Dd going for an allergy test to test if allergic to peanuts - what to expect?

[HonorMatopoeia]

I need to psych her up for this as she really dislikes going to doctors and hospitals. I'm not certain where this has come from .
What do they do? Does it involve any needles (will need a big bribe if it does!) Do they test for anything else if the GP has stated it is peanuts we're concerned about?
Do we know the results straight away? What if she is allergic, what happens next?
Oh God, so many questions. . . .hyperventilating. . . .PANIC!!!!

Sorry!

DS was tested for walnut allergy at our local hospital (referred to the allergy clinic by the GP) when he was about 3. It did involve a blood test, which the lady did very badly (unfortunately) - so badly that she had to do it a second time, by which point poor DS was semi hysterical, and I was pretending not to be!!

We were really, really unlucky that the blood test went so badly - DS still remembers it (he's 6 now), and was so upset by it that we haven't had him re-tested (which we were supposed to do when he was five). We are working on the assumption that he's still allergic (esp. following DH's fabbo idea of giving him a walnut to see what happened... what happened was that he was violently sick all over Betty's posh cafe in Harrogate!!)

I think we had to wait a few weeks for the results.

If I were re-testing him, I'd look into York Tests. I think they're around £200, but they're supposed to be very good, and involve - I think - a skin-prick test, which is much less traumatic.

It is of course possible that the testing procedure varies from region to region, and that your local hospital doesn't go in for doing full blood tests on children. It might be worth ringing in advance so you can prepare your DD?

If she is allergic, don't fear: it may just require vigilance. Allergies vary - in some people, it's just a kind of hayfever-y reaction; in others, it's much more serious. For us, it means warning hosts in advance that DS has a nut allergy, so that they know not to put his ham sandwiches next to the peanut butter ones! His school is also hyper-aware of nut allergies, and won't let children share snacks and so on.

Good luck with the test!

Thank you Dottoressa, I'd love to save her the trauma of a possible blood test but £200 is way out of our league I'm afraid .
As soon as the letter comes through I'll ring the clinic and find out.
A blood test is at least going to cost me a Polly Pocket toy of some description!

My DS had blood tests at the local hospital which picked up some of his allergies (had no problems at all with the blood tests, DS was 4). It took about 2 weeks for the results to come through.
When it became obvious that DS had other allergies he was referred to the allergy clinic at Leicester Royal Infirmary. They did skin prick tests and we had the results in about 20 mins. Once we got the results we had to see the dietician and then fetch DSs epipen and then have training to use the epipen so we were there for about 4 hrs.
DS did test positive for peanuts on both the blood tests and the skin prick tests but in May he had a peanut challenge an had no allergic reaction at all! we still don't give him peanuts but we aren't hyper-vigilant about it like we were before. It is scary finding out your child is allergic to something, but you get used to it and it just becomes part of daily life. We were really shocked when we were told that DS needed an epipen for 3 of his allergies because we never thought they were that bad, but now we know about them his allergies are under control and he hasn't had an allergic reaction for a few months so the epipen hasn't been used.
Good luck with the test, I hope it goes well for you.

My ds had skin prick tests and a blood test at his first hospital appt. (We were referred for egg and peanut allergy testing.) He was then about 4years. Whereas a friend who went to the same hospital and consultant only had a blood test - her ds was about 3years.

My ds had skin tests for all nuts as well as some other related ones - peas, I think (and egg, as we knew he reacted to that. He had about 15 on each arm.

The play therapists were excellent. He also had anaesthetic cream on his hand before the blood test.

Prepare for it to be traumatic and then, hopefully, it won't be! And start saving for the treat afterwards - I think our last appointment cost me a playstation game. Although, I have to say, it was our 4th appt, he is now 6yrs, and there was very little screaming this time.

There were lots of children having appointments who didn't murmur though.

Good luck

Our 4 year old was just tested. First they put stuff like sellotape but with numbers on on her arm. She liked that. Then they put some drops of the things that they were testing up her arm, next to the numbers. We were going for a peanut test but she was also tested for tree nuts too. Then they rubbed the places where they had but the stuff with a metal thing. She cried then and she had to have eight so it wasn't very nice. We had to wait 15 minutes to see what happened and then went back where they drew around and then measured the bumps that had come up. She was indeed allergic to peanuts so the rash where they had put that was a bit painful.

My advice would be
wear a short sleeved top.
don't have piriton for 48 hours before as it affects the tests
do take piriton with you for afterwards
don't give them a snack on the way home of organix alphabet biscuits and then read the packet afterwards which says 'may contain traces of nuts' like I did.............

DS couldn't have antihistamine for 5 days before his tests, and he too had about 15 on each arm.
We expected it to be really traumatic for DS but he was fine, the play specialists were brilliant and we came away with a bin liner full of models that he made there
DSs 1st appointment cost us a stuffed tiger that we bought at the services on the way (1 1/2hrs each way for us). Mr Scary (the tiger) now goes to all of his appointments.

Regarding blood tests - DD1 is five and she had some blood taken for testing last week. They gave us some "magic cream" which you have to put on an hour before the appointment. Ask for it if you aren't offered!

She sat on my knee and watched a rather cute cow toy singing "Don't worry, be happy". She didn't feel the needle at all and is now very smug about the whole thing.

Just so that you know that it needn't be a major trauma!

Haven't had the results yet, mind you...