RAST Test

[Jennifer]

New here! Myself, 3 year old son and 2 year old son all have Asthma & Allergies and are all allergic to Peanuts. We found out that my 3 year old was allergic when someone gave him a nutter butter at a christmas get together this past year. I noticed a few hives on his cheek. He had a scheduled routine check-up with his allergiest in a few days and she checked him with a skin test and came back positive. My 2 year old was at a day-care center and since it was a temporary situation he was new there. On the 2nd day they gave him a PB&J for lunch! When I picked him up after work both eyes were swollen, stuffy/running nose, wheezing and coughing! The teachers there did not know what set him off and thought I could figure it out. He is extremly allergic to Dogs so I thought someone had some pet dander on their clothes and he came into contact with it. I contacted his allergist the next day to see if she had any ideas on what would set him off. We came up with a game plan so I called the administrator of the day care and asked if she could give me a list of foods that he is given so if he has another reaction we could try to pin point it (He also has an Egg Allergy). At that point she told me that they gave him a PB&J sandwich! I was shocked that they didn't put two and two together especially when his older bother in the room next to him has a Peanut Allergy they were all aware of! Normally do certified day care centers give kids under 2 Peanuter Butter? Anyway, I was happy to figure out what he reacted to before he had a more severe reaction. Now to my question... He had a RAST test done Friday and I got the results back today. His Peanut score was a 76, which puts him in a class 5 right? How Severe is his Peanut Allergy? .

[Chupieandjsmama]

My understanding is that the numbers don't tell how he will react just that he has a likelyhood of reacting (and with a 5 he is likely to have SOME kind of reaction). My son is a 6 for wheat and he is anaphylactic. But we knew that before the test because he had an anaphylactic reaction to Gerber Mixed Grain Cereal and that's how we found out he had food allergies. He's a 2 for egg and the doctor thought it was a false positive so we did a food challenge and he failed. It turns out that even though he's a 2 on the RAST test for egg he's also anaphylactic. Numbers don't tell the whole story. The only way to know HOW severe an allergy he has is to see a reaction and even then, every reaction can be different.

[Jennifer]

Thank you for the information. This makes me feel a little bit more at ease. I was thinking the higher the #'s the worse the reaction. He has a follow-up with his Allergist in about 4 weeks and then we are going to do a food challenge for the Egg Allergy. I don't know what to think of all this. I have a peanut allergy, but I just recently confirmed it with a skin test when my older son was diagnoised with a peanut allergy. I've just avoided peanuts, peanutbutter and anything with nuts in it my whole life. The smell would give me an instant headache. I've never read labels for myself, worry about the type of oil food was cooked in or what treats were given out at school. Now as a parent I want to avoid anything that may have any type of contact with peanuts.

[Chupieandjsmama]

The thing to keep in mind with peanut is that it is one of the most severe or potentially severe allergies. So even if his first reaction is mild, subsequent reactions can escelate. I don't want to scare you, but I want you to be prepared. Hopefully your allergist can shed more light on this for you.

[sarah]

of course , there is a link to egg and peanut allergies, young children under 7 often have both................they are higher in rateing to grow out of egg/ and 20% out of peanut.


being allergic is a bit like being pregnant , you either are , or not.

each allergic reaction you have may be different.

its impossible to tell if the reaction you are having right now is going to be mild or severe.

often people say that they have a mild peanut./other food reaction, however without medical abvice, Ii.e an imunologist, what they are really saying is that they have never had a severe reaction, only, so far, mild ones.

being allergic means that each time you come in to contact or injest , you are going to react.

severe reactions are based on these common factors.

health at time of reaction, ( maybe a illness , like a virus , recovering or still ill,)

allergy over load.......................for instance body fighting with multiple environmental allergies at same time of injestion of food allergen)


uncontrolled asthama ( a common feature in allergic deaths)

alcohol.......................often speeds up ingestion of food, so inceases chances of severity of reaction.

stress.......................high stess , such as exam time, does speed up reaction severity.

periods., hormones play a part in this.

amount of allergy ingested, the larger the amount the higher severity of reaction.

anaphylaxis deaths from food outside home.....

poor understanding of allergy explanation, = language barrier with waiter...............

high risk foods = indian /chinese food.

( often peanut flour is added to almond flour for ethnic type foods as is cheaper and not labelled for catterers)

resturant cross contamination.


poor labeling on brought foods

mislabelling on brought foods

label hidden or obscurred. ( under a flap or in small print away from ingrediant listing.)_

ignoring warnings like 'may contain nut traces' , in effect over labeling causing risky behaviour and deaths.


unknown /or first reaction of food allergy.
highly possible in these cases that mild reactions ignored, or brushed of as mild allergy.




high risk age for death from anaphylaxis ..........................13 to 25yrs.

so, pre teen is the 'easy age'.....................................................and guess what my son is 12..........................sigh...........

for my multiple allergic son , high risk time of year is during tree pollen time.

I think of his allergic reaction like a pint glass, unlike a normal person his glass is half full all the time.
the level gets higher with his allergies,
so,
add
tree pollen,
add centrol heating= dustmite allergy
add dog (highest rating outside home of dog is in school corridors where childrens coats hang)

level rises, add food allergen, and then it overflows, thats anaphylaxis folks and it aint jolly. its downright depressing.


so,

allergies for my son to date

peanut /raw egg/all beans/ dog/kiwi fruit/yeast extract


others tree pollen/cat/ dustmite.

quite frankly, its enough to be busy avoiding these days....................