Joseph and Allergy Tests

Currently, all of Joseph’s allergies have been self-diagnosed based on me observing his reactions to food that he eats. I didn’t want to have him tested before he turned one because since we already knew a lot of what he reacted to, it felt like drawing blood or giving him the skin test would not be worth the trauma it would cause in an infant.

When he turned one, we were busy getting ready to move, so I decided to wait on testing until we were settled down in our new place. But once we were settled down, my husband said he didn’t want to have Joseph tested until he was two. That way, he could have more of a chance to grow out of it before it went down on his medical records with proof to back up my statements.

Another reason I’ve waited to get Joseph tested is that testing can do more harm that good. Skin tests are prone to false positives, and blood tests are prone to false negatives. And something I just learned from that article was that the number they get can’t really tell you their chances for growing out of an allergy, or how severe it is. Darn, I’d hoped that a test would give us an idea of if/when Joseph would grow out of his milk allergy.

Still, next month when we seek allergy testing, it will be beneficial to see if he really is reacting to peanuts and tree nuts. I’ve suspected it, but due to the high occurence of anaphylaxis, I’ve not wanted to confirm his reactions by feeding him those again. I’d also like to see what tests say about eggs, because I suspect he reacts to it in low cooked form (scrambled eggs). I’ll report back on the results.