Allergist Appointment

Hi Ladies....
Our Ella will be seeing an allergist after having a horrible reaction to a veggie burger. They are thinking nuts/tree nuts. They did the blood work allergy panel which turned out negative for nuts, and it doesn't look like they tested for tree nuts...um hello??? Anyways they are now referring her to an allergist for further testing. No one in my family/husbands family has allergies and have not seen an allergist. We have no idea what to expect? Can any of you ladies shed some light on this topic? REcommend a good informative website?
I totally thought we were free and clear since she has been eating MANY foods that say on the label they are processed where nuts/tree nuts are present. Maybe the doctor is just being cautious?
Thanks in Advance!!
jena

 

Let us know what you find out. We're off for allergy testing as well.

 

The blood test doesn't include tree nuts, only peanuts.

Timothy is allergic to at least pecans. He reacted very clearly (nice, itchy rash) after the first time he had them. He has no problems with things processed around tree nuts. Only eating tree nuts gets him. We keep him free from all peanut and tree nut products as an extra precaution.

I guess I'm suprised your dr. is jumping immeadiately to allergy test. Our dr. has steadfastly refused to do anything about allergies till the kids were 3. My understanding is it's the back prick test where they have to be still for about 45 mins on their stomachs. It's difficult to do at that age and they can also outgrow the allergy at that point. If you're confident in it being tree nuts, I don't know that I would do the whole allergy test. If you're unsure, do it, by all means. I would also get tested if the reaction was anaphalatic.

I'll be honest. We decided not to get Timothy tested. We knew very clearly what he reacted too. We knew his reaction was just an itchy rash, not anaphalatic. We also figured out that dh's mysterious rash that he gets off and on over the years is the same tree nut allergy. We didn't see the point in putting him through the back scratch test for something we already knew the answer on. Also, he is always being fed by me or mil (no daycare) so we both know and watch his diet. We have decided that we will do the test before he goes to kindergarten. At that point, he'll be old enough to explain the test better too. At that point, he'll be out of my sight eating lunch and I will need to be able to give the teachers a specific list of food allergies and they'd probably prefer a doctor confirmed list. Also, at that point, his allergies won't be changing near as much as they would as an 18-month-old.

I just thought I would give you our perspective on dealing with tree nut allergies. It's probably not the popular opinion to not test now, but we had a very specific reaction to a very specific food so that was ok with us. If you have any doubt, get the test.

Marissa

 

I would see an allergist. Since she had a reaction with a veggie burger you can't be sure that it was any one ingredient that caused the reaction. I would also wonder about Soy or even eggs? I don't eat veggie burgers, but I am guessing they have soy and possibly eggs in them. Allergy tests in kids really aren't that bad. My 6 year old had it done the first time when she was 2. She didn't have to lay flat. They only tested her for about 5 things. The second time she had it done she was 5 and was tested for a ton of things. That time was bad because she reacted to just about everything and was really really itchy. She has also had hte bloodwork done a few times. Different allergists will give different opinions on which is better the skin scratch test of bloodwork.

I really would get it checked out just so you can find out what the trigger is and avoid it!

 

I don't have much advice for you but have you thought about the possibility that the reaction was to the soy?

I hope you get some answers soon and the test goes smoothly! :hug99:

 

QUOTE(MomofMBA @ Nov 27 2007, 01:00 PM) [snapback]510759[/snapback]
I would see an allergist. Since she had a reaction with a veggie burger you can't be sure that it was any one ingredient that caused the reaction. I would also wonder about Soy or even eggs? I don't eat veggie burgers, but I am guessing they have soy and possibly eggs in them. Allergy tests in kids really aren't that bad. My 6 year old had it done the first time when she was 2. She didn't have to lay flat. They only tested her for about 5 things. The second time she had it done she was 5 and was tested for a ton of things. That time was bad because she reacted to just about everything and was really really itchy. She has also had hte bloodwork done a few times. Different allergists will give different opinions on which is better the skin scratch test of bloodwork.

I really would get it checked out just so you can find out what the trigger is and avoid it!

We were posting at the same time .

 

Soy and eggs should have shown up in the blood panel test. What our doctor told us is the blood panel test is set up for the most common allergies. Wheat, milk, cat, dog, soy, egg, peanut, and about 2 more. If the dr. did the full blood panel test, soy and eggs would have been eliminated already.

Marissa

 

Hey there, I just went through peanut and tree nut testing with one of my girls a couple weeks ago. Mine are 18 months old, they've never reacted to anything at all until I (STUPIDLY) decided it would be okay to let them have an uncrustable pb&j. They'd just had Reese cups on Halloween so I thought we were in the clear. Grace's whole face swelled into welps from her forehead to her neck within a couple minutes. Anyway though, the allergist did the prick tests on her back and so far peanut was the only one she had a reaction to, but the doctor did tell us that most babies with a peanut allergy will develop allergies to other nuts as well. Hers is a mild case as of now, but he also said that it can progress into a more severe allergy as they get older so we are not to give her anything with any kind of nut or related to nuts at all. We are now carrying Epi-pens with us wherever we go and reading labels like gangbusters! It's so overwhelming, nobody else in either of our familes have this either so I dunno where it came from!!

 

I had food allergies tested for earlier this year. There are two ways to test for them: 1) Scratch test. They take a bunch of suspect allergens and scratch the back. Let it sit 15 mins & come back to measure the bump it makes. Bigger the bump, worst the allergy. Minimally invasive...but I can't imagine kids doing well with this process. It took THREE HOURS for me to do mine. 2) Blood test. My shrimp scratch test came back inconclusive (bump was borderline big enough), so they tested my blood to see if it had the proteins (or whatever) that are present when a shellfish allergy is there. It was your normal vial of blood out of the arm. No biggie. I would imagine they'd just do this for the kids. It was over in like 2 mins.

I would go to an allergist if your health plan allows. This is what they do & they'd be able to walk you through it with ease.

My shellfish test came back negative. Still no idea why I had throat issues.