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Allergies and intolerances

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Appointment to discuss allergy testing - what can I hope for?

3 replies

Smithagain · 10/05/2008 21:46

Our history: DH is severely allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. He had a near-fatal reaction at 17 (full anaphylactic shock - regained consciousness in A&E, just as they were getting the defibrillator out).

DD1 had an odd reaction to a bee sting when she was 2. She has never (to my knowledge) eaten nuts - we have kept them out of her diet, on Dr's advice.

After the bee sting, we saw a paediatrician who prescribed an Epipen and Piriton and suggested we seek a referral for allergy testing when she reached 5yo. She's now 5.5 and we have an appointment next week with a different paediatrician. I'm hoping that we can arrange RAST testing for bee stings (to confirm whether it really was an allergic reaction) and nuts (to see whether she has inherited anything). But I know that the RAST testing won't tell us much if she has never been exposed to the allergen in the first place. Like as far as I know, she has never eaten a nut.

So I'm hoping we can also persuade the hospital to support us in doing a food challenge to find out whether she has inherited any nut allergy. Is that wishful thinking? Are they likely to have the resources, when it is only based on family history? Or what else might I expect/should I ask about?

We are in Surrey (Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust), if that's relevant.

OP posts:
barmymamma · 10/05/2008 21:55

my son has never eaten nuts either, but has a significant allergy to them and this showed up first in a rast test and more recently with the skin prick test.so a rast test or skin test would maybe be the best things to ask for, before you ask for a food challenge.just to be on the safe side. my second son will not have nuts either until he has had some form of testing, despite him not having any other allergies.

wb · 10/05/2008 23:30

My son has never eaten a nut but had positive skin and blood test results for peanut at age 10 mo so I wouldn't worry too much on that account - ask them to do nut tests t same time as bee sting ones.

Good luck with the tests - be reassured that although the tendency for allergies is inheritable the specific allergies themselves rarely are.

Smithagain · 11/05/2008 15:56

Thanks both of you. Sounds like testing for nuts may be less of a waste of time that I thought it might. Am really hoping that they will help us with a food challenge at some point - I am reluctant to do it at home, because it means bringing nuts into the house, which would put DH at risk. If they won't help, might have to persuade a good friend to let us experiment at their house

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