Our Allergy Journey

When our daughter was born, she was a pretty average baby healthwise...she was on the small side but nothing to be worried about and she stayed on her growth curve so there were no concerns. At around four months, she developed a lingering, persistent cough and a red, flaky patch on her chest that dismissed as 'normal' by pretty much every GP we saw (and there were many!). When we started weaning, she seemed to like food but before long she started experiencing vomiting episodes and her cough became even more pronounced and she would get rashes after eating, but not hives. 

Having been fully breastfed since birth, she had never experienced any kind of reflux before but we told the sickness whilst troublesome for us, wasn't a problem for her and her the red patch on her skin was 'just' baby eczema and she'd likely outgrow it. As she moved onto more solid foods, the sickness worsened until it was a daily occurrence. We didn't know much about allergies then but actually assumed it couldn't be that, as it didn't seem to happen with a specific food and, we assumed, she couldn't be allergic to everything, could she?!

At around 18 months, in peak Covid lockdown, she tasted a tiny amount of pistachio ice cream and immediately coughed until she vomited and her eye quickly swelled up. We were actually petrified of taking her to A&E at the time due to all the horror stories in the press and thankfully she responded well to Piraton but she was eventually tested for nut and peanut allergies and diagnosed with both and prescribed EpiPens for the first time. Whilst we avoided nuts, she continued to experience the vomiting episodes daily and we saw multiple private consultants none of whom seemed to be able to identify the cause. 

Eventually, a doctor suggested a full allergy screening and she was finally diagnosed with allergies to fish, shellfish, sesame, kiwi, nuts, peanuts, raw egg, dust mites and more. We went on to exclude those foods and the sickness episodes decreased significantly but she continued to experience reactions to new foods and was at the age she could describe what was happening to her and could tell us her mouth was itchy, her throat was hurting or her ears were itchy and at this age she also started to get hives for the first time during reactions. We have since identified pumpkin, cherries, pea protein, chickpea and lentils as further allergens. 

Her eczema has continued to worsen from the small patch on her chest and we have experienced many severe flare ups, but it finally seems to be more manageable (unless she's unwell and everything goes to pot!). She also continues to suffer from suspected asthma, and this combination reflects what we now know doctors refer to as 'the allergic march'.

She experienced anaphylaxis for the first time when she was five, which was utterly terrifying but we're so glad we had her EpiPens with us, and they worked quickly. As a parent, no one wants to see their child in that situation but I'm also all too aware that not all parents get to see their child recover and the fear remains that she will experience another serious reaction at some point. 

Life with allergies is certainly not what we had envisioned, and it has impacted almost every area of our lives. There's a level of anxiety that is ever present, that I think only other allergy parents can understand but in her relatively short life-time, so much has changed - allergy awareness is much higher and there are emerging treatments so whilst I'm anxious about her future, I am optimistic that it will be better than we can believe it would be today.