Peanut allergy testing, how did you knoe it was necessary?

[Chandra]

Although we have been keeping an eye in what DS eats as he had severe eczema and suspected asthma, yesterday we thought that it won't be that bad to allow him to touch a peanut, or at least that what I was thinking because when I was not looking DH gave him a couple and allow him to eat them, then DS came and spit the peanuts, and started rubing his face. ANyways five minutes later he had half of the face covered in a rash including the eyelids which is something it had barely happen even in the worst episodes of eczema.

Should I worry about this or it may be a coincidence? if I need to worry, could anybody tell me how much aprox these test would cost? I expect the GP would take years to make his mind whether DS needs to be tested or not, but I am willing to pay the bill to err on the safe side.

I guess I should continue looking for another one, unfortunately the British Association for Allergies and Imunology doesn't mention any other allergist near to me, the next one is in Liverpool which is a good two hours drive but then, he only works part time! How come that having so many allergic people in this world there are so few allergists?

If you have a child who has been tested by blood analysis, was the blood sample taken tiny?

Thanks again.

Thanks Whymummy, I will have a look at that.

Hi Chandra, I had both my dd (now age 4.5) and ds (now 18 mos.) tested with pediatric allergist here in Geneva about a year ago. Blood test not taken but tiny skin pricks made on their inner forearms & then small amount of likely/most common allergen applied. Neither tested positive for peanuts, thank God. Dd has an allergy to cats & grass, while ds "displayed sensitivity" to egg white, nuts & fish. He's due to be checked again in a month or two (this was done last spring). I wish I could whisk you over here & you'd know within a week! Try googling "anaphylaxis", food allergies, peanut allergies, etc. and go from there. Would you like my e-mail address and/or telephone no.? I think there's a way of contacting each other. If you think it would help, I would be very pleased to talk with you!

Chandra .. my DS was 2.5 when tested and our consultant certainly didn't mention testing of u-5's being unreliable. That said, there are a number of allergies which younger children will grow out of by the age of 4 or 5 so maybe some centres are reluctant to test children younger than 5?

Chandra, my son was tested (RAST - the blood test) for allergies after a couple of bad reactions to dairy at age 9 months. I think that the thing with younger kids is that there can be a huge amount of false positives (??). My son had loads; according to the test he should have had massive reactions from wheat and chicken, but could eat those without problem. It did confirm that he had allergies to milk and soya. He had reactions to both - anaphylaxis to milk and generic old allergic reactions to soya. And it alerted us to the fact that he had a peanut allergy (never had an anaphylactic reaction to that, thank goodness, but had a reaction to the smell of baking pb cookies - so he is allergic to them).

Anyway, my rambly point is that you should get allergy tests because with the results and, especially, the incident with the peanuts, you can confirm that he's allergic to them. But don't get super scared if it shows he's allergic to someone he eats regularly. If he eats it without any reaction, he's not allergic to it. If you think he might be reacting to something in a more subtle way (ie he doesn't have a full blown reaction), you can try eliminating the food for a couple of weeks and then doing a challenge.

The gold standard for diagnosing an allergy is a food challenge. But you won't get to that point until the blood or skin prick test shows that it's safe to try it. My son grew out of his dairy allergy at age 5 1/2 (his skin prick test showed a positive, larger than the control, but not by much) and we do the skin tests every year for peanuts. He grew out of the soya allergy early on - age 2 1/2, I think.

Argh, that's so incoherent and rambly, sorry. If you'd like the name of some private paed allergists in London, let me know. I firmly believe that you should insist on an epi-pen now as well. They're easy peasy to use and for the little ones, have no contraindications.

sansouci - my sons' former paed in CH could do them right there in her office! It was fantastic.

oops - have just read the entire thread and my post is somewhat redundant!

If you want to email me about it or get the names of the doctors, pls feel free: jj at flubus dot com .

Thanks Sansouci, that's very kind, I will be contacting you by e-mail (through the CAT) when I have more specific questions, I don't want to bother you with questions that can be easily answered by googling but as soon I am stuck with something I will e-mail you. Thank you.

Thanks JJ, that really helped me to understand about the unreliability of tests, I believe that it's better to test one year (even if it gives a positive), and then continue testing every year, rather than spend 5 years wondering wheter he is or he is not. Which brings me back to the time frame for seeing an allergician. We have only been refered to the paediatrician, but as soon as we know who he/she is will reing to check waiting times and ask for a private appointment if the list is long.

Hi JJ, yes we knew immediately as the tests were done by the doc at his desk but if Chandra seriously considered coming over to test here, she'd need to allow some time for making an appointment. Well, that's stupid; she could call from the UK & set it up, then EasyJet over on the day and be back home in time for bed! (but you never know with easyjet, eh?)

You could do that, Chandra! I could meet you at the airport, take you to the specialist, etc.... you could even stay with us if you wanted.

Sansouci, you are a star. I was in tears this afternoon when I read your last post. Thank you very much from the Chandra family. I hope we could find the help we need here and soon, but if things come to that Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, if I can do anything for you, anytime please let me know.

Chandra, I am happy if I can help!