TTMA allergy testing

[Deleted]

P has a referral to an allergist for testing in a few weeks.  What can we expect at that first appointment and beyond?  So far it appears eggs may be the only issue.

[Bluedaisy]

prettymama36 probably has some answers for you on this one

[prettymama36]

At our first appointment, the allergist first asked about the reaction itself, what it looked like, how long it lasted and what she ate. I would definitely bring the pictures you took. He agreed it sounded like a true allergic reaction and tested her with the "skin prick" test. They just put a drop of, in your case egg protein on their inner forearm along with a drop of histamine as a control. They then scratch the drops with a lancet. My kids didn't really notice this at all. You then wait and they will check for reaction something like every 5, 10, 15 minutes. The histamine control does itch. The hardest part was keeping DD2 from trying to scratch at it. In our case, she reacted immediately with a large hive in the peanut area. I'm no expert by any means. Just what our experiences were like, with my nursing backround mixed in. I imagine like peds, allergists have different techniques as well. I want to say with egg, they may do a few drops if there are different types of egg protein they test for? Do you have an epipen @jimbobcooter? Our ped prescribed one after her first reaction, before we saw the allergist. It really helped my piece of mind.

[Deleted]

prettymama36, thank you. No we do not have an epipen but I would definitely feel better having one here now that he's had two reactions.

[sammyca]

Exactly what prettymama36 said and expect a few pricks for eggs. Plan for some good ways to distract P from scratching.

[santoki77]

Sorry I'm out of the loop and I don't know how old P is but my understanding that blood and skin tests to check for allergies aren't really accurate until the child is over 2 years old. Hope you get some answers. We dealt with a lot of food intolerances and we also think egg causes issues (although he seems ok with baked egg).

[wegrowsheep]

We had DD skin tested at 4 yo for peanuts and nut allergies. It was similar to what prettymama36 described, but was done on her back.

Just an fyi, Epipens are fucking $$$$. And must be kept at room temp all the time.

[Deleted]

He had a few hives on his back last night but they went away really fast. No idea if they were allergy related or not. He did have acorn squash for the first time so maybe? But so far straight eggs are the obvious one. He hasn't reacted to baked goods that have eggs in it. We still have another 10 days before our appointment.

[prettymama36]

@jimbobcooter did P have his appointment yet? How did things go?

[Deleted]

Apr 29, 2016 9:17:46 GMT -5 prettymama36 said:

@jimbobcooter did P have his appointment yet? How did things go?

Yes.  We just had it yesterday.   He is definitely allergic to eggs but she thinks it's relatively minor.  We can still have eggs in baked goods and also in ice cream, so long as it is not one of the first three ingredients.  But no whole, mayo, salad dressings, meringue, smoothies with egg, etc. She did the skin scratch and then also drew blood so we can see where his markers are at this point.  She may have us come back for a marker re-check in six months instead of one year.  She's also pretty sure he'll out grow it.  So a touch overwhelming but not as bad as it could be. We do have an epi pen prescription, just in case.

The only other thing she tested for was dog allergies and that came back negative.

Thank you so much for asking about him!

[Bluedaisy]

Just seeing this @jimbobcooter,, I'm glad you got some answers!