information on skin prick testing, please.

[hanreeoak]

My son has finally got a appointment for skin prick testing.

I am hoping for some help please, will him avoiding the foods that make him ill prior to the test affect the results?

He had blood tests in the summer to see if he was allergic to egg, wheat and dairy. It was positive for the egg which he had been eating but negative to the wheat and dairy which he had not been eating. I have since been told that this would of affected the results of the blood tests.

I really don't want this to happen again but equally I don't want to give him foods to eat that will make him ill.

Any information would be great thank you.

The blood tests are different - the skin prick tests measures the bodies reaction to the allergens as they are presented, so it makes no difference whether you have even ever met them or not

Thanks, that makes sense, the poor thing suffers so much with his skin I dont want to make things worse for him.

Make sure your son is anti-histamine (piriton, benadryl) free for at least 3 days prior to the test as this could cause a false negative. When my dd had the blood tests (RAST) I was told she had to be anti-histamine free for 14 days!!

Thank you that helps.

Remember no test is fully conclusive. The gold standard is what they call a challenge on a ward in a hosp. It is the only sure way of identifying an allergy. The tests give a good indicator though.

Yes, stay off the anti-histamines in advance.

The skin prick test will involve the skin actually being pricked with the allergen on the end of the needle so it won't make any difference whether he already has eaten those things.

When my DS had his done it was quite fascinating to watch how quickly - and dramatically - his skin reacted to certain allergens. Luckily for him they were not the common allergens such as egg, wheat etc, rather more obscure than that so it doesn't affect his daily life too much thankfully.

Good luck for the test.

I wasnt told about the antihistamine thing .

I didnt give DS his usual nighttime dose but he had been having it up to then.

Mind you he still reacted very strongly to everything tested for.

He has yet to forgive me for the whole thing. He brings it up regularly and gives me accusing looks.

My son is 13 months old so i'm not looking forward to his reaction to it, poor thing.

Also his skin is so bad with eczema I don't really know where they will find an area to test, but we are going to the hospital on the 15th so I can ask the doctor for information ready for the test on the 1st March.

Thank you for the information.

My son must habe been about 10 when he had his done so obviously was old enough to understand why it had to be done and didn't complain - although this is the kid who doesn't flinch at having blood taken, he likes to watch

They did his tests on the inside of his forearms - not sure if this is a standard place or not though.

hanreeoak if I were you I would ask for a play specialist to be there for a bit of distraction for your DS.

I wish I had for my DS who is much older (but has SN).

DS says it hurt. I am sure it was uncomfortable because they scraped his skin with a scapel but I think someone blowing bubbles and making him laugh would have helped him a lot.

hanreeok, how did you get referred ? my ds2 has eczema, is 4 mths but no-one will listen to me about food triggers. maybe as its early days?

my ds1 had blood tests but it took a shellfish scare to get a referral

It took me ages to get DS referred and he has had severe atopic since he was a baby.

To be fair it made some sort of sense. The dermatologist told me DS was so bad he was probably allergic to just about everything.

I got to the point where I just wanted as much info as possible to help me manage his condition as we were having no luck getting rid of it.

DS doesnt seem to have any food allergies but its helpful knowing that dust and pollens are a major cause.

It took me a few years to get to see the dermatologist so I always advise parents to get that sorted asap.

My son has low muscle tone and also his thumbs basically dont work (dont know why yet) as so he is a bit behind developmentally, we had a hospital appointment about these and on the day of the appointment his eczema was weeping and really bad all over. So since then we have had a childrens community nurse helping us.

We have been refered to see the allergist by the doctor at the hospital but it did take lots of asking and three visits before she agreed, and then lots of phone calls to finally get the appointment.

Our nurse has sugessted that he sees a dermatologist so hopefully will get referred at the next appointment on mon.

It is hard when you have to keep hasseling for help, if you feel you need it keep asking.