My daughter is allergic to peanuts, I do not know the degree of the allergy although she was tested at about 18 months old. I recently heard that children should be retested before entering school and that there was a 10% chance that the allergy would not reappear. Does anyone know if this is for real? I have not yet contacted my doctor but before I do I would like to know if anyone else has proof of this!!
Many Thanks
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I wnat to know too! My daughter had a reaction at 13 months and was blood tested positive to peanuts. That is the only allergy she has and I to, have hope that she may be one of the 10-20% that outgrow. I am having the hardest time figuring out...how in the heck do you re-test to see if it is still there. My allergist made me believe that once you test positive (blood test) there will always be traces and you will always test positive. He said skin testing is risky b/c this is a life-threatening allergy. However, I see alot of people testing/re-testing kids on this website. I want to re-test my daughter after 2 yrs old (supposedly if you outgrow it...it is after 2)...I may call the allergist next week and discuss all this stuff I have been hearing!!
My daughter was just re-tested last week, by skin test. Unfortunately, it was still positive. I,too, was mildly encouraged by a recent article about some people actually outgrowing PA. Her original testing was around 18 mos. She is now 13. We had hoped that since she hasn't had any exposures since age 5, just maybe we would luck out. The funny thing is, I still don't think I could have a jar of peanut butter in the house, it has so long been taboo around here. I really think I was more disappointed by the positive result than my daughter, this has been part of her life since the beginning. It would be great to hear of someone on this board who actually converted to negative! I told my kids I would rather get rid of this PA than win a million dollars. They think I am crazy!!
I take my child to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD for treatment of his food allergies. The question of retesting for peanut allergy has come up. During our discussions, I asked why they didn't do any skin testing to check to see if my child was still allergic to peanuts (they did do blood testing). They told me that the skin test is unreliable for checking to see if a food allergy has been outgrown. They said that many times a person will continue to show a positive skin test long after the food allergy has been outgrown. You may want to ask your allergist about this. Perhaps your allergist could call Johns Hopkins for more details. It would be a shame for you to continue to live as if your daughter has a peanut allergy when, in fact, she really has outgrown it.
I would not advise a scratch test for retesting peanut allergies. My son had one last month and ended up having a reaction. It was very scary and upsetting. He needed to get epinephrine but I was really kicking myself for subjecting him to it. If I had it to do over again, I would do blood testing if anything. You can read more details about the testing and his reaction under the Reactions heading and my name.
I wanted to let you know that I spoke with my daughter's doctor today and she suggested that we do another sratch test then if the reaciton is low we will do a blood test and then if that is low then a food challenge is in order. I am currently on a waiting list for the scratch test but I am still compiling information before I get it done.
I have several concerns after reading all the postings from my message and I thank everyone of you for your time.
Here's hoping for the best and please let me know if you have any other information regarding re-testing.
Many Many Thanks
Quote:Originally posted by kathryn65:
[b]I wnat to know too! My daughter had a reaction at 13 months and was blood tested positive to peanuts. That is the only allergy she has and I to, have hope that she may be one of the 10-20% that outgrow. I am having the hardest time figuring out...how in the heck do you re-test to see if it is still there. My allergist made me believe that once you test positive (blood test) there will always be traces and you will always test positive. He said skin testing is risky b/c this is a life-threatening allergy. However, I see alot of people testing/re-testing kids on this website. I want to re-test my daughter after 2 yrs old (supposedly if you outgrow it...it is after 2)...I may call the allergist next week and discuss all this stuff I have been hearing!![/b]
Beth...
Thank you for your message. I don't think you are crazy for giving up a million against getting a negative PA result. I would give up a million too. As you will note from my response to Kathrine I am awaiting an appointment for a scratch test and will keep all posted.
MontrealMom - I spoke to my doctor yesterday...as I too have hope that my daughter will outgrow this...He said that when she is 3 or so I should get the CAP RAST blood test and if that is low then the skin test (i guess also called a scratch test)....then perhaps a food challenge. It sounded like your doctor advised the scratch test THEN the blood test...Do you know why? My allergist is out of Childrens' Hospital in LA. Anyhow I have time (my daughter is only 15 months)...but I also have hope that if she doesn't outgrow..the cure will be here by the time she enters kindergarten!
Kathryn65.. My daughter is now 6 years old and has not had any contact with peanuts since her 1st reaction at about 1 year. I'm not sure why my doctor wants a skin test first but I will bring all the research documentation with me when I go for the first consultation appointment and ask her why. I will keep you posted and I wish you well. At your daughter's age it is a little easier to control what she eats although reading every label on every product is a drag you get used to it and it becomes automatic. My daughter always asks if she can eat anything that is given to her. We live in Montreal Canada and I will be going to the Montreal Children's Hospital for the tests. We will see...
Take Care!
If you do a search in these boards you can find discussions about this topic. I've posted in the past the fact that my son tested as 4+ to egg by the skin test at the age of 6. His doctor then said the next step was a CAP RAST test -which came in the low range. We were told with his result there was an 80-90% chance he had outgrown the egg allergy. The next step was to do a food challenge in a hospital setting. My husband and I were nervous but decided the risk vs. outcome was worth taking. My son passed the challenge and has been eating eggs for almost a year without incident. So if we had stopped at the skin test we would still think he was allergic to eggs which is obviously is not the case.
Janet... I had actually read your account of the egg challenge and it was quite encouraging to me. You must be thrilled about the result. I'm not holding my hopes up too much as I understand that there are not too many cases in which PA positive people have reverted to negative results. Thanks for the tip!
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