Introducing back allergen foods?

The allergist mentioned a month or so ago to go ahead and introduce back some of the allergen foods to find out exactly which one is causing Megan the problems, or if in fact the major problem was the lactose deficiency. I recall her saying intro one back a week at a time, but that's it. I wasn't even going to do a reintro for a LONG time, but Megan has asked on numerous occasions recently to try it. She's only four, but very intelligent when it comes to her food allergies and she has said she'll take the pain if she can only have chocolate again. I about cried. She wants chocolate so bad all of a sudden. Poor thing, can't blame her.

SO anyone do the reintro and have any advice for me before doing so??? School is out for the summer so my sitter and Dh/I will be the ones doing the reintro.

Karen we have never done a reintroduction of any of Jakes allergens..

Is it just Choc that Megan wishes she could have? would she be happy with other sweets? Is it the choc she is allergic too? There is a company cherry hill farms, that has very specific allergen free choc. that is guarenteed to not be cross contaminted, but I am pretty sure it was mostly just peanuts and nut products it is seperated from.

I would think they would want you to introduce it for more then a week...if she has been off it for at least 6 weeks, completely off it, then maybe letting her take some and then see what happens...but I would think that more then a few times would have to build that protein up in her again, unless she reacts to it right away..
the allergist explained to us that its not a science, each person is different, and say you are allergic to strawberries, and you can eat three and be fine, no reaction...say then 5 strawberries make you itchy, and then a whole bunch can make you really sick...so its more of a build up affect as well as may just exposure affect..
also I would try to find pure choc. to make sure that there are not color additives or anything else that might cause the reaction not the choc..
good luck

Well we are going to start the reintroduction next week. We'll start with cotton seed. Wish us luck! Megan is so mature for her age and is just ready to see if maybe she can eat some of this stuff again. I have a feeling that most of her health issues was more the lactase deficiency and that these other allergens weren't the culprit to all the problems, although I think in mass quantities they were. So we'll limit the allergens for good.

Karen ... when I reintroduced food with Billy's food allergies (which are/were minor compared to Megan's), we did 3 weeks trying a new food. I feel that one week is just not enough time to be certain about no bad reaction. Any bad reactions were with 7-10 days, but I always wanted certainty when I got a good result. With MB alot of her problems were confirmed to be the lactase deficiency. She never saw an allergist, but we biopsied for allergies and they were minor, so we never restricted or had to reintroduce.

Karen, I am so glad that you are able to work thru these issues now. Its sure has been a long time coming.
I wanted to add that Jake has an allergy to corn syrup, and it takes a while for that to build up to a level where there are outward signs..so its hard to say when something she eats might trigger it..

Thanks ladies. I have wondered about build-up, especially with Megan, but the allergist and doc all say it doesn't happen that way. I, of course, don't believe them. I'll talk with Ryan more and definitely consider the 3 week thing for build-up reasons. Although Megan might be a little sad , she thinks she gets to eat chocolate in 2 weeks. We told her next week is cotton seed and the week after is chocolate. I even mentioned to Ryan last night I was worried about buildup.

I would love to hear their philosophy on the build up theory then.

I also think to avoid having to take her off the food again, to do a longer trial of food reintroduction..just to be safe, and avoid having her to go thru it again.

Have you Rast tested her for choc?

I cant remember if she had the skin testing or not.

I would love to hear their philosophy on the build up theory then.

I also think to avoid having to take her off the food again, to do a longer trial of food reintroduction..just to be safe, and avoid having her to go thru it again.

Have you Rast tested her for choc?

I cant remember if she had the skin testing or not.

Yes, she's done all the testing, rast and the other (can't remember the name, lol). She ate chocolate for years and it didn't seem to bother her. Then at Thanksgiving she ate a LOT of chocolate one day (candy making, lol) and broke out in a huge rash and threw up twice. So may small amounts is ok?