DoubleAs
Member
Posted: 08.06.2008 at 02:44:47
Thanks, KPSesame, for the link. Like CMDeux, I found it very interesting. I guess my son falls into that group of 25% or so who RAST higher than 7 and are not allergic...
We did the challenge yesterday. I was sweating bullets and my son was excited -- go figure. He remembers eating sesame crackers, hummos, and baba ghanoujh and liking these foods. So unlike when we tried to challenge peanuts back in early June and he refused to eat them because they tasted "yucky", he was excited to eat the sesame. They had us bring in a jar of sesame seeds and food to mix them into. We brought a safe bagel and cream cheese and they spread the sesame seeds onto the cream cheese and mashed them in. Then he ate it in increasing amounts over close to 2 hours and then we waited around for another two hours and nothing happened They told us to watch for a skin reaction during the afternoon or evening or into early this morning, just in case. But, according to the allergist this morning, he passed the challenge because he didn't have any skin reactions either.
Only those of you here know how good this feels and how truly relieved I am to "just" worry about nuts and eggs Thanks to all who posted kind words before the challenge.
The allergist said that he was never allergic (remember that he ate sesame regularly until December) -- but with a positive SPT and 22 RAST, it made sense to avoid until we could safely challenge. I asked why his RAST would be so high when he's not allergic and she said that they are seeing this more and more often. She cited one of her patients who had a RAST 30 to wheat and had avoided for years based on testing, but passed an oral challenge last week.
As far as the peanut/sesame connection cited in the article link of KPSesame's, we don't know if my son is allergic to peanut. We have no reaction history (he ate peanut containing foods a few times before being diagnosed with TNA) and a negative SPT. His RAST is .72 (but was <.35 at age 3). He ate 2.5 peanuts when challenged in June and had no reaction, but hated them and refused to continue eating them. We treat him as peanut allergic.