From Rashes To Food Allergy – A Journey for Answers

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The story is a familiar one.  A child has symptoms of allergy, so a diligent mom embarks on a journey to find answers. This story has now become my journey.

Two years ago, my daughter started getting chronic rashes in her pelvic area. We embarked on many trips to the pediatrician’s office and left with scripts for creams. Creams for yeast, creams for bacteria, and on and on and on. Sometimes they would work, but in most cases the rashes would worsen. Most of the time the pediatricians said the rashes were yeast, but we never were able to get them under control.

The doctors would tell me to stop giving her baths. So, we did showers. They would tell me to let her dry out and treat the rash with yeast creams. We did that too. Still, time after time, the rash would persist and for two long years, it went on  like this. It was a nightmare.

Then, over this past summer, my daughter had another bad rash and being very desperate I asked a dermatologist to take a look at it. He said it was eczema, not yeast. This was huge for me because at last I  knew it wasn’t yeast. I was so frustrated because treating yeast is completely different than treating eczema!

We immediatly started treating  her rash with eczema creams on and keeping her moisturized. Within one day the severe rash was gone. Are you kidding me? For two years I had been treating a yeast infection when all along it could have been eczema?

I was so relieved but now I was on a journey to find out “Why Ezcema?”

I knew that food allergy could be related to eczema, so I started mentally journaling what she ate and when her flair-ups occured. I thought that baked products were a trigger so I made the assumption she had a gluten sensitivity. But I wanted more answers.

I asked my pediatrician to give me an order for blood-based food allergy test becuase I felt in my gut there is something more and I needed to know. I took my daughter for the blood-test and a week later the results came back that she is egg-white allergic. Wow! What a relief to know that the egg allergy might the culprit for her eczema.

I am amazed by how long it has taken me to get this answer. What a journey it has been! Yet, I am just at the beginning of another journey which involves raising my daughter with a food-allergy. I’m thankful that I trusted my gut and got a second opinion.

I wanted to share my story because not all rashes are the same and when it comes to finding answers to our kids, due diligence is a must until we get the answers we need. I also am so grateful I sought out a specialist and wish I did it sooner.

Food allergy moms are not alone.

Check out fellow SMB contributors posts on their journey through food allergies: 

Abbi: Uncovering Food Allergies

Heather: How My Daughter’s Food Allergies Changed our Family for the Better

Here are local support groups and networks in the Phoenix area:

Phoenix Allergy Network

Arizona Food Allergy Alliance

Do you have an allergy journey you would like to share? Do you have any tips for moms of newly diagnosed food allergies? 

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