Peanut Allergy Update

Connell's allergist's nurse called yesterday with the latest results from his peanut allergy test. They hadn't tested him for peanuts in 2 years simply because typically peanut allergies are for life and so it would simply be a waste of money. But this year the doctor insisted on checking just to see if his numbers were getting better and if perhaps there might be any hope that he might be one of the 20% who ever outgrow a peanut allergy.

Well, bad news. His RAST test number was 82 this year which means that he went from a class 4 peanut allergy when measured 2 years ago now up to a class 5 peanut allergy this year. The numbers indicate the likelihood of having a reaction when in contact with the product (either through touch, ingestion, in the air, etc.) You can see that Connell's number of 82 is quite high on the scale.

Peanut Allergy Classes...

0 <.035 Absent/Undetectable
class 1 0.35-0.70 Low Level
class 2 0.71-3.50 Moderate Level
class 3 3.51-17.5 High Level
class 4 17.6-50 Very High Level
class 5 51-100 Very High Level
class 6 >100 Very High Level

I wasn't surprised by the phone call; in fact, I was very surprised that the doctor even wanted to test it again this year. We have gone 4 years now keeping his diet and environment peanut-free (and tree-nut free as well once we had that diagnosis 2 years ago) and Connell has never known life any differently. He always has to ask, "Does this have peanuts or tree-nuts in it because I am allergic" and he takes his Epi-pen Jr. with him (although we have never had to use it).

Funny thing is that last week when the doctor did the test, she said that in the case that it came back negative, they would want to do a tolerance test in the office where he would be given peanut products and they would watch his body's reactions over the hours to see if he could truly tolerate them. When I told Connell of this possibility, he cried and kept saying, "But I don't want to eat peanuts! What if I don't like them?!?" and so I tried not to bring it up again because he was upset by the fact that he would even be exposed to peanuts! However, being a part of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network for 4 years now and receiving their period publication, that is a common reaction from many children. Once they find out that they no longer have an allergy and can eat the item, they don't want to because they have been taught to "fear" that item for so long. Makes perfect psychological sense to me.

But what really is ironic is how much I love peanuts and everything peanut butter (Reese's and all those dessert bars with peanut butter and peanut butter on apple slices, etc.) and how much I feel like the boys are missing out not having the experience of peanuts in their lives (Liam avoids simply because the longer we wait to feed those nut products to him, the less likely he is to have/develop the same allergy as Connell). But Ray still has confidence that one of these years they will succeed in creating a hypoallergenic peanut (some sort of man made legume that will not affect people with peanut allergies -- scientists have been working on this for a while now and apparently one day it is destined to replace all peanuts as we know them now. I'm not sure if this will occur in my lifetime though...)