IgE Results

[AnnaB]

Hi

I know this is more an allergy question but there are links to my sons eczema. My son has had blood tests for various nut allergies the IgE results have come back confirming allergies to peanuts and hazel nuts, but the GP does not know the meaning of the results. I think the Ige shows the likelyhood of a reaction but not the severity?? Can anyone let me know if this is the case. Also I cannot find any information of the scale of the results. I know the normal range is 0.34 and my son has results of 0.51 and 0.65?? Is this a a small or significant risk?? If anyone can make any sense of these I would be greatly appreciated. Our appointment with specialist is not for months yet.

Thanks Anna

[Awel]

Not a clue sorry.

Just wondered if you could contact your eczema nurse for some advice, could be worth a go

awel x

[Hope]

hi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunoglobulin_E this site is helpful.. if u dont understand then mayb we could discuss it further. Avoid nuts in your sons diet. Some people might suffer from less severe asthma, also have high IgE counts. Even when my eczema subsided, my IgE counts were pretty high. I will try to find out more for you. Til then take care of yourself n son

[AnnaB]

Thank you, It is horrid feeling with him being at school and out of my care. I've been in today for a cooking activity they were doing and he had to wear gloves as his hands split and he could not use all stuff kids were using because of allergies. It was tough to look at a group of 30 kids all sat on floor in front of parents, his face red and buring, yes spring is here!!!!

[Hope]

Anna, hi .. i know how it must feel as a mom of a son suffering from E.. my advice b very strong and supportive to your son. i realised if it werent for my supportive family and few friends i would have been lost. i never felt as thou i suffered from anything, partly coz they didn't c me as someone different! It helps. Someway it breaks the cycle of suffering. I was never thinking things like.. oh i am suffering from e, what wil they think, oh they can do it, oh i can't .. Always coach your son to believe in himself. To see beyond imperfections and take part in whatever comes his way! I hope with the attention n care you shower .. with all the love, he finds himself in better health! Amen. Tc

[Tracym]

My son is now 10 and was diagnosed with severe eczema at 4 weeks old and has had to put up with it, I got the feeling it was not taken seriously he has been under a hospital dermatologist for 2 years now with no progress. Late last year he ate a walnut whip I was always told to avoid nuts as they are a trigger for eczema and within 15 mins had an anaphylactic attack upon admittance to hospital they arranged an epi pen to be carried at all times and RAST blood tests were done which revealed a positive allergic reaction to the following food items soya, peanuts, wheat, milk, egg white and rice all of which were a level 2 . His total Ige level was over 2000 which I have been told indicates severe allergic tendencies , I have been telling them for years that something is wrong he also has severe asthma,pet alleriges , hayfever , ibs and now a nut allergy.

Trying to find out what the results mean is a nightmare his dermatologist says that his eczema can give a false reading which the hospital dietitian disagrees with, we have tried the egg and milk exclusion diet with no success and we are trying the wheat free diet at the weekend for the foreseeable future.
We have now been referred to a paediatric allergy specialist in 3 weeks time where we are hoping for an answer, we had been asking for years for allergy testing which was always refused on financial grounds I will be very angry if he has endured this for 10 years and it could be sorted by a change of diet. He has always had a smile in spite of his problems but now he has been referred for counselling I think the nut allergy was the last straw.xxxx

[lynseys]

my daughter is 10 she has servere eczema!! she was diagnosed at the age of 2 its been a long battle to get help.she had a rast test the only allergic reaction that came back was DUSTMITES they graded her a level 4 which the grades only go upto 6 and normally 6 is extreme and very very serious.The higher the grade the more servere the reaction i believe. My daughter only has to put her face near the floor and her eczema reacts with devastating effects i hope this explains it in more simple terms

[Dr Helen Brough]

Dear Anna,

Specific IgE results do not give an indication of the severity of a reaction only the likelihood of reacting to a certain food; so the higher the specific IgE level the more likely that your son will have an allergic reaction to that food. Predictors of the severity of a reaction are based more on whether the child has asthma and what type of reaction they have had previously. However with nuts we know that children with a previous mild nut reaction may still have a more severe reaction in the future.

The levels you describe for your son would fit with Grade 1 specific IgE testing which is quite low but still positive. Children with eczema can often have low positive specific IgE results which do not necessarily the child is allergic to these foods. My advice would be to avoid nuts until you have seen an allergy specialist who can perform skin prick tests and then decide whether to arrange for an oral food challenge to the nuts in question. This would mean coming into hospital and given your child increasing amounts of the nut in question under close medical supervision and observing for an hour after eating the top dose.

I hope this is helpful.

Kind regards,

Dr Helen Brough MA MBBS MRCPCH
Clinical Lecturer in Paediatric Allergy

[AnnaB]

Thank you. My son has a nut challenge in hopsital next month.