Food allergy

Three years ago our then 5-year-old daughter was hospitalised with respiratory problems. She was put on oxygen and steroids. Asthma was mentioned but I didn’t want to put her on albuterol and steroids for the rest of her life so our family changed our diet. For 3 years, she has not eaten dairy, gluten or many chemicals e.g. nitrites.

Last weekend at a relative’s house, she ate a taco with just a little bit of dairy in the seasonings for the meat. Next day her eyes were watery, red and swollen. In the past 3 years she has had watery eyes at times (if she ingested some food dyes for instance), but has not had any breathing problems or vomited. 2 days after the taco she vomited and did not try to eat until later that afternoon. That evening she had ear pain for the first time since pre-school. 6 days after the taco she had pink eye.

It would seem that your daughter did have a food reaction although from the timing, pink eye may be a coincidence. The question is: to what did she react? The taco shell probably contained preservatives. Milk allergy is rare (but not unknown) in 8 year olds. As her reaction, although unpleasant, was not life threatening, I would be inclined to expose her to milk and note the response.

To do this, put a few drops of milk on her tongue and see what happens. If there is no reaction in 24 hours try an ounce of milk as a drink. If there is still no reaction, in the next 24 hours, give her 2 ounces of milk and gradually build up in that way.

The next thing I would challenge her with is gluten, as this not usually a trigger for asthma. Again start with a small quantity and build up. If she can tolerate both it is likely that food additives are the allergy-producing culprits.

By the way asthma is not for life. 80-90% of children grow out of it. For children who have asthma early in life (as did your daughter) 50% have grown out of it by 6 years of life.

Best of luck and I would be interested to hear what happens.