Unlike other allergens that we may expirience airborne reactions from, shellfish has a scientifically proven aerosolization of protein when heated.

Quote from: starlight on October 03, 2016, 12:41:53 PM
Some shrimp are very high in histamine and can cause people who aren't even allergic to shrimp to have reactions. Maybe cooking changes the histamine and that's why she could eat but not handle?

Interesting...I have reacted to touching raw shrimp, and multiple times I've had asthma while near cooking shrimp. I have never actually eaten it, my allergist just told me to assume I am anaphylactic to shrimp (and avoid all shellfish). I think I've had asthma near boiling lobster also, and in a restaurant that serves lots of shellfish (but they also served nuts & peanuts there too).

Some shrimp are very high in histamine and can cause people who aren't even allergic to shrimp to have reactions. Maybe cooking changes the histamine and that's why she could eat but not handle?

Do you have a local seafood market?  Might be worthy of hanging out there just to see.  If you were local, I would have the perfect place to send you that he could hang out in an area they allows you to catch your own fish, crabs, crayfish and lobster.  If you are allergic, I highly suggest you avoid Dekalb Farmer's Market.

Interesting. So maybe I need to buy it raw since he won't be handling it cooked or ingesting it.

so, I know that my mom could eat shellfish without any problem, but when she handled raw shrimp etc, she reacted pretty badly. 
I have no idea the science behind it, but I remember when I was younger, she was making shrimp and was a swollen, itchy mess.  Happened another time and from then on out, she never handled raw shellfish. 
I guess that's why I thought being at the dr office would be a good idea "just in case"
Good luck with this!  I hope he is able to attend and has a great experience

OK I found a Joe's Crab shack 12 miles away and Red Lobster 8 miles away. Maybe ds can go with dh and watch him eat

I am seriously clueless folks. I DO NOT eat seafood. I'd never even heard of Joe's Crab Shack. The last time I tried seafood was 17 years ago at the longest running 5 star restaurant in the country at the time. DH bought a theatre package for my birthday and it included Lobster Bisque. I thought it was yuck! There was no point trying again after that. DH likes seafood so I'm sure we can work something out!

I was hoping my son would not want to go on the trip. But he hates trying new things and he wants to do this. I am trying to make it work even though it's giving me a panic attack.

I was going to suggest the same as starlight.

Most Mexican reestaurants I have gone to outside of Texas (and many in Texas) fry their tortilla chips in the same oil. Ask me how I know. Ugh.

Restaurants routinely grill on the same surface.

Quote from: brownie on October 03, 2016, 08:48:49 AM
Yeah - they roll around in the marsh mud in their regular clothes and there is no shower there.

Oh. Oh my god. The bacteria! The wet! The ew! The torny plants and bitey fish! 

Yeah - they roll around in the marsh mud in their regular clothes and there is no shower there. But that's a good idea.  I will send gloves in case he wants to hold a crab! He's squeamish anyhow...not sure he will want to hold crabs but I intend to be prepared.

I don't intend to test ingestion whatsoever. But he's also 14 and as far as we know has never eaten a nut either and yet he's allergic to walnuts and peanuts (his older brother was diagnosed before he went on solids) so I'm pretty sure he's been exposed to traces at some point. I think it's almost impossible not to be in 14 years.

Yes - this is a kid who has NEVER had a definitive reaction. However, he is 100+ RAST on peanut and positive skin; lower to walnut but positive nonetheless and his brother is definitely anaphylactic with a RAST of 5 to peanut and sensitive to about 1/100 of a peanut. So I know even his history is unusual, but his eyes swelled shut playing under a walnut tree years ago so I don't doubt he is sensitive.

Gonna preface this with I know where you're coming from but I'm not sure this is a good idea. The testing, not the trip. Because ideally you'd be doing it in a controlled environment like a dr's office or ER. 

If you're going to do it anyway: Red Lobster or Long John Silver for airborne. Buy a whole crab at the store or if you have a Joe's Crab Shack in the area for crab exposure. And if you really want to risk an ingestion, try finding a place that fries shrimp or other shellfish in the same oil as French fries - really shouldn't be too hard to find, maybe even Red Lobster?

But remember, you don't react on your very first exposure to a protein, only subsequent. So if you only tested him before through blood testing, you may have to expose him twice for accuracy.

About the trip - I doubt a live crab is going to put out enough vapor to cause an airborne reaction unless he sticks his nose on it. And there's no way they'll allow exposed skin or clothes in the marsh without some sort of rubber overall thing (if they do that's disgusting and dangerous). So if he brings a pair of rubber gloves to hold the crabs with and is careful not to touch his face and gets help taking the gloves and boots off and putting them into a bag or wash them off in the shower, he may be fine even if he is allergic.

I'm not trying to be difficult but that won't work. They are just not going to have any advice for me on this very specific request. Likely they will tell me I need a skin test, a blood test and then if not negative, an in-office challenge. At our doctor, we are looking at 9 months to accomplish all that, and I don't need to know if he can eat them, just if he can touch live shellfish and be in a building where they are being cooked.

OR if I told them that touch and airborne tolerance is my only goal, they might tell me not to worry because it's unlikely he would react...but I'm mom. Just like our first allergist told us to eat M&M's! They are just not that well versed in the day to day concerns. Of course I worry when my kid is 45 minutes from emergency medical care for the 1st time. I need to do some exposure to be comfortable with this.

I wouldn't consider it if I didn't think he was negative but the numbers were always low to negative and all of his other low numbers have turned out to be false positives. However, he is contact sensitive to walnuts so contact sensitive is possible, though not likely.

hi,
i would speak with your doctor about this and find out what he/she thinks is best way to do a "challenge".
good luck!

This is an odd question. I am posting here because I imagine those on the shellfish board don't intentionally expose themselves too often, so are less likely to have an answer

DS14 wants to go on his school's 8th grade trip to the Chesapeake Bay. They will muck around in the marsh, hold crabs and other creatures, and attend a meal where local fare will be prepared and served. DS will bring his own food and is allergic to peanut, walnuts and pecans. His tests used to show low positive to shellfish and since I hate all seafood, I have never worried too much about it as we have other allergy issues more pressing. I haven't tested him for shellfish in years, but now I'm very concerned to send him away for 3 days to a remote island and get his first exposure. BTW he is low positive to every type of treenut and we have recently introduced 3 treenuts with NO issue whatsoever, so I suspect the shellfish was also false positive. I also recollect that the most recent shellfish test years ago had actually gone negative. We've never skin-tested for shellfish though and there is no way I can get an appointment in time as the wait time here is at least 3 months.

***So here is what I need to know. How can I go about getting my child to come in contact with shellfish, crabs especially, to confirm no reaction? I have no clue how to cook seafood either bc I despise seafood but these would be live crabs anyhow. Do I just go to the store and buy them in the seafood section? Is there an appropriate restaurant we could walk into to check airborne? An easy way to feed him minute quantities that doesn't involve preparing and serving fish, like chewable a supplement, because I suspect he would puke just at the thought of it? THanks!