Allergy testing

My son has severe milk allergy has epi pens, so we have had every allergy test under the sun. It took 6 months of fighting to get a skin prick test and 3 years to get a blood test. If you are able to id recommend going through private to get a blood allergy test as it'll test everything. When we looked it was around £200 x

When I tried to get my son allergy tested, we saw a specialist, but all he said was ‘does he react when you give him x?’ …yes…’then he’s allergic’.

We tried to go private but the insurance wouldn’t cover it as there was some circular reference…has he been formally diagnosed and tested for an allergy…no? Then we can’t claim on the insurance for allergy testing. We got quite irate over the phone on a number of occasions and in the end gave up.

In hindsight, we should have just paid a private dr.

@Jennie I find that ridiculous, my sister is near enough allergic to everything, and we'd have had no idea exactly what unless she was tested.

My 3 year old developed nut allergy out of the blue, never was an issue until one evening he had a bite of my chocolate with hazelnuts. He lost his voice in like 30 seconds. We saw GP who straight away sent us for an allergy test. Waited for around 2 weeks for the appointment and then 2 weeks for the results. I do think the fact that he lost his voice almost immediately made it a no brainer for GP to send us for a blood test.

@Kiki see I think as it's just a rash, they won't be too bothered, he did ask if her tongue swells up or her throat swells, difficulty in breathing.

Tomatoes cause a contact rash due to the histamine in them, but it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s an allergy. If you avoid them, the skin won’t get used to them and stop reacting. Over time, the contact rashes stop with tomatoes. I’d reintroduce them and look for other signs of allergy over and above the rash. If these show, ask to be referred and if the contact rashes stop, then no need to worry.

My son reacted to nuts at 4 months. He broke out in hives, rash and lips turning purple. Now it all depends on how she reacted for dr to push for referral. We were immediately referred to the allergy clinic. He’s allergic to all NUTS, and other things. I’d say keep a log and take pics of things she reacts to, to build a strong case.