Allergist Meeting

We finally met with the specialist our family doctor referred us to regarding Ben's allergies.
The good news? It's not all bad news!!!

Here are the bullets:
#It's so likely that Ben will outgrow his wheat allergy that we're having him tested again in 6 (Count them - just SIX!) months.
#It's so unlikely that Ben has celiac disease that it's not even worth researching at this point. (Also, the testing is unreliable and complicated - I'll save you the details). This means gluten's "probably" safe. That means jello, chocolate, barley - all back on the table!
#It is likely that he will outgrow the egg allergy - most kids do. But his numbers are high enough that it will probably take him longer than most kids to outgrow it.
#His egg numbers are high enough that eggs are still off-limits, even as an ingredient in cooked or processed foods. (I need to be a little more vigilant about this as we start to introduce gluten again... you'd be surprised how many places egg pops up!)
#Peanut antibodies often present as a false-positive and Ben's numbers are low.
#It's surprising that he has any antibodies at all, given the fact that he's never consumed them.
#Peanut allergies are tricky.
#We will retest for peanuts again at 3 years - if he's positive again, he probably will not grow out of this one.
#Reactions to peanuts are unpredictably severe, even with low numbers.
#We now carry an epipen and will need to teach caregivers how to use it.

And in the "good to know, but I wish I didn't" category:
Ben fits the profile for asthma.
Kids with asthma are often born with eczma, develop food allergies, and then present with asthma - which they eventually outgrow.
Add that to your prayer list :)