Isn't that strange, my son's allergies just started at 4 1/2 years?

Heather - posted on 03/14/2011

My son's allergies started at 4 1/2 too!! He had Oral Allergy Syndrome to birch-related fruits & veggies (apples, carrots, cherries, almonds, etc.) which -- due to my ignorance at the time -- turned in to full-blown allergies to these things.

If I had to bet, I'd put my money on the hazelnuts on/in their chocolate and -- you guessed it -- hazelnuts are very related to birch trees too. Have him tested right away and in the meantime don't give him any raw fruits & veggies, and stay away from all nuts.
Good luck!!!

Kayleigh - posted on 02/13/2011

No its not strange at all...... I have a friend who at 35 suddenly became allergic to latex, so severe that she cannot touch the waxy skin of bananas (something common to the latex she said)..... Also, you need to multiple exposures to a food to get a reaction anyways, as Karrie said those little symptoms he may have had that you passed off as post nasal drip or asthma could actually have been his way of reacting to the food until it suddenly got worse.
My son was diagnosed with peanut allergy at 18 months (winter '09 -'10) but the tree nut was negative. We avoided all nuts to be safe but he was fine with things manufactured with tree nuts. Over the summer of 2010 he started getting reactions again and the allergist refused to retest him for another year!! We immmdiately found a new allergist, who gladly retested him for everything. As of October he is officially also positive for all tree nuts (among other things). His hazelnut allergy (4 out of 4) even passed out his peanut allergy (3 out of 4)........ And yet the first allergist refused to believe that he could become allergic to something that quickly and that severely in barely 6 months.

Randi - posted on 01/01/2011

I would take him to an allergist. It may not be the chocolate, it may be the hazelnut in Ferrero Rocher.
Also, my son's doctor was telling me that most people go through stages of their lives when they can't eat certain things. I personally could not eat strawberries from the time I was 17 until just recently.
Good Luck!!

Karrie - posted on 12/20/2010

Do you think maybe he could have had an allergy all along and maybe the reaction wasn't severe enough to notice? Food Allergies don't always manifest as hives or the typical reaction. My daughter was excessively sneezy, always had a runny nose and a cough-she was getting a ton of sinus and ear infections and even the pedictrician didn't connect it to allergies really-I had to ask for bloodwork and then a referral to an allergist. Not sure if they just pop up, but I guess it could happen! Good luck..