Allergy testing in children - does this sound very thorough?

[longerdays]

My daughter (age 8) has been referred to an allergy clinic because she had a bad reaction to (we think) to cashew nuts which necessitated a trip to A&E (very scary). We have had to wait 6 months for a referral and I'm now querying what they actually do. Apparently we need to come for 3 visits in a week a day apart. A plaster is put on her back and this is checked on day 3 (wed) and 5 (fri) to see if it has caused a reaction? To a non professional this does not seem a very thorough form of testing - how many different things can they test off one plaster? Would n't a more thorough test be some kind of blood test where blood can be tested against a whole variety of things which I know other children/adults have had? I am just concerned that this is a rather basic test and we will be left with a very overall picture but nothing specific. Does anyone have some knowledge of this? Thanks.

[user789653241]

My ds has allergy tests every year. First time at this clinic(top london hospital), blood test to test 120? 150? different allergens. Also did about 20 prick test for his known/suspicious allergen to test acute reaction.
Prick test is done every year since.

[lennonj]

Seems a bit strange as my son just had skin prick tests where the results show within 15 minutes, and also blood tests.

[Dinosaursgoboo]

We've been to the allergy clinic and not had a blood test. Just skin prick tests and cautious introduction of some problem foods. I find that drs are reluctant to take blood from children unless very necessary (unlike from adults, feels like I've had loads of blood tests!). I suppose at age 8 you'd have a pretty good idea about allergies to most foods just through watching her eat them, so it's maybe unnecessary to do a test for lots of allergens.

[OhtoblazeswithElvira]

DD has had a couple of blood tests aged 5 - testing for pet allergies, pollen etc so not food. They had to be done in hospital by a doctor which was a PITA. The first test was OK but with the 2nd the cream didn't work, DD was in pain and they took ages to get the blood out- over 5 mins. It was horrendous and I will not be putting DD through that again if I can help it.

[sleepy16]

We went to Oxford John Radcliffe where they did skin prick testing for the things that we were concerned about,and then had the allergy consultant look at them about 20 mins later.
We got the results then and there.

[RockNRollNerd]

DS only ever had skin prick tests until we started on the peanut immunotherapy treatment - they tested his bloods then but they didn't do anything other than confirm the skin prick tests really.

You may want to post on the allergy board (simplest might be to report the post and ask MN to move it over there).

[BarbarianMum]

I'm surprised you haven't been offered a skin prick test for cashew nut and I'd query it personally. Skin prick tests generally come before blood tests ime. I've heard of the back patch test but our clinic only uses it for potential allergens that they don't have the extracts (used in skin prick tests) for eg different types of veg

In your case I'd want demand skin prick tests for cashew nuts, peanuts and other types of tree nut (unless your dd is still eating these with no problem).

Oh and maybe post on the allergies board here for more specialised support/advice if it is positive.

[BarbarianMum]

Sorry Previous post should read: "...for different types of vegetation" Not vegetables.