peanut allergy testing

[Jmarc]

ok, so j was diagnosed at age 3 1/2 with a peanut only allergy, weve been strict and mighty careful with it all 6 epi pens etc.. so last wednesday out of the blue j asks if she can be retested for the allegry we went to see her pedi, which is in the same practice as her original pedi...for some reason they switched her over to a woman whom we love....she(J) at her visit asked if she could be tested again... her pedi is like well why havent we tested before...both of us had no real answer as the old pedi just never mentioned to have it done...so we did bloodwork

BAM!!!! she is negative for peanut allergy....so with this knowledge,, we are now referred to a new allergist for a skin test and if that comes out negative.... a food challange...

now my question is.... is blood work accurate? versus the skin test?  and with all this...how am i gonna get her to do the food challange with out her having that fear that something is going to happen?

and is it possible that after age 3 she could have really outgrown it? we avoided so much with her as far as food with peanuts cross contamination and the like... if in deed she did out grow this,,it is going to be super hard  to re program herself to actually eat things that she couldnt before..

and honestly i do not know why we never went back to an allergist since we always got our epis prescribed by her pedi...

[rebekahc]

That sounds promising.  Blood and skin tests are about equally accurate from what I've heard.  Didn't J recently have a reaction to Panera, though?

[GoingNuts]

I'm grinning from ear to ear, keeping fingers crossed.

Of course the SPT and food challenge will tell the tale.

How exciting!

[becca]

That sounds like Great news J!  I would follow up with an allergist for the skin testing and potential food challenge. 

I have also not had dd tested for a few years, now.  Nothing was ever changing.  Now she does not want a needle stick.  her ped follows her allergies and prescribes the epi. 

[GingerPye]

omgoodness, that sounds wonderful!!  I hope she has outgrown!

[Jmarc]

we almost had a reaction with panera got to the food before she ate it...thank god.

we have a skin test on the 20th with the new allergist!! woo hooo!!! i hope i hope i hope with all my might that this is what we've waited for!!! omg....j was so excited she started to shake!! lol...

[Mfamom]

was it the uknow test or a rast? 
We're going to challenge my ds soon
he has negative RAST for peanut, huge 17mm wheal on skin though plus ana reaction.
we did the uknow and it put him in the low risk/cross reactive category. 
Previously, they wouldn't challenge him because of the conflicting skin/rast plus history.

good luck

[rebekahc]

Oh, I guess I remembered wrong - I was thinking she had a contact reaction or something before eating it. 

Good luck with the test!  The possibility of outgrowing is so exciting!!

[BensMom]

Sounds promising! My recollection from way back when I researched this stuff was that you can have a positive skin test even after you're no longer allergic. And that there can be false positives on skin tests but negative means negative. Good luck!That would be so awesome!

[Jmarc]

i know they are going to do a skin test is all i know so far until we see the new allergist next friday...im in such a whirlwind right now....the blood work she had on wednesday was a peanut allergy profile....they are also at the allergist going to test for tree nuts also....just in case....we do know thru the bloodwork that she is negative for peanut and walnut...somehow they tested for walnut...too...and the fact that they did that and it came up negative when we didnt ask for walnut makes me wonder if they goofed up the bloodwork....i guess im in panic mode there.... we will see for sure at the allergist i guess..

[Macabre]

Are you sure this new allergist does in office food challenges?  Some do not.

We have quite a bit if information in the other area about component tests (Uknow) and the positive and negative predictive values of both SPT and blood tests if yourbwNting more info than we've given you here. There are also some threads that detail how people deal with eating what one had always avoided if you want to read up on that,

It would be great if she's outgrown!!  Crossing fingers!

[aggiedog]

Exciting!  fingers crossed...

[SilverLining]

MODERATOR NOTE:. I'm unclear why this thread was started in the Off Topic area of the board.  If there is anything in it which anyone does not want in the open area of the board please pm me.

[booandbrimom]

Wow, how wonderful! Hope it works out for you guys!

I think allergists are being a lot more aggressive about re-testing (and sometimes challenge testing) kids who have been diagnosed through testing only, because they've become aware of a) how life-inhibiting a diagnosis is, and b) how many kids really do not have a peanut allergy who test sensitized.

The latest figure from the ACAAI meeting was that only 30% of kids who test positive to peanuts will have a true allergy.

[KSmom]

I have the same story with dd so I'd like to share our experience.  DD is now (almost) 19.  She was diagnosed at 2 after a severe reaction.  Her airway swelled and she collapsed (Low blood pressure?).  We were careful to avoid with a few incidents...fast forward to age 15, she felt like she needed to be tested again.  She told the doc that she thought she had outgrown.  I felt that it was a good idea to since it had been a long time since she'd shown any sensitivity and other allergies completely disappeared.  The allergist did a skin test but I can't quite remember the results, whether it was completely negative or a very small hive.  He then did a RAST test which came back negative.  He decided that we should try an oral challenge.  First he put a tiny amount of pb on her chin.  She didn't get hives but then again, she's never gotten hives with peanut reaction.  The usual symptoms are the airway closing and bp dropping.  Next he put a tiny amount (the size of the tip of a finger nail on her lip.  Eventually, some went in to her mouth.  As we were sitting, she started clearing her throat.  That's her first sign that her airway is closing.  I went to get the doc and by the time he came in, she said that she was definitely having a reaction.  He checked her airway and he said that it didn't *look* swollen.  Then he sits down next to her and said "Sometimes when someone has been dealing with a scary allergy all their life, they get panicky and just *feel* like they are having a reaction.  But this is only a fear reaction, not an allergic reaction." (Yes, my mouth was gaping at this explanation).  By this time, dd was miffed and just wanted to go home.  Since the doc thought she was having a psychosomatic reaction, what could I do?  Before the test, he had told us to have something in the house with pb because he assumed she'd pass the test since her RAST was negative.  He said she could try pb again and have a little regularly.  So the day before the test I asked her what she wanted to try after and she said Reese PB cereal. 

I stayed near the hospital after the oral challenge but the reaction cleared up quickly so we went home.  The next morning, dd figured that the doctor was right, that it was just in her head so she decided to test herself with the Reese cereal.  I came to the kitchen after she'd taken her first bite.  As soon as I looked at her, I knew she was reacting.  She was wheezing, fluid running from her nose like a tap and she was sinking to the ground.  I figured I wouldn't be believed at the hospital since "she tested negative to PA" so I had the presence of mind to grab my camera which happened to be on the table beside dd.  I took a picture of her swollen face.  Her eyes were swelled out to the bridge of her nose in a matter of seconds.  I gave her epi and called 911.  When we got to emerg, guess who was the doc on call?  Yes, the allergist from the previous day.  He came in to the room with a big smile saying, "Heyyyy, what are you doing here?"  When I showed him the pic of dd, he almost passed out.  Yup!!  She's still severely allergic.  He said that he'd never seen a negative skin and blood test and have the patient react so severely.  He was very apologetic (understatement).  DD will NEVER bother having another skin or blood test for allergies. For her, it is what it is.  She's been dealing with it for 17 years, she'll continue dealing with PA.

I hope all goes well with J.  I just really felt obligated to share our horror story.  I've kept quiet about it because, at the time, I felt like I was in the top running for Worst mommy of the Year.