Update On Annika

[Guhlia]

Well, we saw the dermotologist today and she didn't feel as though it was characteristic of allergies. She told me to go back to my regular diet, but note any changes. She was the sweetest woman ever. She biopsied Annika's rash and we will have results in about a week. She gave us some cortizone mousse for her horrible "cradle cap" or whatever it is. She said that would help with the itching. She even called the company to check on the gluten status. She was truely wonderful.

The rash on Nik's belly is much better, but still there. At least it doesn't look like cigarette burns anymore. Now it just looks vaguely like heat rash. It seemed to get better when I stopped wearing perfume. That's also when I started using California Baby cream on it too though, so its hard to say which helped and I don't want to stop either because the rash was so horrible before.

Anyway, aside from the itchy head she's doing well. I can't believe how fast she's growing up. I don't remember it going this quickly with Tori.

[Cheri A]

Aww, I hope that you can get the rash under control. Glad that you liked the derm.

[jerseyangel]

Thanks for taking the time to update us, Angie. I've been wondering how the girls were doing.

[Guhlia]

Well, she is now covered in the rash again... I don't know what's going on. It seems like it could be food related, but the dermatologist was so confident that it wasn't. I'm wracking my brain. I had a nasty stomach bug so I was washing my hands nonstop. I'm sure I used perfumed soap by accident at least a few times. We had thought that perfume may have been an issue. We also have suspected eggs, tomato, and/or casein (though she handled all of those fine up until about a month and a half ago???). The other possibility I suppose is that I'm getting gluten somewhere and just not getting sick??? This whole thing started when people were eating gluten and handling her around Christmas. However, the rash is mostly on her belly which isn't characteristic of DH, right? That's where everyone was touching her though and that continues to be where the rash gets bad. My other option is that its not related to diet or perfume at all and that it just coincidentally got worse again when I went back on a regular diet.

Since she doesn't seem bothered by the rash I think I'm going to wait until I get the biopsy results before doing anything else. I will probably go egg free to see what happens. I had been eating egg sandwiches every day because I don't really like meat for breakfast and that was quick and easy. I may not even do that though because I don't want to change the appearance of the rash. I'm sure the derm will want to see us again.

Her "cradle cap" is back again too and oozing. I'm sure now that its related to the rash. Yesterday her rash looked pretty good (on a regular diet) and her cradle cap was almost gone! Now, a day later her rash is back and her head is oozing.

My poor little girl.

[blueeyedmanda]

Good to hear Angie I'll keep you guys in my prayers.

How is Tori?

[jerseyangel]

The poor little thing

I hope the biopsy leads you to answers about what is causing this.

[Guhlia]

Tori is doing well. I'm really pushing Don though to do the Enterolab tests. Her poop is light colored quite a bit and her behavior has recently gone from tolerable to HORRIBLE. She used to be such a sweet little girl. Now she's just so angry and oppositional. I know it could be that she's just at that age, but this seems extreme. I dunno. I'm betting she has Celiac. Don still wants to wait though because he wants to be sure we get a positive result if she has it. She only eats a small amount of gluten 3 days a week maximum so he wants her to be eating it for as long as possible before testing. Hopefully he'll give in soon though.

[blueeyedmanda]

I hope he gives in soon too. It is probably hard on you to watch her act like this. Good Luck Angie

[Guhlia]

It is hard. Especially with Annika going through this thing at the same time. I swear, it looks like she has some flesh eating virus. Its really scary. I should get the results of the biopsy on Monday though, so hopefully we'll have a better idea of what's going on.

Does anyone know if they do allergy testing on babies? If so, how safe is it?

[confused]

I hope she gets better soon, poor little thing.

Do u mean the skin prick test or the blood draw for alleriges?

paula

[Guhlia]

Either, really. I know nothing about allergy testing. Are either accurate? Can either be done on a baby? Are they safe? If yes to all, perhaps I should pursue an immunologist appointment???

[jerseyangel]

Either, really. I know nothing about allergy testing. Are either accurate? Can either be done on a baby? Are they safe? If yes to all, perhaps I should pursue an immunologist appointment???

Angie,

I don't know, but this sounds serious and you sound very worried. I would make a call to an allergist/immunologist (or 2) and ask them if they test infants, and how accurate it is.

[Guhlia]

With my insurance I have to go through the doctor for a referral. This time of year we can't afford to pursue anything without insurance coverage. Its the end of our slow season and money is tight.

Maybe I'll just go back on the elimination diet until we have further answers. I did ok adding corn, rice, and soy in without the rash getting worse. I think I'll just cut out nuts, casein, tomato, and eggs until I hear from the derm. I'll also try harder to avoid the perfumed hand soap that I used to use. Maybe I'll just put that away for now so that I don't screw up and use it. Then, if the rash goes away again, I think its pretty safe to say that its one of those 5 things. That shouldn't be too hard to narrow down. I guess then I don't even need to pursue an immunologist.

I would have stayed on the elimination diet the first time, but I got a stomach bug and wasn't keeping anything down. There were very few things that would stay down and I was losing my milk supply so I had to just kind of eat whatever I could keep in me. I'm still struggling and my milk supply is still down and I'm having to use some pumped milk (which would have all of those possible allergens in it).

Argh... This is just so frustrating! I wish the health care system were a little more user friendly.

[blueeyedmanda]

The US Health care system is the biggest obstacle....it is horrible...

[Guhlia]

I called the pediatrician yesterday. She said to go back on the elimination diet and see what happens to the rash. She is really wonderful about taking phone calls and talking her patients through things rather than having them come in all the time. Anyway, we're going to continue on the elimination diet until the rash is completely gone. From there she wants to send us to a gastro to work with about adding foods back in so that we don't have to go through the time or expense of allergy testing. I'm not sure why a gastro, but I trust her.

Anyway, its been less than 24 hours and Nik's rash is already getting better. I didn't think the stuff would get out of my milk that quickly, but its obvious that her rash is clearing a bit. At least its not oozing anymore. She also seems to be a bit more comfortable. That's a plus.

These items are my main suspects:

EGG

TOMATO

PEANUTS

ONION

ANCHOVIES

CASEIN

I'm pretty sure its not casein, but I can't be positive yet without doing a proper elimination trial. Hopefully her rash will go away relatively quickly so I can start adding things back in slowly. I'm actually pretty sure its either egg or anchovies because I normally have an egg sandwich every morning for breakfast (anchovies are in the worchestershire sauce) and her rash always seems to get worse in the evening. Plus, I don't otherwise eat eggs generally and I definitely don't eat anchovies in anything else. Anyway, it seems to me that the rash started when I started craving egg sandwiches every day.