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What's the "Peanut food challenge"?

SallyJean95SallyJean95 member
in Food Allergy
I saw this mentioned in the intro post.  Our allergist just did the scratch/prick test for all nuts.  And I don't remember him mentioning a number associated with a severity.  But his reaction was huge and landed us in the hospital for days. 
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Re: What's the "Peanut food challenge"?

  • cheerleader.08cheerleader.08 member
    I did a peanut challenge, but my allergy was not nearly as severe.  I went into the allergist's office, and I ate one bite of peanut butter sandwich.  They watched me for fifteen minutes.  Then I ate about 1/4 of a peanut butter sandwich, and they watched me again.  Then I had to eat 1/2 a sandwich, and they watched me again.  He told me to always try suspect foods during normal business hours, so I could easily get into a doctor or hospital.  So I never introduce a food for dinner.    
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  • SallyJean95SallyJean95 member

    Thanks.  But doing a test like that would scare the crap out of me severe or even moderate. 

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  • CareBear0607CareBear0607 member
    imageSallyJean95:

    Thanks.  But doing a test like that would scare the crap out of me severe or even moderate. 

    My allergist only does this if your number is REALLY low.

    DD~6 years old~born June 6, 2008 (1st grade)
    DS~4 years old~born November 6, 2010 (1st year of preschool)
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  • neesernicoleneesernicole

    malia had a reaction to pb when she was 11 months but by 3 yo her numbers were really low. with all the false positives you just never know, so the pedi allergist wanted to try the 3 hr peanut test.

    she first had the skin test - where they put the peanut oil on her arm. she broke out to that but still with her numbers, they had her eat a small bite of pb. nothing from eating the pb. and every 15 min for the next 3 hrs, she had bigger doses of pb.

    3 hrs in a examination room with a 3 yr old = NO FUN. but the end result was worth it. turns out she had more of a contact allergy (as she does with a few other foods).


    "image"
    Ethan {1.11.10} & Malia {12.28.06}
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  • cotnercotner

    DDs numbers from the blood test were low enough that she qualified to do a challenge.  From what I understand, the positive test is only about 50% accurate of an actual allergy and giving peanuts is the only way to be sure.  Obviously, if she had had a reaction there would be no need to do the test at that time.

    They gave her ground up peanuts mixed with ice cream, yogurt, applesauce, whatever I wanted to bring for her.  The upped the amounts of peanuts every 15 min.  and would have finished with peanut butter and crackers if she made it that far.  

    It was scary, but it was done at one of the best Children's Hospitals in the country.  That calmed my nerves, a little.

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  • shouldbworkinshouldbworkin
    imageCareBear0607:
    imageSallyJean95:

    Thanks.  But doing a test like that would scare the crap out of me severe or even moderate. 

    My allergist only does this if your number is REALLY low.

    Exactly.  Also, DS had to do it at a certain office that had hospital access in case he had a reaction. 

    DS1 age 7, DD age 5 and DS2 born 4/3/12
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  • macchiattomacchiatto member

    Will tested positive (moderate) for a peanut allergy on the skin and blood test at 15 months. So we avoided peanuts (and were given an epi-pen Rx) for a year and then had a follow-up appt at 26 months. He tested negative for peanuts on the skin test at that appt (he was getting tested for a bunch of things) and the allergist put a dab of PB on his skin and he didn't react to that. So the allergist said we could go ahead and do a food challenge now or wait till he was 3 (and better able to communicate if he was having any symptoms). He said he thought Will had a good chance of passing the challenge so we went for it.

    He was given a tiny amount of PB on a graham cracker. They had DH double the amount of PB given every 15 minutes (after checking for a reaction). The final amount after about 1.5 hrs was a graham cracker slathered with PB. They waited another half hour, no reaction, so they sent him home! And the allergist actually said to make sure to keep feeding him PB from time to time or he might lose his immunity.

    fraternal twin boys born january 2009
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