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Milk Allergies
When Milk Doesn't Do A Body Good
By Donna Stone
The cake was iced, the presents wrapped, and balloons decorated the scene of little Mark's first birthday, but the gathering turned out to be no party for this tyke.
All of his young life Mark had bouts of eczema, skin rashes and other problems that were diagnosed as reactions to the foods he ate. His family knew he had multiple food allergies and they were extra careful, following their doctor's advice to delay introduction of certain foods. They planned to have Mark tested for food allergies, as the doctor recommended, when he was 2. Unfortunately, an allergy to milk was revealed in a different, terrifying way. One minute, Mark was happily playing at his birthday celebration and the next he was covered in angry red hives. His face began to swell. Frantically, the family questioned everyone present if he had eaten anything. A guest admitted giving Mark his first sip of milk.
"Then we knew," says Mark's grandmother, Lynn. Mark's mother gave him Benedryl. Both parents rushed to get him to the hospital, but "In the car they knew he needed the rescue squad and stopped there. Mark was slumped over in his seat." The rescue personnel arrived and gave the tiny boy oxygen while the Benedryl finally began to take effect.
"Milk allergy can be severe, or more typically, a mild allergy," says pediatrician Dr. Alice Myers, of the Charles Henderson Child Health Center. "Rarely, a child is so allergic even a sip can be deadly, triggering a severe anaphylactic reaction. During an anaphylactic response several things can happen in the body: airways constrict, blood pressure falls, hives, vomiting, or even coma and heart failure can result. The vast majority of children with milk allergy display milder symptoms, such as excessive spitting up, diarrhea or skin rashes.