Venom Allergy Question

[hezzier]

DD was stung in 2016 by a "bee".  She had a mild systemic reaction that could totally been missed by someone who wasn't familiar with allergies.  We also were not 100% sure it was an allergic reaction or physiologic response to pain.  So waited the appropriate amount of time after sting and she was tested.  Intradermal testing showed nothing, so allergist really didn't think it was an allergy, but ordered the blood test anyway.  Allergist called back with results and said yes, she is allergic.  So after 5 years of allergy shots, DD is ready to be done.  Saw the allergist in December and she said you need to get a blood test to see if you can stop.  Blood test results come back and the message was Yes, you are still positive.  DD tells me, I tell her to call back and ask for the blood test number for now and the original test.  So here they are

To be considered no allergy the number needs to be less than 0.01

                            OLD       NEW
Honeybee              0.27       no allergy
Whitefaced hornet  0.44       2.65
Yellow jacket          1.83       2.87
wasp                      5.66      5.87
yellow hornet         0.4        1.59


So what on earth happened?  Is she just one of the unlucky 3% that allergy shots didn't work for?

[GoingNuts]

WTH indeed?  I’d love to know too.

[becca]

I don’t know, but the numbers are disappointing.  😕

[YouKnowWho]

Were the allergy shots specifically for venom?

My friend’s husband did an aggressive 6mo treatment for his and knock wood, has not had another reaction since (still carries epinephrine because he often camps or works on their land which is an hour away from reasonable medical care).

[hezzier]

Yes, She had shots for yellow jacket and wasp....nothing else was mixed in as far as we know.  Environmentals have never been tested, but have gotten worse over the years but still fairly mild, nothing that zyrtec can't handle. 

The only other piece that is also weird is that Cold Urticaria showed up somewhere after the first year of shots, but took DD a while to realize what was happening because it was so infrequent, then took her a while to tell me.

[Janelle205]

Hezz, have you ever had to do allergy shots?

I only ask because my Mom, my brother and I all did 7+ years of allergy shots for environmentals (all of us multiple injections at a time because they wouldn't all "fit" in one), and they didn't work for any of us.  My last allergist said that it was rare but wasn't the first time he had seen something similar, and there was probably something genetic going on that they don't understand - and isn't common enough to be a research priority. 

[hezzier]

I personally have not, haven't had enough allergy symptoms for long enough to bother.  DS had 4 shots for 5 years for grasses, trees, weeds, molds and dust mites (might have been something else thrown in there but can't remember).  They worked for him.  He has a couple days a year when he's having allergy symptoms.

It just seemed so promising so I guess we are surprised.

So now the question is why continue if it's not doing anything?  It's not exactly convenient for her to get them on campus either.