Negative rast test but never been exposed....so is it really negative?

I'm so glad to hear the great news on the RAST test. My feeling is that your dd is not allergic now, but I do not think that rules out the possibility that she could become allergic. KWIM?

We now let our 9 year old have some shellfish, on occasion, but we are cautious not to "overdo" it in the hopes that she will not develop an allergy to it later.

I am pretty sure she must have tested negative to it at some point [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/confused.gif[/img] or we wouldn't have started allowing her to have it. It's hard for me to believe that my mind has gone blank on the issue, but I [i]think[/i] we did do a RAST test for her on shellfish about 2 1/2 years ago. We have only really started letting her have shellfish at all in the last several months.

Nice to see you posting; I hope all goes well!

[img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] Miriam

Hi California Mom! I know I have not posted in a very long time. It was a horrible school year. DD`s teacher kept "forgetting" what was in her 504. Only because DD is older did she not have a reaction. It was violated so many times and every time I would say something to the teacher, she would act like we had never discussed it before ("oh, I can`t pass out Snickers to the other children?"). During the Snickers incident DD who is usually totally unassertative had to go up to her friends and ask them to save their Snickers until they got home. Isn`t that ridiculous?

Anyhow, thanks for your input. It was great news about the shell fish, and DD had fish sticks for the first time and loved them. Even better, her rast for egg is now negative. The only time in her life she had egg I had to use the Epi. She gets food challenged for egg this Wednesday. I also wonder if she passes the food challenge, if the egg allergy can come back after she eats it a few times.

carefulmom - i see that your child at age 10 is allergic still to milk and eggs. Just curious has she ever reacted or was it just an elevated RAST? My 3 yr old son is egg, wheat, milk and nuts. He is contact sensitive to milk and so it is very scary to say the least. The others were tested RAST and came out positive. Just curious how you knew about the milk and egg allergy or if you have had reactions. My son had an analphalytic reaction to what we think was milk and my allergist said that my son still could outgrow this allergy...albeit when he gets older.

Hi ks65, I think you and I were posting at the same time. I thought dd would never outgrow the milk and egg, but that time is coming! The egg I never gave her until age 2 1/2. That was the first time and I had to use the epi, she went into anaphylaxis. She is now rast negative for egg at age 9 and gets food challenged this Wednesday. I already feel emancipated at the thought of never having to use Egg Replacer again. The milk she has had hives at age 17 days. Then at age 2 1/2 the babysitter snuck milk into my house and gave it to her, and she started wheezing. That was the last exposure as far as I know. Her milk rast is now almost normal, and the allergist expects it to be negative in 6 months. I thought the day would never come. This week I was asked to bring in ice cream for her entire class, so I had to make it myself. The entire time I kept telling myself in 6 more months maybe I won`t have to do this anymore.

I know it is really hard to find food they can have when you have to avoid milk and egg. If you can find egg replacer it is a big help. I buy mine at Whole Foods. You said your son is contact senstive to milk. I am not sure exactly how contact sensitive he is. I remember when dd was right around age 3 I drank a milk shake and kissed her after. She broke out in a welt where I kissed her. If you are referring to something like that, I remember being a little freaked. However a few months ago we did a test, and I ate cheese and kissed her. Nothing happened.

Hi Carefulmom,

A few years ago I asked at a FAAN conference when it would be safe (in general)to introduce shellfish into a PA/TNA's diet. I think they said around 6 or 7 - can't remember exactly but I am sure it was younger then 9.

But fish sticks are not really shellfish (they normally made of fin fish) and the two are normally treated as different allergies. Shellfish would be shrimp, crab, lobster and fin fish would be salmon, cod, tuna etc... So even if she has had fish sticks that might not be relevant to a potential shellfish reaction. Edited to add that I missed you said she had had shrimp with no trouble too. So that is one true shellfish exposure!

DD has had fin fish with no trouble, but turns up her nose at shellfish. I hope that this is just pickiness and not because she senses it would not agree with her. Maybe I should have the shellfish done at the next RAST, although I hate to repeat it unless we really have to - the last one was awful as dd fainted during the blood draw.

Sorry to hear your school year was bad, but good for dd in speaking up on her own. Good Luck.

[This message has been edited by Chicago (edited June 19, 2004).]

Just a note of caution, I have seen some fish sticks that list traces of shrimp on the label.

Chicago, I think that the reason he said no shellfish until recently was because dd has multiple food allergies, not just peanuts. Because of the allergies to milk and eggs she was higher risk for shell fish allergy. And I knew that fish sticks are supposed to be fish, not shellfish. But I had also heard like kstreeter that they often use shellfish as fillers in fish sticks. So when shellfish was off the list, I did not want to take any chances with fish sticks. I did look at the ingredients on fish sticks a few years ago, but there were so many things in there that I was not sure on some if they were fish or shellfish, so when shellfish was off limits it did not seem like a good idea. She has had fish many times (fish was off limits until age 5) with no problems---that would be salmon, tuna, halibut. But it was always straight salmon, or straight tuna, etc. Not some mix that had 8 or 10 different kinds of fish all mixed together, like the fish sticks did.