> Have any listmates ever seen mucus decrease by getting off any of these
> foods who has been tested for allergy and found NOT to be allergic?  It
> might be an important question.
>
> Susan
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>                             (Walter & Susan Owens)
>                             [log in to unmask]
>                             Dallas, Texas  USA

      My son (4 in May) is allergic to milk. It  causes eczema (he used to
scratch his skin until it bled,) digestive problems, including mucus in his
stools; and it also causes mucus in his nose, sinuses and ears. His asthma
gets a lot worse when he's on milk, although it's not his only trigger.
      However, he does not show a positive reaction to milk on either the
RAST or on skin tests. This created problems because we were told he
couldn't be allergic to milk, in spite of the reactions we saw repeatedly
when he had anything with dairy. We finally found another allergist who
said that he may not be reacting to milk itself, but to some fragment of
milk protein that appears during digestion. This won't show up on a
standard allergy test for milk.
       In Alex's case, this makes sense because the reactions he has are
delayed reactions. He starts to scratch about 12 hours after eating
something with dairy in it. There have also been times he's suddenly had a
very stuffy nose that goes away in a few hours. I suspect this is also
because of  accidental exposure. I don't know if he's more sensitive
because of the avoidance or it's just more obvious because he generally
doesn't have milk, but it seems to take very little to provoke these
reactions.
     I hope this helps.

Jean