NHS Allergy test for toddler

[jenniejennie]

My little boy had an anaphylactic shock a few months ago. We have no idea what caused it as he didnt have anything new that day.

We were offered an allergy test on the NHS and despite my strict instructions to my OH to ask for a referral through our medical insurance and have a private test done he agreed to have the NHS test.

Its not nice to have to take your toddler for a blood test so we only wanted to go through it once.

We rang the doctors today - who have taken nearly two months to do the test and get results back. All they said on the phone was "nothing to report - no action required".

I asked OH what exactly they tested for and he said they asked him what he wanted them to test for and he said "tomato, spring onion and sesame" which are the three things he ate that day which are common allergens.

Am I being stupid to think that the NHS would have done a standard test for lots of things, not just the three things OH listed? Does anyone know what the NHS test for by default?

Im so angry that I put my son through a blood test only to find that I now have no idea what he is allergic to and no idea what has been ruled out. I know that the private test wouldnt necc have found an allergen if allergy was caused by something odd or a virus but surely I could expect more information than this.

I have no idea what to do now. I could go for the private test in addition but I dont want to put a two year old through another blood test.

Any advice welcome. I feel a bit helpless now.

it sounds like you have just gone through a gp rast test, which , for a mystery reaction doesnt really help that much.

what you need to do is ask for a refferal to a pead allergy clinic, if you are in the south of england, and can get to london, its easier to get someone decent.

i would phone up the anaphylaxis campaign to get the name of the nearest pead allergy clinic to you, take that name to your gp.

if you have private health care, the better, but you will see the same peadiatric immunologists , as there are not that many in the uk.
once you get to see a immunologist, they will take the following in to consideration, his history, family history, and his reaction.
they may do another blood test, and skin tests.

its vital that you find out the cause.
do you have epi pens?

we are under the care of a nhs allergy clinic at st marys hosptial , paddington, since our son was 18 months old, he is now 14 yrs.
we are currently under prof warner, who is very, very good.

good luck .

Thank you so much. We have free private medical care so it would just be quicker to use that as I wont need a seperate referral, I can just ring them up now the doctor has suggested tests. The only problem was knowing who to ask to see, I did lots of googling but coundt find any. Hence why I send OH to doctors to get doctor to tell us.

We have epi pens thank goodness.

We are in Bristol so although it wont be as easy as in London there should be someone local.

Thank you for the advice.

Ok I didn't think our doctor could cock up any more but they have. I rang doctors to ask more about what they tested for and they said they made a mistake and haven't had the results back. We have given him the things we thought they had tested for for his supper. what a nightmare. piriton and dpi pen on standby. you are right about the blood tests its just all new to me and its hard to hold your two year olds arm while they stick needles in it but something I'll have to get used to I guess. doctor said they have done a
standard ige test but couldn't tell me what that meant.

DS is under a few consultants at Bristol Children's Hospital. They are all fantastic, so not sure why you want to go private?

don't want to go private but our local doctors is making a shambles of the testing and hasn't referred us to the consultants at children's hospital. private treatment would be quicker, not necc better.

When they do ige/RAST tests they don't just test for everything. Each test can cost £250 or more! The main allergens tend to be grouped into 1 test and then they can do individual allergens too. So for example my dd had the Allergy Profile 4 test which included 22 different types of nut and seed. Also she was screened for cat, dog, horse and rabbit as separate allergens. These were requested based on her history of reaction and keeping a diary of foods etc.
Though I guess for you it will be a bit more difficult as you mentioned the reaction was unexplained! Have you managed to keep a diary or do you have a rough idea of what it could be?
When you do get the results ask for a copy rather than for a secretary to say "nothing to report". The report should list all the allergens tested for and a number showing the antibody reaction and then it is graded 0-6. 0 being no reaction 6 being severe.
HTH

We saw a paediatric immunolist privately who promptly referred us back (to herself) onto the NHS as ds has a cows milk allergy and would require regular follow up.

Thanks all. The main reason I thought of using the private route is because I get it free from work and can have unlimited treatment for free so it would perhaps have worked out better and faster for us and saved the NHS money in the process. The private tests I looked up test a wide range of food groups so perhaps I would have received greater coverage from this route. Anyway too late now, I dont really want this to turn into a private health care bashing, I just want advice on how to get the best from the NHS route for now and if it doesnt help us then I will pursue it with our healthcare.

The doctor rang to apologise for their errors this morning and last night but we are still in their hands waiting for the test results which they now tell us can take up to 4 weeks to arrive.

They couldnt tell us which groups of allergens they had tested for. No idea why, I guess they didnt keep a record.

The doctor didnt ask us to keep a food diary. Wierdly I kept a food diary for the health visitor for the 6 weeks prior to the reaction but he didnt have areaction then.

DS had a slight reaction after eating tomatos a few days after his shock but OH didnt say tomatoes to the doctor so no idea if they will test for this. I will ask for a written copy of the report when it finally comes in.

Have you heard you can get a home allergy test done which screens for many foods , pollens and pet allergies? You could then take the report along to your GP. My friend found this very useful for her allergic daughter. IGEVIA tests for 282 allergens and is an IgE blood test - www.igevia.com/shop