Egg skin prick test - any experiences/advice

[Sunflower100]

My dd (15m) has just gone back to allergy specialist and had skin prick tests for egg. The hive was bigger then last time but they said that this didn't mean the allergy was worse. This is probably a silly question but why do they measure it then?
Felt quite demoralised and can't helping thinking it must be worse. We'd (probably stupidly) got hopes up as she had accidentally had a bite of cake at nursery (they think but weren't totally sure) and she didn't react.
Also the specialist refused to do any skin prick tests for other nuts (she had peanut test 6m ago - was negative) but encouraged us to try other nuts at home. Is this the experience everyone else has had? I'm quite scared at the prospect of trying her especially as we don't have an epipen.

Guess I'm just looking for advice or any experiences as you other allergy mums usually make me feel a lot better.

Awww . . . I feel for you. We had the same flare of hope with our DS1, to also have it dashed. It really is a crushing disappointment.

Regarding the hive, it's odd about the measuring. We used to go to Guys and there they measured the weal and the size was treated as very significant, but where we go now they say it's unimportant. My personal view is that I think of a weal bigger than just a weeny positive (ie like the positive control) as something to be concerned about. My DS1's nut allergy positives were never as big as the milk and egg ones. And in the waiting room in Guys we sat next to a lady whose skin prick test for cod must have gone to about 4" by 2" !! She was going demented with the itching and they said it was the biggest they had ever seen - you can't tell me the size of THAT one wasn't significant!

Sorry rambled on a bit there...

I think egg tests are a bit misleading as they test you with raw egg and who eats raw eggs these days? Well-cooked egg is much less likely to cause problems, probably why your DD didn't have a reaction to cake but she might still react to lightly-cooked egg like scrambled.

It is however one of the allergies they are most likely to grow out of.

Why don't you have an epipen?

As for the specialist's advice to try nuts at home, well, he can bugger off as far as I am concerned. My DS1 is possibly no longer allergic to nuts, and DD definitely isn't but I am not taking the risk. Or perhaps that's me being a wuss...

I have a son age 3 with an egg allergy. i think it is only raw egg that causes him problems.
We don't have an epipen for him but my dd has a severe peanut allergy and we have an epipen for her.
We avoid nuts for all the children because of dd's allergy.

At first it was very worrying and stressfull, but I am more used to it now. Really hoping that in the future they outgrow their allergies. And that cures can be found.

We don't have an epipen because apparently you need to have had an anaphylactic reaction.While dd's egg reaction was pretty scary it didn't involve breathing difficulties. But I worry that it could in the future? Specialist dismissed this.
Did you have nut tests done prviately?
Am scared to give her nuts but would rather any exposure was done in a controlled way rather than potentially accidentally having some in a biscuit or whatever (that said Im VERY careful what she eats).
But another 6 months till we see anyone again.....

My dd had very few lumps around her mouth when she had peanut butter first, so I knew to avoid peanuts with her, then age 2 she was given peanuts by her cousin and took an extreme reaction and we had to go to hospital.
I live in NI and there is a very good allergy clinic which we attend for regular check ups on nhs. She is 5 now and due to be challenged soon to see if she has outgrown it, not a big chance but of course I have everything crossed.

I also have a 13 month old and no idea if he has any allergies. It would be good to know. I'm avoiding giving him eggs or nuts because of the others.
I think I'll ask advice at the allergy clinic about him next time I'm there.

It is a worry....

FWIW, dd (2.4) had a peanut test, it was negative, and it never occurred to me to worry about other nuts and she's fine with them all. I am still very nervous with egg, and although she is now fine with eggs that have been in the oven eg cakes etc, I still haven't given her scrambled after that first time...

The drs never seemed to worry about the size of the hives, and now she gets them from all sorts of things - I'm not sure what, some plants, think - I am just used to it, and get out the piriton and don't worry too much. It doesn't bother her really at all.

my son has multiple food allergies, egg, milk,wheat,nuts,kiwi. so i really do understand you anxiety. i would say absolutely DO NOT test any food on your child if your instinct is not to!!the times when ive listened to others and told myself that i'm being over protective and neurotic mother, my son has paid the price!!
i would say that the increase in the size of hive does matter and if you really want to know what allergies your child has, then push for a blood test to give you accuate ige levels. my sons wheat allergie has decreased, so he will have to undergo a formal food challenge in hosp this month.but egg, milk and nut are still very high. infact the dr said that his skin prick test indicated that his allergy to nuts has increased since his last blood tests were done.
as for epipens, i insisted on being reffered to another consultant as the first tried to fob me off. in a round about way i was lucky though, because my boy had a significant reaction to chocolate a few weeks before we saw the new consultant, so i had even more evidence that he needed the emergency meds.
this reaction DIDNT compromise his breathing either, but thats not to say it wont next time. and reactions are known to increase with exposure!!!! KEEP PUSHING FOR WHAT YOU NEED.

so, sorry to go on, but as you can tell this is a topic close to my heart and no parent should be left to deal with an allergic child or experiment with foods at home, with out the propper medications available.

I wouldn't worry too much about the size of the reaction.

Dd's reaction was so huge, the consultant nearly had a blardy heart attack. Her whole arm swelled up and went bright red but actually, her real life reaction was never that bad (I mean, it was horrible but it wasn't anaphylactic or never developed that way).

I'm not sure I'd try nuts at home tbh. I'd certainly avoid them for a bit longer I think.

I meant the size of the reaction to the pinprick. Obviously, do worry about her real life reaction .

They can do blood tests for allergies and then check for nuts. I have a feelin gthey wait till they are a certain age before they do them though.

my son was very allergic to egg, even being in the kitchen when i fried an egg, caused exposed skin reaction (flushing/hives)

He gradually grew out of it.

always tested for raw and cooked egg at SPTs

grew out of cooked egg first, confirmed after SPT and then food challenge in hospital setting.

That was a 7yrs

it took until 10 yrs for him to grow out of raw egg allergy.

has many other allergies, but growing out of egg, improved his life a great deal.

so even if it takes years to grow out of , their is still hope.

My 16 month old son has just been retested to see if he has outgrown his egg allergy and had a slightly larger hive than last time for the egg yolk but doctor didnt seem to think this meant it had got worse. They say egg allergy sufferers are usually o.k. with anything like cake or biscuits because its been cooked at high temperatures but I can not justify risking it!

dd tested +ive for egg with test at 10 months. Dr said to try cake at 12 months, if no reaction try well cooked scrambled egg at 18 months and if no reaction try mayonaise at 2 yrs. To try he said just to rub a bit on the inside of her lip rather than feed her. Ok with cake, yet to try scrambled egg

Can't believe you've been told to try scrambled egg 'littleM'!!!!

Cake is ok because the egg is fully cooked but scrambled egg isn't thoroughly cooked. I would avoid this for now.
My ds is 3 and we've been told that a small amount of scrambled egg will be part of his food challenge in hospital when his skin prick test for egg comes back negative.
His last test revealed he is still very allergic to egg but he is ok with small amounts of cake.
Be wary of what your dr has told you.

They don't prescribe epipens for DCs under 15kg.

My Ds's egg skinprick was massive,but they said the size wasn't important,but then later said fromthe size of the wheal not to try him with cooked egg , which really confused me!!