My 9 year old son was just given a blood test for his peanut allergy (thought he might have outgrown it). Not only did he come back positive for peanuts, but also for wheat and soy which he eats every day without problem. How is that possible??

Dina-blood and skin prick tests CAN have false positive results. One should always take into consideration the following.

1. blood test
2. skin prick test
3. history of reaction (in my opinion the most important)

I personally would not consider an allergy diagnosis without the above. Science can only take us so far. If there has never been a history of a reaction to a food then there should be no reason to test. Unfortunately some allergists still do a full test panel.

However if there is a food reaction that can not be pinpointed-it may be necessary to do a test to multiple foods. If blood and skin results are positive-then I would ask for a food challenge.

These are just my thoughts based on what we've gone through over the years.

I'd discuss with your allergist.

Best of luck!
Ruth

Thanks Ruth! We actually were at the pediatrician for a check up for something non-related to allergies. And, while we were there, I asked if she could run a blood test for his peanut allergy since he hasn't had a reaction since he was 3 years old (he's 9 now). He probably hasn't had a reaction because he hasn't had any peanuts--- but we thought we'd give it a shot anyway. She said, well, I'll just run a whole panel for you. Then we got the whole wheat, soy, corn, shellfish, walnuts, sesame--- except for the shellfish and walnuts (which we wouldn't know about since he's never tried either one)-- it just didn't make sense since he's eaten all of them without reaction. It's not as though he gets hives or things like that, and we were trying to pinpoint. He does sometimes from grasses and trees (usually during baseball season in the spring), but he also has an allergy to those. The other foods just didn't make sense to us. Thank you!

You are more than welcome! Sometimes pediatricians mean well but since they are not specialists they don't always make the right decisions.

Heck-even allergists do a whole panel of tests without history of reaction. That's what ours did and we've been avoiding sesame every since with no reaction-but are now too worried to try. Thinking of doing a food challenge in the future.

As you know-it's never cut and dry!

I think it's safe to say-no reactions to eaten food-no allergy in your case...as you've already guessed. :)

Ruth

My son who just turned two was just given a skin test and blood test for his peanut allergy. It came back positive for peanuts on both skin and blood test, not on tree nuts. The allergist did say his score was a two out of six. What does that score really mean. Does anyone know? Is it also normal for him to just have a reaction when he eats peanut products and not the trace amounts that are labeled on the packaging. A lady told that her son's reaction have gotten worse with each encounter with peanuts. Is this normal? My son had a reaction back in February and has been fine every since.

Mayoung,

The 2 out of 6 indicates the "class level" of the allergy based on the blood test. Our allergist, Dr. Michael Young, says not to read very much into any of the numbers because they are not a good predictor of the severity of future reactions. He says the numbers simply mean there is a sensitivity. I don't have a copy of that chart handy but I must confess I like to see where my son's numbers fall, regardless of the lack of significant meaning to those numbers. (Our numbers get higher each year.)

Yes, it is common or normal to have a reaction only when eating peanuts and not when eating trace amounts. My son is not able to eat trace amounts; we see reactions with extremely minute traces. There seems to be quite a range from one allergic person to another. The challenge is that the severity of one reaction is not a good predictor of the severity of future reactions. This is why many allergists recommend avoiding peanuts as well as foods containing traces of peanuts. (In my son's case, we avoid foods made in facilities that handle peanuts, to avoid those trace amounts.) Some people relax and even stop bringing their epipens but that is a real "no-no". Always keep the epi-pen with you.

Also, yes, I understand it is normal for reactions to get worse with each peanut exposure. That possibility really frightens me, so we are uber-careful peanut avoiding purists!

Hope this info helps.

Jennifer B
www.foodallergybuzz.com

My daughter can't have trace amounts, she can't even be around ppl that may have been eating peanuts that day!!! My son is PA - he is a high class three and he does fine with food manufactured in the same facility or lines. But my daughter can't eat anything like that. When she does get slight x contam she usually just has a bad eczema flare up, but I just KNOW that a quarter of a peanut would have her in the hospital! She is a class 5 I think. So...I think you just have to find out what you are comfortable feeding your child....how much did it take for him to react before? I wasn't there when my son was fed peanuts, but by the hives that he had around his mouth (which started immediately) it seems as though he got a big bite of something. My daughter had a pb kid bar and almost went into shock, but since she has consistently reacted to trace amounts. :( My son never reacts to anything. :) Good luck finding your way!

Oh yeah, sorry - my main point: My son when he was tested (RAST) he showed very mild egg, soy and something else, I forget lol. But since he doesn't react to those things I was told he can still have them. I did stop giving him actual soy milk to drink and his eczema cleared right up, but I don't read every label for everything except for peanuts, tree nuts, and shellfish. :D Good luck!