glass > I copy these paragraphs for your reading pleasure. Conclusion for us since I know that she is allergic to milk proteins, I've obviously excluded this from her daily diet. However, complete avoidance is one part of things; we have routinely begun challenging her system to provoke reactions albeit in a mild way so these can somewhat help her immune response to overcome its hasty reactions etc. etc.
----Quote from American Academy of Pediatrics----
"The prick skin test is the most commonly used test to detect allergies. Although not always accurate in children under the age of 12 months, it can be done at any age. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 'age is no barrier to skin testing; positive results can be obtained at any age.' Skin testing is done by placing drops of common allergens on your child's skin. Light pricks or scratches are then made in the skin and the area is observed for a reaction. The test is relatively painless and very quick. To avoid false results, your child will have to stop taking antihistamines if he is currently taking them as treatment for his allergies.
Another type of allergy test is the intradermal skin test. This is similar to the prick skin test, except that the allergen is injected under the skin. It is more accurate, but may not be as well tolerated as the prick skin test in younger children.
Other tests include RAST (radioallergosorbent test, a blood test to check for antibodies against certain things your child may be allergic to) to see if specific allergies can be found. A new version of the test, the ImmunoCAP allergy blood test, is supposedly much improved over older versions, although skin testing is usually thought to be more accurate. The main downsides to RAST testing is that it is more expensive than skin testing, and the results can take up to a few weeks to come back, while the results of skin tests are usually known within 15 minutes of the test being performed.
Other, nonspecific tests, such as total serum IgE and blood eosinophil levels, are not very helpful, as they give no information about what you may be allergic to.
So if it is possible to do allergy testing in children, why don't you just do it on all children with allergies? One reason is that just because you have a positive test, which indicates that you do have IgE against a certain allergen, that doesn't mean that it will cause any symptoms. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 'Although a positive result to scratch or intradermal skin testing strongly suggests that your child has formed IgE antibodies against a specific allergen, it does not follow that he will develop allergy symptoms when exposed to that particular allergen in the environment.' And skin test results can remain positive, even as your child is outgrowing his allergies.
Also, allergy tests can not detect every possible allergen. So your child may still be allergic to something, even though all of his tests are normal.
So the results of your child's skin tests must be interpreted in light of his symptoms and history and are best done by allergy expert. Although allergy tests, especially RAST, are easy to order, and are often done by doctors without formal training in diagnosing and treating allergies, they are often hard to interpret.
Your doctor may also do a food challenge, where small amounts of a food is given to your child and he is closely observed for symptoms.
Other allergy tests are very controversial and best avoided, including the cytotoxic leukocyte test, sublingual drops test, and immune complex assays."
