My Son Had A Negative Skin Test For Peanuts - Now What?

As any parent could imagine, going to see the allergist is an absolute nightmare.  Its a traumatic experience for the children and for the parents.  Today was no different.  I brought in two of my children for allergy testing.  Each child has different food allergies and some of the same environmental allergies.

My son had a blood test three years ago that said he was a level 4 peanut allergy.  The allergist at the time refused to do a skin test or an oral challenge because he believed the level 4 peanut allergy was a conclusive result that my son had a severe peanut allergy.  Today, the new allergist decided to do a peanut skin test.  I watched the bubbles on his arm appear and I prayed that none of them were the peanut test.  To my amazement, they weren't.

The doctor then followed up that test with blood test.  I'm waiting for results and wondering, what if the peanut blood test is negative?  Then what?  Do I allow him to have an oral peanut challenge?  Could it really be possible that my son could one day soon be chowing down on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

I'm both nervous and excited.  I'm nervous because what if I'm getting my hopes up and my prayers haven't been answered to cure his peanut allergy.  I'm excited because this could open up a whole new world to my son both at his friends home and at school.

It might be important to note that my son has never had a peanut directly.  He was exposed to peanuts while I was breast feeding.  I completely avoided peanuts while I was pregnant and read a few articles that claimed eating nuts was a good idea for nursing mothers.  The idea was to expose their children to nuts early on.  Since my son's diagnosis of a peanut allergy, I have read several articles that claim the exact opposite!

I'll keep you posted and if anyone would like to share their story, please do!

Check out my son's allergy skin test picture.

Update:  The blood test came back as a zero for peanuts.  The allergist said that since there has been no clinical allergy to peanuts it should be fine to eat peanuts.  I got off the phone crying tears of joy as you would imagine.

That afternoon I purchased a bag of peanut butter cups and allowed my son to try one as I stood inches from his body with my twin EpiPens ready to go, Benedryl and phone ready just in case there was an emergency.  He ate a mini peanut butter cup and he was so happy.   I was in a panic. Then he asked for another one.  I made him wait five minutes before I would give him another one.  Once again, no reaction.  Soon after that, we ran down the block visiting all of his friends and had a peanut party.  All of the children were so excited for him and he screamed, "I'M NOT ALLERGIC TO PEANUTS ANYMORE!" at every door.   I followed him around with my purse packed with my emergency kit just in case.

This story has a seriously happy ending, my child outgrew his peanut allergy.