Dairy allergy- what tests to ask for? Help please!

[NotDoris]

DS is just 9 months old and we have his next hospital appointment in a fortnight. He was diagnosed with dairy allergy at a month old due to the fact that he was failing to thrive on my milk. I came off dairy myself and introduced a bottle of pepti-junior daily. He has gradually increased 3 bottles daily and weaning and weight gain have gone well.
The last appt was a waste of time, he was weighed and all we were told was to avoid dairy when weaning. I need to know what to ask this time, what tests to ask for etc? Apart from very dry skin he hasn't had any major reactions apart from not gaining weight as he should.
Thanks!

hello. is your appt at an allergy clinic, or with a dietician? If it's 'just' the local hospital, then ask your GP to refer you to an allergy specialist clinic. If you're not sure where you're nearest clinic is, call the Allergy UK helpline (on their website) and they should be able to help you. We wasted time were with our local hospital dietician for 18 months until I realised that they were lovely but useless as DD's multiple food allergies were well off their area of expertise. You need to speak to someone who actually understands allergies.

i would have thought they would have at least done skin prick tests to check the dairy allergy. the usual tests are, skin prick tests and rast (blood tests).

Good Luck and I hope this helps.

It is at the hospital, not a special allergy clinics far as I'm aware. I have a feeling it'll be another wasted trip...

What is the difference between skin prick tests and rast tests? Which is best?

Hello again

With DD they did the Skin Prick Test first. Basically a small drop of liquid with the allergen is placed on the inside of the arm. A small needle is used to 'prick' the skin in the middle of the drop to introduce the allergen into the skin and then they wait for about 20 minutes to see what happens. The same is also done for 'control' positive and negative drops. After 20 minutes, if there is an allergy, then you would expect to see a weal. If the weal is bigger than 3mm then I think it is a possible allergen. In this case at the first appointment, the clinic do a Rast or Blood Test where the test the same and other allergens and if these come back positive, then there is a high chance that you are allergic to the things tested. They usually consider the two tests together. DD is 4.5 and I still don't understand how they interpret the results.

Also the size of the weal, or the number in the Rast test, only indicates a likelihood of a reaction, nit the severity. DD's alergy nurse told us at her first appointment that DD's peanut weal was possibly a record and then changed her mind and said it was the 2nd largest she'd seen. That freaked me out and still does even though I know it just means that DD is more likely to react to nuts. If that makes sense.

The Rast/IGE blood tests measure Immunoglobulin E (IGE) which I believe is the one for immediate (IGE) allergic reactions. There is another IG? but not sure about that. I may have this completely wrong, but I'm sure someone on Mumsnet will be able to help.

I heard recently that the IGE thing in the blood is actually for dealing with worms. As we have such clean lives now, the roles of this has become redundant and for some individuals, these IGE things misbehave and thats' what causes the allergic response.

If you're clinic haven't even done a skin prick test, they may be out of their area of expertise. For the sake of your DC and your sanity, definitely as your GP to be referred. You might to get further forward, but at least you'll be getting the right care and advice.

take care and i hope this helps.

Your little one may be more allergic than they suppose, if he's still failing to gain weight - there may be other things that he is allergic to. Mine (also diagnosed at one month) was put on Nutramigen AA (hypoallergenic) for a while, as a top up (I had some feeding issues). Allergy tests are not foolproof. My little one is cow's milk protein intolerant and the only test was to cut out dairy and see if she improved (which she did). See if you can get your GP to refer you to an allergy specialist. They ought to.

Hi -
The skin prick test really just shows that a skin reaction is caused by a particular allergen and the size of the weal determines whether you will be advised to use an epipen.

The RAST test shows that an allergic reaction will occur (as opposed to may occur with skin prick test) eg DS had a small weal for egg allergens with Skin Prick, but the RAST confirmed that an allergic response would definitely occur.
Not sure if thats clearer or more confusing?? :-)

oops. sorry mumtoone123, if my reply was confusing. it's just that we;ve always been told that it was an indication of a likelihood of being allergic.

DD's next appointment is in August so I'll ask them to clarify that again.

Hey mumat39 - Not confusinmg at all - that was my understanding of the RAST, as the skin prick was just a skin reaction whilst the RAST results were taken as definative at last appointment...
do clarify though, I may be wrong - find i get information overload at these appointments!
Good luck for your appointment

DD, 11 months, severe dairy allergy is part of the PAICE study so we have had 'gold standard' allergy care. This is whatever have had:

Skin prick tests: at 3 months, 6 months & to be repeated July 2012.
Blood tests (RAST): at 6 months & repeat July.
Open Milk challenge in hospital: at 6 months & to be repeated July.

& we have also been tested for nuts/cats/hay/straw/latex/soya and few other things. & had additional coeliac tests done as part of allergy assesment.

I suspect this is above & beyond what the NHS will offer! But thought it might give you some idea.

toobreathless, thanks for this info. I'm going to look up the PAICE study now.

Sounds like you're getting really good care. Good Luck with the milk challenge and the other tests in July.

Ooh - just looked and it is interesting.

I used to give my DC Biokult probiotics but did this as it just made sense to me. But was never sure if it would help but figured it wouldn't cause any harm. I have lapsed recently just because I ran out so this is a good reminder to order some more. Thanks :)

Can I ask, is this something you have done privately? The only reference I could see was under Dr Fox at Harley Street. Admittedly I only did a quick search just now. I think you must have meant that on the over and above teh NHS comment so sorry if I'm being a bit dim asking again.

Thanks again