Worth going private for allergies?

[BloooCowWonders]

We're just starting on the nut allergy referral route with dc3 . DC1 has nut allergy diagnosed at age 8, DC2 is fine and eats peanut butter and other nuts almost daily.

Was hoping that dc3 would get away with it :( but an Easter egg was conclusive proof.

Anyway, is there any advantage to going private? My experience so far has been fine - skin prick tests, on-going appointments but nothing else. Is there any other 'treatment' that could be done?

thanks for any help.

Hello Blooo

I'm just marking my place as I have often wondered this so thanks for asking this question.

Not experienced with nut allergies, but if you're getting help alright, then I don't think you need to. You have to pay for everything - blood tests and medication (if required). We did in the early stages (diagnosis of CMPI) but stopped as it just meant going back for more appointments, that we were paying for, just to find out she hadn't improved and we just had to carry on. Fortunately, once diagnosed, our local GP didn't object to prescribing formula and arranging an appointment with a dietician. It sounds to me as if you are ok where you are, but am happy to be proved wrong.

Given you've presumably got epi-pens etc to hand and already know the drill in terms of what to avoid, signs of a reaction etc I'd say probably not. Going private might get you the tests done more quickly but that probably isn't necessary given you're pretty sure of the outcome and could treat a reaction in the meantime.

We went private with DS when he was a toddler and had his first (and so far only) reaction. I was just going out of my mind with worry about what if he had another reaction etc. The advantage was we got seen quickly and then knew what we were dealing with, had epi-pens etc. After the initial referral the consultant just put us on his NHS list for the retesting etc and we've gone through the NHS ever since, epi-pens etc are prescribed by the GP and therefore NHS. As is often the case who we saw and the treatment we received was absolutely no different than if we'd waited for the initial NHS referral.

Thanks all.
Apart from a miraculous 'no, not nuts; she was just having an off-day' (!) I can't expect any alternative outcome than a supply of Epi pens and Piriton. As I suspected, the NHS is our best option.