to respectfully suggest that you not let a non-allergist diagnose allergies. Take your wee one to an allergist. Hell, in SoCal, I’m guessing there are even allergists who specialize in pediatrics.

3

I can’t eat tomato sauce unless it’s basil-free because even a trace amount gives me hives; touching something (such as a mouse) that someone else has after eating pizza without washing their hands will give me welts within a few minutes. As a precaution, I’m not supposed to eat oregano either. It’s a fairly rare food sensitivity, however.

4

Garlic and onions can also be allergens - and would be ingredients you are more likely to find in a spaghetti sauce made at home than one made in an institutional (school) enviroment. Could there have been powdered versions of either in the spice mix? Were either of the tomato products “Italian” or “Herbed”? Just a WAG.

5

KneadToKnow, the pediatrician gave me the contact info for a pediatric allergist. Thankfully, RL is under hubby’s PPO insurance so we can just call and make an appointment. I’m just trying to figure out what it might be, so that between now and the appointment we can avoid it.

Regarding the blood test, the pediatrician had her little order book thingy at the ready when she was writing the order, and herbs/spices weren’t listed on the allergy screening page. She added it to the footnote of the order, but doubts they can test it. The allergist probably will be able to, but it will be at least Monday before we can get in, and more likely much later. Enough to make a parent a bit uncomfortable, if not just plain nervous.

And again–I know y’all are not a doctor, and I’m not asking for a diagnosis–I’m seeking that “Did you consider it might be the ______ in the ______ he ate?” possibility that might better guide us.

6

Paige, yes…the stewed tomatoes were seasoned (I don’t remember if they said “herbed” or “Italian”), and the tomato sauce does have garlic and onion in it.

But, last week I made a different homemade sauce with stewed tomatoes and canned tomato sauce without ill effect. Then again shrug RL was fully embracing his finickiness and for all I know, he may not have actually ingested any. He wanted only noodles and parmesan that night (well, and his veggies), IIRC. That sauce had just oregano and basil, again, to no ill effect assuming RL actually ate any of it.

But thank you…something else to consider!

7

He may have had whatever he is now sensitive to or allergic to, a few times before with no ill affects. That happens.

My son is allergic to peanuts, and a few other things(tree pollen, some grasses).
We held off giving him peanut butter until he was almost 3. Some Dr.'s recommend age 2, some age 3. So the first time we gave it to him, nothing happened, but he said he didn’t like it. The second and third times he had it, he said it burned his mouth, and he spit it out. That is when we knew something was up. We didn’t give him anymore, and got him to the Dr. pronto. Then we saw an allergist, and sure enough he is allergic to peanuts.

He also broke out from some things he touched when he was really little. Certain oils, rubber bibs(not latex), Vaseline and a few other oil based products give him automatic hives.
On his first birthday, we had a big party and gave him his own cake, to mess up. He laid his arms on it, and within a minute he looked like he had 100 mosquito bites up and down his arms. We figured it was something in the frosting. Some sort of oil or fat. We washed his arms off immediately and kept an eye on him, and the welts went away just about as fast as they came on.
He has very sensitive skin, and even though he isn’t “allergic” that we know of to some of the oils, he is very sensitive, and will get hives. Sometimes when he eats pizza and gets sauce on his face, he will get a rash, if we don’t wash his face immediately. He is five now. We carry epi pens for the peanut allergy. I hope your Dr. sent you home with some and taught you to use them right away. It is best to have them until you find out the culprit.

I will be curious to see what the allergist finds. BTW, we do have a really good pediatric allergist. The initial testing was pretty hard on my son. He was probably around the same age as your boy at that time. Getting all the sticks on his back was hard for him, but he did pretty well. We also go once a year now, for follow ups.

Also, just a side note. My son has had eczema since he was a few weeks old. He is also very fair skinned. The Dr. warned us right away, that he may develop allergies. He said that fair skinned babies with eczema often are allergic to something later in life. He called it right, it sure sucks though. :frowning:

Good luck.

8

Any allergy can be “this” severe. Or more, or less. What makes the allergy severe is how strong the misreaction of the patient’s immune system is, not the nature of the allergen. It’s not like poisons, where you can say “N g/kg will be deadly for 50% of the population.” Each allergen/patient combo is unique and the same allergen that causes hives in one person makes another sneeze.

One of my brothers gets rashes from red pepper (cayenne for example). Black pepper is ok, but no chorizo sandwiches or pepperonni pizza for him. My father would get drunk from eating button mushrooms (not an allergy, but definitely in the “weird food reaction that can kill you” camp). In both cases the culprit was found through unintended trial and error.

Good luck with this!

9

It can be hard to determine what sets a kid with a food allergy off. You’re going to have to watch him like a hawk for a bit, and carefully keep track of everything he eats - you’ve already caught on to the fact it could be a spice, but don’t rule out tomatoes or some other vegetable. You can eat something safely for years then all of a sudden you have an allergy.

The blood test for allergy I am assuming is a RAST test which looks for antibodies to a long list of substances. The advantage is that since it’s a blood sample being tested there is zero risk to the kid. The disadvantage is that the list of substances being tested for is not infinite. It will likely eliminate several possibilities even if it doesn’t nail the culprit so at least it will narrow down the list of suspects.

Good luck and I hope it’s only one food that’s a problem, and an easily avoided one at that.

10

It could be anything in that meal; substances don’t produce an allergic reaction right off the bat, typically. In fact, if I understood my allergists correctly, you typically require exposure beforehand to develop this immune system overreaction. I turned up allergic to chicory root (aka “inulin”) after multiple previous exposures.

The other posters are correct, there probably aren’t blood tests for the herbs, but there may well be skin tests for them.

11

You can have an allergic reaction to something you have eaten a zillion times before with no ill effect. Indeed, sometimes having a lot of something can set off a reaction – my youngest sister suddenly broke out in a truly horrible rash after sitting down with a bowl of strawberries and Nutella.

That said, people who have hayfever caused by pollen allergies can react to fruits and vegetables, too. But you might also consider the possibility that your child is sensitive to sufites, which are added to things to keep them from turning brown.

12

My kid had the exact same problem. It turned out to be preservatives. And corn. You really don’t want the corn allergy. You can’t eat ANY prepared stuff because there are corn products in almost everything.

That said, it wasn’t a long-lived thing. He got over it and eats everything in site.

13

I had allergies as a child, (no food ones thankfully) and received shots for them until i was 12 or so. I’m mostly free of any issues now. If your doctor issued you some epi-pens, I would suggest testing the sprog yourself after his initial battery. Hives aren’t anaphalaxis after all. You can make a small swab of the various ingredients and test his back or the inside of his arm and see if anything crops up. Sometimes allergies come an go mysteriously as well due to lack of exposure. I gave up processed foods for a while and developed a similar reaction to sulfites. I got back on the processed foods occasionally and it has disappeared.

14

Um… no, but they can be a prelude. Home allergy testing carries some risk and personally I’m not a fan of looking for a reason to use an epi-pen. The drugs are good, but they feel quite unpleasant once they enter your body. Not as unpleasant as being unable to breathe, but still… Also, once you use an epi-pen you’re supposed to get the “sprog” to an ER within 15 minutes because the drug doesn’t last much longer than that, after which the reaction starts up again. So I’m not sure what exactly you gain by that sort of thing.

Also, foods that cause problems when ingested may or may not induce hives or rashes when swabbed on intact skin so it’s not a reliable indicator.

I guess what I’m saying is that, assuming any decent sort of medical coverage at all, allergy testing is best done by an allergist. While most allergies aren’t life threatening why take the chance?

15

Cat, RuffLlama is fair-skinned and has had bouts of dry skin eczema since he was an infant. So…that’s in keeping with your doctor’s theory, unfortunately.

He’s also had these…things around his mouth (not cold sores, not impetigo, not sure what it is) for over a year. They come and go, and when they’re bad, they blister and are angry red; but sometimes, they’re so faded you don’t know they’re there. The doctor never really gave us a diagnosis beyond “it’s not contagious” and gave us a hydrocortisone cream…but not I’m wondering if that, too, wasn’t a food allergy thing. Really curious what the allergist says about that.

AcidLamp, I’ve considered doing something like that, but what would I do? Take a sprig of rosemary and rub it on his back? Would that be enough to get a reaction? Or is that just an overall bad idea?

We were shown how to use the epi-pen, and the pack came with a trainer. Our doctor warned us to be careful administering it; she said some parents, in the frantic heat of the moment, grab the pen from the wrong end and “click” the top–only the stab their thumb. “You’ll lose your thumb,” she said. Then the pharmacist warned about handling it; one parent just outside the store was trying to administer it to her daughter, and in her daughter’s struggle, the woman accidentally stabbed herself in the arm. :eek:, times two.

16

I’m just repeating the advice that my allergist gave to my mother. Since the kid is going to the allergist, the OP will be informed whether the kid has severe allergies, mild allergies, no allergies (it was just a freak thing), etc. There may not BE a test for things like onions. If it turns out that the child has mild or little to no allergies, it is VERY possible that it is merely an exposure issue. Since my allergies were not severe, the doctor thought it prudent for my mother to perform a basic test on items she thought might give me issue, or that might have caused some irritation. Benadryl, and cortisone cream could solve about 99% of all reactions. This used to be common advice to parents before lawsuits started up over every time someone got a boo-boo. It turned out that I was often irritated by a food, or substance that I had not encountered before when I was small. None of them lasted more than a week or two before disappearing. I don’t discount the possibility of true, life threatening allergies all all. I know they exist, but it is extremely unlikely that a skin irritation on one exposure will lead to anaphalaxis on the next. Too often parents make the mistake of ceasing all exposure to irritants to sensitive children. Their little systems never get the chance to make adjustments, and the allergies can grow more severe.

Aside: What the hell is up with the no peanuts before they are 2-3 rule? No wonder you hear about more peanut allergies.

17

First off, go to the allergist appointment and follow your doctor’s advice. Who will probably :eek: that I even suggested such a thing.
IMNAD ETC

Usually with plants, mom would crush up a few leaves and gently rub them on my inner arm and watch for a reaction for 15 min. Irritations were treated with the appropriate dose of benadryl or cream. Most plant allerigies will also be contact based on the skin so it was a fair bet that anything that causes a skin allergy might also cause a food allergy. FWIW, I had many allergies as a toddler that came and went rather mysteriously. Mom eventuall figured out that I needed several exposures to a new substance to adjust to it. Usually if I was still allergic to it after a month, she avoided it generally.

18

One thing that comes to mind for me ( a cousins kids has this one, and it was a major pain) is a soy allergy. Apparently its a commonly used preservative, and it was difficult for them to work around as a result.

Hoping its not that, but thought I’d toss it out there.

19

It could have been the food coloring in the frosting (if there was any). A friend of mine who has severe food allergies reacted to red food coloring she put in her hair for Halloween one year. She wasn’t aware the dye would do that–it wasn’t something she avoided eating. But where the food coloring touched her skin, it left a rash.

20

Yeah, my sister had a corn allergy for awhile; it went away as an adult. It made her tired and itchy. Just when you think you’ve managed to avoid everything with corn syrup, you have to avoid everything with corn starch, too. Practically impossible in the midwestern US.