Blood test showed no allergy, but she has a reaction???

[Mysteryallergy]

My nearly 2 yo DD has been reacting to certain foods namely peas, lentils, green beans, and some fish for ages. She develops a hive rash around her mouth, gets itchy ears, gets upset and starts spitting and coughing. She had skin prick test 6 months ago which reacted to lentils and mildly to peas (didn't test for the others as wasn't reacting to them at the time). She's now had blood test which has showed no allergy at all?! Why on earth would she keep getting hives etc when eating these foods?? I know for a fact she hasn't just grown out of it because nursery accidentally fed her peas a couple weeks ago and said she reacted straight away.
We give her piriton for the reactions which sorts it within a minute or so.
I am so confused how is this possible?
Has anyone had the same and can offer any advice? I feel like the doctors think I'm lying!

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/warning_food_allergy_blood_tests_sometimes_unreliable

The IGG/IGE blood tests are not always reliable; it's why skin-prick tests are favoured (although they often yield false positive results).

I'm allergic to the pulses family as well, which it sounds like you daughter is. Please disregard the blood test result and continue to avoid these allergens. Each exposure can ramp up the reaction. I started off with a very mild pulses allergy which by the time I was a teenager became more serious.

Have you been given any info on allergy to pulses?

Are you aware of the odd places that pulses crop up? A few examples:

Tamarind (which is in Worcester sauce)
Liquorice
E322 = soya
E471 / E472 = often derived from pulses
Mono-diglycerides of fatty acids = often derived from pulses
Broad bean flour = now being used to bulk out most supermarket bakery products
Gram flour (chickpeas) = now being used to bulk out most sausages and burgers
Chicken dippers (playdate favourite! have peas in the coating)

All of these tend to be only used in tiny amounts in processed food so unlikely to cause a big reaction but constant exposure of time contributed to my eczema, asthma, digestion issues.

It's a bit of a minefield so I just cook all meals from scratch now as I CBA to look at the ingredients on everything!

Hi there. I'm a Biomedical Scientist and I assume it was a RAST test which was done? I used to run these kinds of tests and we had to put disclaimers on every result to say that it basically didn't work for everyone. Some people would get positive results for allergens which didn't really affect them in real life and others would get negative results when they definitely reacted in real life. It's been a few years since I ran that kind of test so they may have improved but the issue seems to be that blood in a specimen tube does not always accurately reflect what goes on in the human body for some tests.

That's interesting, the doctors letter just basically reads that she's not allergic and to just keep feeding her the foods she's reacting to! Her reactions have been increasing in severity before I stopped giving her those foods so my concern is eventually a really bad reaction.
I have been given no info on pulses allergies or any help at all really.
I believe it was a RAST test.
I am going to try her with a few things and video it so I catch the reaction on video and send it to them asking for another appointment with the consultant.

Are the doctors giving this advice actual allergists/immunologists?

Because if they are they should know that false negative and false positive IgE bloods are not uncommon.

Please contact Allergy U.K. and consider getting a second opinion.

We've been seeing an allergy nurse and a consultant in the 'allergy team' at the hospital so I would hope so! I will definitely look at allergy UK thank you

Agree with PPs who have given excellent advice.

Reaction trumps test results every time.

My DS has multiple allergies (including fish and peas, beans chickpeas and lentils).

Initially baked beans just gave him a raspy voice and he seemed okay. His test result was mildly high so we kept trying. Most recently he had full body hives so we've stopped the beans!

Reactions can be different each time and can be worse if a lot of the food is eaten or your child is poorly.

I'm really shocked they've advised you to keep giving the foods. She's quite clearly allergic.

Please push for an epi pen as while she hasn't had Anaphylaxis it is always possible with an IGE allergy.