Food Allergy Skin Test...

[JenKuz]

Hi all,

So in my never-ending quest to rule things in and out, I took a food allergy skin-prick test on Friday afternoon. That evening, I had one of the worst cases of the itchies ever. It was localized to my inner thigh, a site where I've often had eczema. Today I itch all over. Like chicken pox all over again. It's terrible. Even the pads of my fingers itch!

Has anyone else around here had this response to the skin tests? How did your doctors interpret it? What did you do in response?

[azmom3]

Hi all,

So in my never-ending quest to rule things in and out, I took a food allergy skin-prick test on Friday afternoon. That evening, I had one of the worst cases of the itchies ever. It was localized to my inner thigh, a site where I've often had eczema. Today I itch all over. Like chicken pox all over again. It's terrible. Even the pads of my fingers itch!

Has anyone else around here had this response to the skin tests? How did your doctors interpret it? What did you do in response?

Did you have any hives or rash where you were itching? Did they tell you if you were allergic to anything that they found on the skin test? And if so, did they mention how allergic you were?

Two of our kids recently had skin testing done and the third will be getting hers tomorrow. Our youngest had moderate to moderate-high allergies to every food he was tested for, but never seemed bothered by the test and the bumps went away quickly. Our oldest son, who was only tested for grass, trees, etc. was highly allergic to 6 of the 24 things and moderately allergic to 8 others. The "bumps" were huge and lasted a full week and the itching was almost unbearable for hiim. They gave him zyrtec and singulair right there in the office and then told us to add benadryl at home since the itching was worse, not better. WE also used ice packs and frozen washcloths for the discomfort. He's 10 and can't wait for his 8 year old sister to get tested. He keeps rubbing it in and scaring her with how bad it'll be.

If you're having itching in other places though, that sounds like something you should definitely talk to your dr. about as that does not sound like a normal response. Hopefully, you got answers you needed from your test and you will find relief soon. Good luck!

[JenKuz]

Did you have any hives or rash where you were itching? Did they tell you if you were allergic to anything that they found on the skin test? And if so, did they mention how allergic you were?

Two of our kids recently had skin testing done and the third will be getting hers tomorrow. Our youngest had moderate to moderate-high allergies to every food he was tested for, but never seemed bothered by the test and the bumps went away quickly. Our oldest son, who was only tested for grass, trees, etc. was highly allergic to 6 of the 24 things and moderately allergic to 8 others. The "bumps" were huge and lasted a full week and the itching was almost unbearable for hiim. They gave him zyrtec and singulair right there in the office and then told us to add benadryl at home since the itching was worse, not better. WE also used ice packs and frozen washcloths for the discomfort. He's 10 and can't wait for his 8 year old sister to get tested. He keeps rubbing it in and scaring her with how bad it'll be.

If you're having itching in other places though, that sounds like something you should definitely talk to your dr. about as that does not sound like a normal response. Hopefully, you got answers you needed from your test and you will find relief soon. Good luck!

Hey there,

I was only mildly allergic to hazelnut, nothing else. The doc said that could well be a false positive because the test is very sensitive and the wheal was small.

I'm sorry for your son! That sounds awful. I hope it goes better for your dd

[Michi8]

Hey there,

I was only mildly allergic to hazelnut, nothing else. The doc said that could well be a false positive because the test is very sensitive and the wheal was small.

I'm sorry for your son! That sounds awful. I hope it goes better for your dd

It's possible you had a delayed reaction to an allergen. The scratch tests are only looking for immediate reactions in the specific area the allergen is applied...and are not 100% accurate. For someone like me, who has known, visible skin reactions, scratch testing is a good overall look at my multiple allergens. For someone who has more subtle reactions it may not be as helpful. Allergists can do a more specific test with injecting the allergen under the skin and looking for a reaction over a longer period. You an also do patch testing which tests over a 48 & 72 hour time frame. Finally, blood tests can be done as well.

I've just started reading an interesting book, "Is This Your Child?" by Dr. Doris Rapp. It's an older book, but it looks at children's immediate & delayed reactions and behaviours in determining whether allergies are the source of health issues. She considers emotional/behavioural reactions to be just as important as the typical histamine reaction in determining allergy, and suggests alternative methods for testing and treatment.

Michelle

[Rusla]

They had to do the skin test on me three times because with some it was immediate, many I reacted 2-3 hours later and some a whole day or two later. Being a delayed reactor is somewhat unusual so they tell me but I believe it is more common than they think.

[Simply-V]

Hi all,

So in my never-ending quest to rule things in and out, I took a food allergy skin-prick test on Friday afternoon. That evening, I had one of the worst cases of the itchies ever. It was localized to my inner thigh, a site where I've often had eczema. Today I itch all over. Like chicken pox all over again. It's terrible. Even the pads of my fingers itch!

Has anyone else around here had this response to the skin tests? How did your doctors interpret it? What did you do in response?

Delayed reactions aren't unheard of, nor as rare as one might think. Eczema is allergy related in itself. Its possible you have delayed relations.

Delayed reactions are usually mediated by IgG, where as the skin prick tests are for IgE mediated allergies. Basically speaking, your reaction was probably IgG and won't show up on an IgE test.

That said. It is possible that you're just having a continuing reaction to the hazelnut, as sometimes symptoms of reactions will increase with time until the body has rid itself of the allergen or come to a climax of sorts.

Take some benadryl, it should help with the itching. Look over what you were tested for, and watch those foods.

IgG testing can be done through blood work called an ELISA test. Some haven't had good luck with this test, but for me it was amazingly accurate.

It probably wouldn't hurt to look into blood IgE tests, though I haven't had that much luck with them. The Skin prick was more accurate for me on IgE than RAST.