Happy and Scared

Tricia- Congratulations on what could be great news! A word of caution: at age 4, my DD's CAP-RAST came back at less than 0.35 and she had never been exposed to peanut. We had found out about her allergy to peanuts by a skin test at 18 months. We did a challenge in her allergist's office and after eating 1 teaspoon of peanut butter she had severe anaphylaxis and almost died. If I had this to do over (i.e. if I were in your shoes)I would wait 6 months to a year after a negative CAP-RAST, repeat it and then consider doing a challenge if it remains negative. If there is no rush to find out whether she is still allergic, you have lost little and you may be preventing the trauma of a positive challenge. Good luck!

Well, I guess I would be eager to find out- but I wouldn't want to do a challenge anywhere but a hospital. And I also agree that waiting might be smarter, especially if your daughter has had any major reactions.

Maybe you could start the challenge with a skin prick test instead of an ingestion? A teaspoonful sounds like an ENORMOUS amount to try with an initial challenge! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/eek.gif[/img]
(You know that she's had a recent exposure from the previous skin test, so if she were going to react it at least seems likely she would do so on the skin test.)

I think (having read a couple of very disturbing posts about PA recurring) I would have a VERY hard time letting my epi pens expire. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] Wouldn't it be great to not have to be afraid every time you leave your house, though? Think of the carefree aspects of childhood your daughter could have back! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
How does SHE feel about this? I think that truthfully, my 3 yo would be quite willing to try it if it were us. She's been to the hospital and trusts doctors implicitly.

Tough decision- but what a great one to have! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

My daughter has not had another reaction to peanuts since she her first bite of peanuts two years ago. The allergy doctor I take her to is located at the Children's Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. This is a great comfort to know we will be at one of the best hospitals in Nebraska. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

I have spoken with the doctor and they are going to start out crushing up some peanuts and putting that mixture on her skin. If everything goes ok with that, then they will proceed.

I have thought about waiting, but my daughter has not had another reaction to peanuts. Thanks for all the advice. I will keep you all posted. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

nonuts4me,

Congratulations on your daughter's neg.cap rast and neg. skin test!

That's amazing and she is in that range to have grown out of it.

They do say if the initial reaction was before the age of two and they haven't had a reaction in 2 years that the likelihood of outgrowing it are better.

Do keep us posted and Good Luck!

p.s....I just love hearing these stories [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

Good luck, too. I just want to ditto how encouraging, or vicariously so, at least, these stories are. becca

Today was the day my daughter challenged peanuts and I have good news and bad news. The bad news is she is still allergic to peanuts. The good news is her allergy is not too severe.

The doctor started out by placing a little piece of a 1/4 of a peanut in her mouth. After a minute, she swallowed it and ten minutes later there was no reaction. I have to say, the moment he placed that little bit of nothing in her mouth, I lost it. I felt my eyes fill up with tears.

The next step was a little more of a peanut and ten minutes later still no reaction. The doctor then placed one whole peanut in her mouth. A couple of minutes later my daughter started to itch her back and then we saw some hives. After ten minutes, the doctor had confirmed hives on my child and the challenge was stopped.

The doctor will retest my daughter in one year. The doctor has told me not to let my daughter eat peanuts, but she does not have to be islolated at preschool. Since her reaction was not severe he feels she has a good chance to outgrow this allergy. I feel more confused now with these results, but I am grateful everything went well today, I know it could have ended a lot worse.

Take care.
Tricia

Tricia,

Isn't this against all that we are learning here, that some tolerate more exposures to peanut before they react when some react to trace amounts right away!

Bottom line is your child reacted....if they would have continued giving a little bit more maybe it would have resulted in anaphylaxis.

Am I missing something here or am I the only one who thinks your allergist is making you feel comfortable with this when you shouldn't be.

I had to re-read what you wrote and had to edit my comment.
Since the reaction wasn't "severe" she has a better chance of outgrowing it? Your child had a reaction with a neg.Cap Rast, man, I would be demanding a Cap Rast now to see if this challenge affected the igE levels! This really stinks!
I'm so sorry for you [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/frown.gif[/img]

[This message has been edited by smack (edited April 12, 2002).]

Tricia- I am so sorry that she is still allergic. I agree with Smack that you may be getting a false sense of security from your allergist. Any reaction, including the mild reaction your child had, indicates that she is at risk for a life-threatening reaction in the future. You might want to seek a second opinion.

I totally agree that I would seek a second opinion. I don't think that there's any evidence that your daughter couldn't have a serious reaction, nor that she is "outgrowing" her peanut allergy. Instead I would interpret this test as a clear confirmation of her allergy. Just because a person is allergic doesn't mean that every reaction will be anaphylactic, but it means that any reaction could be. Definitely get some more advice from another allergist.

That is discouraging. It seems all that we can gain from our child "appearing" to outgrow the allergy is some increased feeling of safety. I have seen similar stories to this where they seem to outgrow it but it is just that their levels of antibodies have dropped due to eliminating exposure. Is this correct by the science of it? Given enough time and exposure, it seems to come back?

What does seem good about this is some increased sense of safety. You might not start feeding your kids pn, but could feel safer about going to public events, parties, etc. and not feel so frightened. I think I would always carry epipens until at least several neg. tests over some time(years).

I hope that your daughter continues to move forward with this decreased sensetivity and truly does outgrow the allergy. best wishes. becca