I've been fortunate to get an appointment with a leading pediatric allergist who specializes in peanut allergy. I'm preparing a list of questions and would like to ask what would be your top questions if you had this opportunity?
My p/a son is 9 y/o, was diagnosed at 3 y/o by skin prick test after 2 peanut ingestion-related reactions. He has not had another peanut reaction in 6 years. He did react to green peas about 2 years ago (similar reaction as with the peanuts -instant vomiting, no other symptoms).
I want to ask the specialist, "What next?" Do we look into blood testing to determine IgE levels? When does one consider re-testing? That kind of stuff...
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
(Hello to any "oldies" out there. I have't posted in a long time.)
Hey-- great to see you post! And even better to hear your son has been rxn free for so long (aside from the peas, I mean).
I guess if I were in your shoes, I'd be curious to hear this person's ANECDOTAL opinion on who outgrows and when, and why. (So does no rxn hx mean the most, or low RAST scores... or age? or what?) Not that the research papers on the subject aren't interesting-- they are, but I like to hear an expert's gut instincts sometimes too. Because they aren't always the same. Sometimes people with a wealth of clinical experience just [i]know[/i] things that the researchers can't study very well.
I'd also want to know if additional rxn are likely to mean enhanced sensitivity.... or if there really just isn't any way to know. (Because this obviously informs a comfort zone for a teen/young adult, something pretty important for you right now, huh?) So do they need to avoid on principle ALL exposure, even subclinical ones, or does it really not matter so much?
Opinions on current research and when that is likely to "bear fruit" for your child.
Gee-- I am pretty sure I could come up with my own complete list for ya-- but I think you'll find stuff to talk about. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
Thanks for your input Corvallis Mom. Much appreciated! Our appointment is this evening --hopefully I'll get some informed answers from the allergist.
[This message has been edited by arachide (edited July 18, 2006).]
Adam's allergist mentioned, a few years ago, that he felt gene therapy was approximately 15 years away. So, I guess my question would be something along the line of therapies and where is the research heading.
I would also be curious to know if it is worthwhile monitoring immunocap levels. Does a lowering level mean decreased sensitivity and vice versa? This would tie in somewhat to your question regarding likelihood of outgrowing and levels.
HTH [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
Hi, arachide!! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
How'd the appointment go?
Hi Lam and all [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
I'm terrible not to have come back sooner to complete the thread. I've been "away" for so long because I can't get onto the discussion boards from my desktop computer for some bizzaro reason. We got a laptop a few months ago and I can access from that, but I rarely get to use it (DH uses it for work). But I digress...
The specialist kinda deflated my balloon by stating right off that we should do a skin prick test, and if the result was positive, then there'd be no point in blood testing --we'd know he was still allergic.
She proceeded with the skin prick test. Sure enough, within seconds we had a whopping red wheal where the peanut was marked. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/frown.gif[/img]
According to this specialist, there was no point trying to monitor blood levels if you were still getting positive results on skin tests. Her advice was to have ds skin tested again in several years if he continued to be reaction-free. Only if the skin test yields a negative result would she consider looking further into it through blood testing.
She didn't have any anecdotal opinions for me. She felt there was just no way to know how and when rxn would occur.
I guess we'll continue to avoid ALL exposure on principle, as Corvallis' Mom aptly put it.
The doctor WAS pretty confident that there would be some kind of treatment available for pa within the next few years. Something we're all hopeful for.
Hey-- great to see you post! And even better to hear your son has been rxn free for so long (aside from the peas, I mean).
I guess if I were in your shoes, I'd be curious to hear this person's ANECDOTAL opinion on who outgrows and when, and why. (So does no rxn hx mean the most, or low RAST scores... or age? or what?) Not that the research papers on the subject aren't interesting-- they are, but I like to hear an expert's gut instincts sometimes too. Because they aren't always the same. Sometimes people with a wealth of clinical experience just [i]know[/i] things that the researchers can't study very well.
I'd also want to know if additional rxn are likely to mean enhanced sensitivity.... or if there really just isn't any way to know. (Because this obviously informs a comfort zone for a teen/young adult, something pretty important for you right now, huh?) So do they need to avoid on principle ALL exposure, even subclinical ones, or does it really not matter so much?
Opinions on current research and when that is likely to "bear fruit" for your child.
Gee-- I am pretty sure I could come up with my own complete list for ya-- but I think you'll find stuff to talk about. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
Thanks for your input Corvallis Mom. Much appreciated! Our appointment is this evening --hopefully I'll get some informed answers from the allergist.
[This message has been edited by arachide (edited July 18, 2006).]
Adam's allergist mentioned, a few years ago, that he felt gene therapy was approximately 15 years away. So, I guess my question would be something along the line of therapies and where is the research heading.
I would also be curious to know if it is worthwhile monitoring immunocap levels. Does a lowering level mean decreased sensitivity and vice versa? This would tie in somewhat to your question regarding likelihood of outgrowing and levels.
HTH [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
Hi, arachide!! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
How'd the appointment go?
Hi Lam and all [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
I'm terrible not to have come back sooner to complete the thread. I've been "away" for so long because I can't get onto the discussion boards from my desktop computer for some bizzaro reason. We got a laptop a few months ago and I can access from that, but I rarely get to use it (DH uses it for work). But I digress...
The specialist kinda deflated my balloon by stating right off that we should do a skin prick test, and if the result was positive, then there'd be no point in blood testing --we'd know he was still allergic.
She proceeded with the skin prick test. Sure enough, within seconds we had a whopping red wheal where the peanut was marked. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/frown.gif[/img]
According to this specialist, there was no point trying to monitor blood levels if you were still getting positive results on skin tests. Her advice was to have ds skin tested again in several years if he continued to be reaction-free. Only if the skin test yields a negative result would she consider looking further into it through blood testing.
She didn't have any anecdotal opinions for me. She felt there was just no way to know how and when rxn would occur.
I guess we'll continue to avoid ALL exposure on principle, as Corvallis' Mom aptly put it.
The doctor WAS pretty confident that there would be some kind of treatment available for pa within the next few years. Something we're all hopeful for.