15Yo Spontaneously Allergic To Everything?

[Chalula88]

I'm really interested in whether anyone has heard of something like this or might have some information that could help. The doctors are baffled and say they've never seen a case like this.

I cannot tolerate gluten at all (suspect Celiac, but I haven't had a biopsy) and milk bothers me in large quantities (milkshakes, ice cream, etc.) only, so I still eat some dairy products.

Well, my little sister is 15 and never presented any symptoms of food allergies or intolerance at any point in her life. I had all the stereotypical symptoms, but she had none and has always been reasonably healthy and active.

Maybe six months ago, she spontaneously started showing a ton of symptoms that have increased in severity over the last few months (frighteningly rapidly over the last month or two) to the point that she has missed most of this school year.

Her symptoms include: stomach ache, acid reflux, mild headaches, vomiting, throat swelling, fever (persistent for days), nose bleeds, anxiety, irritability, depression, shortness of breath.

They tested her for every disorder known to man, taking vials and vials of blood and ruled out everything (she even saw a communicable disease specialist).

So they did the blood test for food allergies, which came back positive for wheat, milk, and peanuts.

They then did a skin prick test in which she tested allergic to: nuts, peas, green beans, lettuce, rice, peaches, strawberries, cherries, celery, carrots, and more (I don't have the list with me).

She ate soy milk and got violently ill, vomiting and a stomach ache. She tried tofu and the same thing happened. But she tested negative for soy in both the blood and skin prick test.

Well...now they are saying for her not to eliminate any foods because they are afraid if she does and then gets exposed to them she could go into anaphylaxis.

They have her scheduled for an endoscopy to see how damaged her intestines are and to check for eosenophilic esophagitis.

They are basically throwing their hands up saying that she must have just been born with the allergies and never showed symptoms, but they said they've never had a patient with her symptoms and test results (this is at a very prominent hospital). I've heard of silent Celiac, but silent allergies to almost everything, then spontaneously debilitating symptoms?

She is so sick that she cries all the time and does very little besides sleep and lay around the house. Has anyone ever heard of this? Are there any other conditions that could cause this other than just plain allergies?

[carecare]

Have they tested her for celiac? I do know that my husband's allergies much improved when going gluten free. He never got tested for celiac and is fine with it...he knows gluten bothered him. Anyway, he used to avoid bananas and tomatoes because of the stomach ache he'd get from them. Now gluten free he is able to eat those without any issues. He has a banana a day now. I really think with celiac the immune response is so hightened in some people it triggers the body to start reacting to many other things. When gluten is removed the body settles down and no longer reacts so violently to everything. It's the case with my husband anyway.

Glad to hear she'll be getting an endoscopy. Make sure they are taking a good number of biopsy samples of her small intestine. If they haven't run the celiac panel...the newest one make sure that's done as well.

[domesticactivist]

Wow! It makes me wonder if something in her environment changed.

My son had horrible chronic 'seasonal' allergies. When we removed corn, it all got so much better. It seems like with histamine allergies if the system is excited it starts to be very reactive to everything.

I'd look back to the time that everything started flaring and carefully examine every aspect of her life for something that changed. Here are some ideas:

New eating habits, newly introduced foods

New furniture

Scented household objects

New cleaning products

New formulations of cosmetics

New clothes

Exposure to different plants (like if you moved to a different climate or go houseplants)

A new job or school

Changes in friends (hanging out different places)

A mold problem in the house (flares when the weather gets damp)

Air ducts dirty - just started heating the house?

[GFinDC]

I had pretty severe hay fever for many years until I went gluten free. Then my hay fever symptoms practically disappeared after going gluten-free. The reason I say that is the hayfever reactions are called IgE reactions. IgE reactions (hay fever etc) are what are thought of as allergies. So, it doesn't seem like there should be a relation to celiac disease which is IgA and IgG etc related. But in my case there definitely was a relation. Although my skin prick tests didn't show a reaction to wheat or gluten, just grasses trees and cats. The hay fever subsiding after going gluten free means there is a relation, in my case anyway.

All that to say I think it is very possible your sister has celiac disease and her allergy IgE reactions are heightened because of celiac.

She should keep eating gluten until after the blood tests for celiac and also the endoscopy are done. And then she should try the gluten-free diet for 6 months to see if it helps, no matter what the test results or doctors say. The tests for celiac are not 100% reliable and so the best thing is to try the diet regardless of what the tests say.

[stanleymonkey]

have they checked for eosinophillic gastroenteritis? Our allergist thinks our daughter may have it as her allergy numbers are crazy high but we never give her any of the things she is allergic to as she has anaphylactic allergies.. Our allergist said people can have too many IgE cells and their body starts to treat everything as an allergen, our daughter has an allergic reaction if she gets a fever above 100

[Chalula88]

Thank you all so much for your replies.

I don't think anything in her environment has changed, but I'll ask her some questions and see.

I will make sure they take several biopsies for Celiac disease.

They haven't checked her for eosinophillic gastroenteritis, but would they be able to see that during the endoscopy?

Thanks again guys! She will be getting the endoscopy hopefully in the next week. If anyone thinks of anything else, I'd really appreciate it.

[bartfull]

Question: Is she one of those folks who get a rash from inexpensive jewelry or watches? I ask because I am learning about nickel sensitivity, and yes, there IS nickel in food. As a matter of fact, all the foods you listed that give her trouble are high in nickel.

I hope for her sake that is NOT the problem because her diet will be VERY limited. I started out with gluten problems. Then corn, to which I believe I am the most sensitive. When I was still having problems and reacted badly to aspirin, someone here suggested I might have a sensitivity to salicylates. And it was on salicylatesensitivity.com that someone told me he thought I had a problem with nickel. I ate a pear, peeled thickly, on Sunday, and this morning I noticed some new psoriasis on my hand. Pears when peeled are supposed to be low in sals. But they are high in nickel.

Between the gluten, corn, soy, salicylates, and nickel, I'm down to living on meat, cheese, and cauliflower. And the cauliflower is iffy. But the good thing about sals is, once you find your level of tolerance, you CAN eat some moderate to high sal foods ONCE IN A WHILE. They build up in your system so you have to be careful, but I'm thinking I can get back to eating broccoli on occasion someday.

But nickel is like gluten. Once you're sensitive to it, there's no going back. And it CAN lead to a variety of chemical sensitivities. Check out that salicylate website I mentioned. They have quite a bit of info on nickel too.

And good luck. Tell your sister I'm pulling for her.