High RAST+ for peanuts with no visible reaction??

Just based on our experience....My child's highest level for peanut was a class 5, not sure of the %. Now is a class 3, and has experienced full blown anaphylaxis to traces of food, is contact, inhalation and ingestion sensitive. I don't feel the numbers always correspond. If your child is only 2.5 yrs old, it's possible that she is not able to articulate a reaction and think "tingling of the mouth" is normal. My child just recently told me that everything was blurry before wearing glasses and thought that was how everyone saw. Children sometimes just think things are the way they are, kwim?

If it were my child, I would definitely avoid peanut. You did say she threw up and has eczema. That could be two systems that are possibly affected, gastrointestinal and skin. My child suffers from gastrointestinal anaphylaxis. My child also had eczema as a baby and now has asthma (you can research the "atopic march" and read up on how it is all correlated, not to say your child will develop asthma, but how eczema, allergies and asthma are all related).
My child was diagnosed at around a year old with food allergies. What I did was start eliminating the positive foods, and trust me it wasn't easy as there was a very long list. However, the eczema cleared up.

Hope some of this is helpful, but talk to the allergist, read as much as you can and try to avoid high allergens. Best wishes and good luck.

Level of RAST does NOT mean anything if the results are a false positive. both skin and blood test results have about a 50% accuracy rate for positive results (meaning a very high false-positive rate) and over 90% accuracy rate for negative results. The positive predictive values and negative predictive values are #'s above which you are likely to have anaphylaxis upon ingestion (obviously this hasn't been the case with your child so far) and below which anaphylaxis is unlikely (but still positive) *ARE ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE HAD FOR SURE PAST REACTIONS AND FOR SURE HAVE IGE MEDIATED FOOD ALLERGIES TO THAT FOOD.* Test results alone can not be used to diagnose a food allergy.

Whether to pull a food or not when the only possible symptom is eczema is not necessarily a black and white issue but many allergists including many top allergists advise *against* doing this if eczema is the only symptom. 60% of eczema is NOT related to food at all and is caused by other things. Has your child eaten apples or peanut butter since the time your child threw up after eating them? If so I'd assume it was not due to an allergy but something else.

I'm not a doctor, though. If I were you and you were concerned I would recommend seeking out a board certified allergist to consult with.

Also, people who are allergic to foods can't measure how severe their allergy is based on rast or skin testing. Some people test negative yet have anaphylaxis (both tests are only 90% accurate for negative results). Others test positive but have so far only had minor reactions. Others test 'class 1' and have super severe reactions. Reactions can and do change so that's why I think it is a good idea for your to see an allergist. I think there is a good chance you are *not* dealing with a food allergy as the majority of eczema is not food-related. I have eczema and no food allergies.

Good luck!

I thought I'd update this post just in case it ever comes in handy for another parent facing the same issue.

I wrote to Hugh Sampson about my daughter's case, and he responded:

"We occasionally see children with high levels of IgE who are eating the food with no problem. It always presents a conundrum."

He referred me to a colleague in my area, and I made an appointment for December. He even said that the doctor could send the test results to him, if desired. Hopefully, I'll have more information to pass along at that time!