Talking Allergies

Thanks Gwen!

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

The allergist didn't rub any anywhere, only the challenge. Her blood tests are low -- "13" but high enough to be considered a "true" allergy as my allergist puts it.
It's going to be a long 18 months!

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dd -- allergic to dairy
ds -- no allergies
dh -- allergic to penicillin
me -- no allergies

Gwen I may be mistaken but I think Dr. Stuart Carr and Dr. Timothy Vander Leek are in Edmonton. Now they may also go to calgary?? We have seen Dr. Carr in Edmonton and I think Dr. Vander Leek works out of the University of Alberta Hospital???

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Me-Allergic to Peanut, Tree Nut, Coconut, Shellfish, ASA and Asthma
My Husband and Children No Allergies

Yeah, they're in Edmonton. Dr. Van der Leek was our fist allergist - diagnosed ds, but then moved away within months.

Our allergist told us the reason he chose ds for a challenge was because of the drastic change in his RAST, from >100 for the past 7 years, to 58. So while his number is still really, really high, the huge drop is what he said prompted his decision to try the baked challenge. Funny though, I think I read that based on the study that was done, it was determined that a RAST of 35 was a more positive predictor of success. So for the current trial, they are only enrolling those kids with a RAST under 35. I think they're trying to come up with a more firm guideline in terms of how much milk, which foods, etc.

I read all of this from the study data they have available online - if you took that in to your allergist, maybe they would consider pursuing it further? I have to admit - I wondered after our challenge if ds had only imagined the itching in the early stages. I don't think so - given that he had positive skin reactions at each stage, but it is possible. I remember having a peanut-allergic child in my house, and he helped himself to some cake that we had - he didn't ask first - which had peanut butter as the middle layer of icing! He had a bite of the cake only, and when I saw him I calmly told him that it had peanut butter in it (long story), and he couldn't have any. (None of the other kids were having any either, he just kind of snuck into our kitchen and thought it looked good). His hands went to his throat, he started complaining of itchy throat, and then I showed him that he only bit the actual cake - not the icing. He then calmly said "OK", and carried on with no further complaints. I called his mother right away, and she was fine with it, so I just watched him like a hawk after that and he was fine.

Here's the link to the current study:

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00778258

If you scroll down to the exclusion criteria, you can see which milk-allergic kids are not eligible for the trial. Part of this is, no doubt, because it has been determined that kids meeting those criteria are unlikely to succeed in the trial at this point. Others are due to possible interference with study results. I used to work in clinical research, so I still eat this stuff up.

If anyone here has a child that meets the criteria ... would you consider applying? I did anyway, but his RAST got him rejected. To me, it would have been worth the cost of the visits to New York, just for the chance to help him grow out of it.

Sorry about that.

Meant to say Edmo. Thanks for all that info MomtoBunches.

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

Before I go looking, I may as well ask you first...is there anything on egg? although, I have no idea what her rast is...?? we have only had really bad reactions quickly. I like you, Momtobunches, would take her anywhere if I thought it would help.

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Myself - Seasonal, cats
dd-asthma (trigger - flu) anaphylactic to eggs, severe allergies to bugspray and penicilin,pulmicort
ds-Seasonal, cats and OAS
dh-allergy cats, bugspray and guava, outgrew egg allergy

We have our baked egg challenge tommorow, and i'm really nervous.. I got so upset today making the cupcakes with an egg in them, I feel like i'll be betraying her by feeding her something that she could react to.

I find it interesting all the allergists going by the RAST tests, and I can see why of course, but our allergist has only every done the RAST when she was first diagnosed with the allergies (her #s were through the roof) and hasn't done any since, though I think she said it has a lot to do with her age. They do the skin tests, which are much less invasive and less stressful for a 2 1/2 year old. The reason we get to do the baked egg challenge is because there was a very large difference between her skin reaction to egg last time and the time before (6 months apart), so they are hoping it is a good sign. Personally i'd love her to outgrow dairy first, but at least with egg off our worry list I could buy regular pasta and maybe chicken nuggets for her, which would help a tiny bit.

Anyways, i'm really nervous about it, but i'll let everyone know how it goes tommorow at the test, though i'm not very optimistic about it. My only real concern is that since her language skills obviously aren't very advanced, the reaction could get bad without us knowing, leading to a harder "recorvery". Oh well, time will tell!

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Daughter 3.5 years) - Dairy, Eggs, Peanuts, Sesame, Beef; asthma and eczema
Daughter (2 years) - Peanuts Eczema
Son (7 months) - Contact allergy to something food undetermined

will be thinking of you guys tomorrow

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Myself - Seasonal, cats
dd-asthma (trigger - flu) anaphylactic to eggs, severe allergies to bugspray and penicilin,pulmicort
ds-Seasonal, cats and OAS
dh-allergy cats, bugspray and guava, outgrew egg allergy

I posted about the challenge up in the infant/toddler section, and because i'm lazy I'm just going to link it..

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6735

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Daughter 3.5 years) - Dairy, Eggs, Peanuts, Sesame, Beef; asthma and eczema
Daughter (2 years) - Peanuts Eczema
Son (7 months) - Contact allergy to something food undetermined