I have the same story with dd so I'd like to share our experience. DD is now (almost) 19. She was diagnosed at 2 after a severe reaction. Her airway swelled and she collapsed (Low blood pressure?). We were careful to avoid with a few incidents...fast forward to age 15, she felt like she needed to be tested again. She told the doc that she thought she had outgrown. I felt that it was a good idea to since it had been a long time since she'd shown any sensitivity and other allergies completely disappeared. The allergist did a skin test but I can't quite remember the results, whether it was completely negative or a very small hive. He then did a RAST test which came back negative. He decided that we should try an oral challenge. First he put a tiny amount of pb on her chin. She didn't get hives but then again, she's never gotten hives with peanut reaction. The usual symptoms are the airway closing and bp dropping. Next he put a tiny amount (the size of the tip of a finger nail on her lip. Eventually, some went in to her mouth. As we were sitting, she started clearing her throat. That's her first sign that her airway is closing. I went to get the doc and by the time he came in, she said that she was definitely having a reaction. He checked her airway and he said that it didn't *look* swollen. Then he sits down next to her and said "Sometimes when someone has been dealing with a scary allergy all their life, they get panicky and just *feel* like they are having a reaction. But this is only a fear reaction, not an allergic reaction." (Yes, my mouth was gaping at this explanation). By this time, dd was miffed and just wanted to go home. Since the doc thought she was having a psychosomatic reaction, what could I do? Before the test, he had told us to have something in the house with pb because he assumed she'd pass the test since her RAST was negative. He said she could try pb again and have a little regularly. So the day before the test I asked her what she wanted to try after and she said Reese PB cereal.
I stayed near the hospital after the oral challenge but the reaction cleared up quickly so we went home. The next morning, dd figured that the doctor was right, that it was just in her head so she decided to test herself with the Reese cereal. I came to the kitchen after she'd taken her first bite. As soon as I looked at her, I knew she was reacting. She was wheezing, fluid running from her nose like a tap and she was sinking to the ground. I figured I wouldn't be believed at the hospital since "she tested negative to PA" so I had the presence of mind to grab my camera which happened to be on the table beside dd. I took a picture of her swollen face. Her eyes were swelled out to the bridge of her nose in a matter of seconds. I gave her epi and called 911. When we got to emerg, guess who was the doc on call? Yes, the allergist from the previous day. He came in to the room with a big smile saying, "Heyyyy, what are you doing here?" When I showed him the pic of dd, he almost passed out. Yup!! She's still severely allergic. He said that he'd never seen a negative skin and blood test and have the patient react so severely. He was very apologetic (understatement). DD will NEVER bother having another skin or blood test for allergies. For her, it is what it is. She's been dealing with it for 17 years, she'll continue dealing with PA.
I hope all goes well with J. I just really felt obligated to share our horror story. I've kept quiet about it because, at the time, I felt like I was in the top running for Worst mommy of the Year.
Topic: peanut allergy testing (Read 13110 times)
