I had a very frustrating conversation with the allergist we have seen about Gavin's PA. We were out of town (the boys and I) so he just spoke with my husband.
He said we should consider anything beside peanuts safe. He did test for strawberries (since that was eaten with the peanut butter), corn, wheat, eggs, and milk. I told him I was concerned about other allergies because he ate peanuts or peanut products very often before he had the reaction without a problem and I'm concerned that there may be other foods that he is allergic to.I also mentioned that I am aware that having one food allergy means you may have others you aren't aware of.
He told me that we just had to wait to see if he reacted?!?!?!? Does this seem right? Shouldn't he be testing for other things too?
He did say in the future we will do further testing, but not now.
This just doesn't make sense to me.
With us since my son was 2 when we found out (we suspected PA since someone who ate peanuts touched his face and he broke out) our allergist tested for PA and turned out positive. Told us to stay away from peanuts and tree nuts. He said all children should not eat peanuts or tree nuts until they are at least 5 years old. He did test my son after a few visits for a couple of tree nuts which I believe turned out negative but then got tested again and was positive to all the tree nuts he was tested for. Then eventually he got tested for sesame because sometimes PA children also have sesame allergies. He tested positive for that also.
I'm PA also and from my experience all doctors are different. I agree with my son's doctor but I don't agree with my doctor.
I do think at some point they would test for tree nuts and seeds. Maybe it depends on the age. I don't think it's right for a doctor to want to wait for a reaction when they can test for it or at least avoid the foods that you need to be concerned about until they can do testing.
My son's allergist's method of doing things is similar to yours I think.
He will only test for foods that there has been a suspected reaction to. So for us that has been peanuts, and then later apples and almonds. He said at our last appointment he would test for tree-nuts when my son was about 11 yrs old (he's 7 now). He had eaten those prior to the peanut reaction with no problems, but has been advised to avoid them completely, until he is tested.
I had thought that they don't like testing for many kinds of foods at once, unless there is a reason for it. My understanding of the reasoning behind this is that it can result in false positives (especially w/ cross reactives) - please someone correct me if I'm totally wrong but for some reason this sticks in my head.
Are there specific foods that you are worried about?
When my DD was tested at 18 months old, they ran a whole gamut of tests for most of the major allergy-inducing foods (shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, dairy, eggs) and some of the more common "kids" allergies--various fruits and vegetables, corn and wheat. There may have been others--I can't remember. It just makes sense to do these tests IMO since you're already drawing blood to test for peanuts.
When she was retested at age six, they did all of these again and added in environmental allergies as well since she had started having problems with cats. Same idea--if she's reacting to cat dander, may as well check for dust, molds, pollens, dogs, etc.
Sarah
My son was diagnosed at one (due to reactions - not testing). He was not formally tested until about age 9. This test showed he was allergic to (besides peanut) strawberries, peaches, bakers yeast, soy, tree nuts, cats, mold and -- well I don't remember. The allergist said the only ones to worry about were peanuts and tree nuts. The rest he could have small amounts.
Well, we figured out why he ALWAYS got a tummy ache after eating at a certain restaurant - yeast rolls! We cut back to 1/2 roll and no more tummy ache.
He has since outgrown all the allergies except peanut and tree nut.
I could not imagine doing the skin test on a 2.5 yr old! The blood tests are not as reliable (IMHO).
Got to say, I agree with the allergist. Unless he starts having mystery hives, tummy aches or uncontrolled eczema, then you are doing fine. If he starts having problems, cut back on the variety of foods, keep a food log and try to narrow it down. If that does not work, you have to test.
The tests are iffy, the true test is whether or not he is reacting to something.
Others may have totally different opinions. That's ok. This is just mine and what worked for us. As other say on the board "individual mileage may vary" [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/wink.gif[/img]
Have a blessed day,
Bridget
We originally only had dd tested for peanuts and tree nuts. When we took our younger two in last week for testing, the dr wanted to do the full panel which included foods they have eaten. Thankfully everything was negative (including peanuts and tree nuts but a previous cap-rast for those was also negative). We took PA/TNA dd in this week for retesting. He allowed us to test for everything that dd hasn't eaten, which included fish, shellfish, rye, barley (she may have had those last two but I wasn't sure), lamb, lima beans, plus peanuts and tree nuts. The peanuts and tree nuts were pretty much the same although her almond and brazil nut wheals were bigger than last time (but still smaller than the histamine wheal). Everything else was negative.
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[b]~Gale~[/b]
When my son had a reaction and then was tested for peanut (positive skin test - VERY) I wanted him tested for EVERYTHING. I wanted to know.
The allergist said I would go crazy and that there are many false positives and that we should take one thing at a time. We test to confirm suspicions. Also I have read that after a reaction you are more prone to false positives b/c the immune system is twichy. So I understand why she didn't test for everything.
A few months later when I noticed he didn't like eggs anymore and would get eczema when he ate them we brought him to test for that ...and I made her add in tree nuts and a few other things. They were all negative.
My thought is that once you have your action plan ready, your epi pens everywhere, caregivers and family trained, you are ready for the worst.
So far my son doesn't have any other known allergies.
I really think you are fine...as long as you have the Epi....just get your arms around peanut....and always watch carefully. I have not introduced any new - high allergy foods to my son....like shellfish for instance.
[img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
See, now if he would have explained it rather than just saying no I would have gotten it. There aren't any other foods that I suspect. He does have excema, though it hasn't been much of a problem in the past year. Just a few little patches during the cold winter months. Nothing a little Aveeno lotion doesn't take care of.
The false positive reasoning does make sense.
I still plan to get a new allergist, this guy seemed put off by all of the questions that I had. DH was listening so I asked if I seemed rude, he said no. He's the type that would tell me if I seemed like a b word that ends in itch or even touchy with him.
Thanks all!
Yes, you don't want to restrict the diet from false positives. They are quite common in food allergy testing. Our suspicions shortly before DS was a year old were milk or egg since the pancakes he reacted to had both and I had already been suspicious of milk enough to use soy formula. The allergist tested for the main eight and he was positive for milk, egg and peanut. Later the tree nuts turned positive too. We tested the individual tree nuts after a cashew reaction. We already had everything in place for a reaction at least. When he turned five, we did the environmental testing and are undergoing immunotherapy now for cats, dogs, grasses, and more. Hopefully, treating the environmentals will reduce his overall load and RAST scores.
I posted twice...sorry
[This message has been edited by chanda4 (edited July 20, 2007).]
Our allergists(we've had 2 over the last 5yrs) but they always started with the top 8 and went from there(or 12...depending on the age of the child). My Jake was allergic to egg, wheat, chicken and peanut during the first test. So with so many positives, they added a few *suspected* foods that I gave them. With each kiddo, we keep adding weird allergies though. Then with Carson, he was suffering from EE, so we did an extensive test(tested about 30 foods) and beef and pork were the only added postivies(to milk, egg and soy). As they hit about age 4 or 5, then they also tested for seasonal(they did test environmental earlier and my boys were postive to cats and dogs, which we had and suspected). so really it does come down to what you susupect, or have had a reaction too. In babies it's easier, usually diarrhea was the reaction at first....but there's no real right or wrong, I think the top 8 are the most common and then reaction history plays a roll in further testing(at least for us). Not sure if that helped, HUGS
ps, we see the allergist every year and I often have them test for anything that cropped up over that time. My PA son I am lookign into legumes at this visit, Carson I don't think really needs anythign new, maybe just to follow the egg and milk, and Savannah has a pretty good list of new ones I want checked(soy, strawberries, peas, green beans, turkey....I can't remember the others, gotta find my list....always making a list [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] )
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Chanda(mother of 4)
Sidney-8 1/2(beef and chocolate, grasses, molds, weeds, guinea pig & asthma)
Jake-6 1/2(peanut, all tree nuts, eggs, trees, grasses, weeds, molds, cats, dogs, guinea pig & eczema & asthma)
Carson-4 (milk, soy, egg, beef and pork, cats, dog, guinea pig and EE)
Savannah-1 1/2 (milk and egg)
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