I am so confused, whats going on?

[marimul77]

Hi guys,

Because my daughter has had diarrhoea for the last year and we changed our peadiatrician who thought it best to do some more bloodtests, DD2 was put on Nutramigen because her IgE levels were over a hundred and the peadiatrician was thinking it likely she has a dairy allergy. After a few days of using Nutramigen the diarrhoea had gone! After a year of it surely that cant be a coincidence? We just had the results back of the repeat blood tests and there appears no allergy at all, IgE levels normal. Pead told us the tests are not very reliable but we just dont know whether we are coming or going with this. He suggested keeping her on Nutramigen as it works for her, but how come the blood tests are so different? She is 13.5 months and weighs 14lb 6oz. We put her slow weight gain down to the diarrhoea she has had since birth. But why has she got diarrhoea if its not a milk allergy? We are so confused? Surely she has not outgrown any allergy within the space of two weeks?

Any thoughts?

[Mashi]

I have also heard that the IgE blood tests can be very unreliable in babies and toddlers - both false negatives and false positives. My own paed won't do them as he personally feels that a clinical diagnosis is more accurate, and if symptoms are gone from a treatment, then he considers that to be the best confirmation. So, I would stick with the Nutramigen, keep her on a dairy-free diet and trial her on milk again when she's two.

HTH

[Spectra]

Also consider this, some babies/toddlers aren't allergic to milk, and won't show up in any allergy test, but they are intolerant to it.  Intolerances will not affect IgE at all, but all the symptoms will be the same.  Even if the test result shows she is not allergic, she could be milk protein intolerance.  Same symptoms, same end result, same form of treatment, just affects the inside of the body differently.  No matter what, at least YOU know that she cannot have milk.  I doubt it is a coincidence.

My son's symptoms cleared up on Neocate, but the scratch test and the blood RAST test showed no allergy to milk or soy.  It just clarified to us that it is for SURE Milk/Soy Protein Intolerance.  Either way he couldn't have milk and that was good enough for us.  I wouldn't worry about the IgE levels.  That's just one of many symptoms/signs.  At least your doctor is aware of that and is smart to keep her on that formula.

When my allergist was trying to explain the blood test results he said as well that they are not very accurate as it can depend on the levels in that particular blood they withdrew.  My son reacts severely to oats/barley, but his RAST was 1.5, whereas his result for egg was over a 5, but he only has a mild reaction.  Just goes to show that the numbers aren't always the best indicator.