Private Pediatric Allergy testing

[midivydale]

Please could someone give me a contact name for private pediatric allergy testing, pref local. Pretty urgent so any advice very welcome. Thanks

[Sonners]

We used the Health Hub in Herne Hill to scratch test baby number 2 aged 7 months for the nuts which my eldest is severely allergic to. The doctor is an allergy specialist. Do you know what you want testing? How old is the child? HH do full blood allergy testing too but apparently it's hard to get enough blood from very young ones which is why we were advised to go the scratch test route. They can usually do appointments pretty quickly as long as the doctor isn't on holiday.

[midivydale]

Thanks Sonners that sounds great. He is 4 1/2 testing needed for cows milk, egg, nuts, and some animals and dust.

[Sonners]

At 4.5 they should hopefully be able to do the blood test for you which is good as it's a more conclusive test than the scratch test and can easily cover lots of potential allergens. The doctor is v good and clearly very interested in allergies even if I suspect he makes most of his money out of Men B and chicken pox jabs!

My best advice is carry an antihistamine everywhere if there are unknown allergies - we happened to have some in the house when my eldest had her severe reaction to cashew nut butter at 15 months as it was left over from when she'd had terrible eczema as a baby and the piriton bought me some time from something much worse whilst waiting for the ambulance.

To help the battle against dust mites keep the bed clear of soft toys and cover with a sheet in the day so dust collects on top of that rather than the bed. I've got a dust mites allergy info sheet from our last allergy clinic appointment (as she tested positive to that as well) which I can e-mail you if helpful? Very happy to chat about allergies/process/doctors in general if that helps as well - I had to have a massive row with my GP last week about getting a referral for my youngest to Kings even though she has tested positive to certain nuts (which I did privately after I was refused a referral by GP in the first instance!)

[bodsier]

sonners, I am shocked that your doc refused a referral. I always thought if you specifically asked then it is their duty to refer you. Is it a group surgery, because ifitis you can see a different doctor who might be more helpful and refer you. Problem is you need an annual check up as the situation can change from year to year....personally I would persist.

[Sonners]

Bodsier, I was pretty shocked too! I was refused the referral first of all when I asked about it when the baby was 8 weeks. The GP said that sibling link was not a strong enough basis for referral. Her advice was "just to avoid nuts". At the time I didn't have it in me to challenge her as we'd just got to the end of a double appointment for the baby and my 8 weeks checked, had waited ages, baby was screaming and we still had her first set of jabs to get through! It was only afterwards that I realised how stupid the advice was. Still, I was fortunate enough that I knew I could take her privately so left it. After the positive reaction on the testing I went back to the GP and asked for a referral as I wanted Kings to give her a full set of tests as the private doctor only tested her for three nuts my eldest is allergic to. We have also always had some concerns over cows milk intolerance/allergies which the GP knows. The GP agreed at that point to refer us once she'd received the private doctor's letter to attach to the referral. GP then called me after receiving the letter to say we didn't need a referral as the private doctor had suggested we retested in 6 months. So she was telling me to go privately. At which point I got a bit cross and reminded her the only reason we'd gone private in the first place was due to her initial refusal to refer despite my eldest nearly dying at 15 months from an anaphylactic reaction! We have the referral now thankfully and will see the allergy clinic in February.

[bodsier]

They are great at Kings, they do the best they can under the circumstances. The problem is the UK is way behind Australia and Canada in dealing with allergies. Hope it all works out for you. Your child's anaphylactic experience sounds scary. I guess as your child has had no direct reaction themselves the NHS are not permitted to test for possible reactions, no doubt budget has a lot TO do with it, and it doesn't necessarily follow that because one child is allergic, the other will be too. Having said that this has proved to be the case. Usually if one family member has a severe allergy in the family, the allergens are not consumed within the household, particularly nuts, as traces are easily left lying around, especially where children are concerned, so I can also see where your GP is coming from.

good that you are in a position totest privately, it costs the NHS ?160 to do a prick test, interested to know how thT compares to a private practice.

[Chumandoz]

Dr Adam Fox at St Thomas' is brilliant, one of the best paediatric allergy specialists in the country - I think he sees patients privately at the Portland. I paid for a private appointment with him for my 7 month old son (less than a week's wait and worth every penny to get a clear diagnosis and action plan as we were having a nightmare weaning my son). Once the NHS appointment came through, my son then saw Dr Fox every year on the NHS at St Thomas' until he outgrew his allergy. Good luck and hope you get a diagnosis soon.

[prit]

George du toit, just saw him at the shard and liked that they did individual pricks rather than the usual 6 in 1 skin prick test device, meaning I had total confidence in their diagnosis.

[bodsier]

Chumandoz, did he grow out of his allergies as a result of his treatment under Dr Fox ?

[gebbjane]

I've had mixed experience with the nhs and especially an unfavourable experience of St Thomas allergy clinic for my sons allergies. He initially had blood tests at Kings after breaking out in severe eczema at 3 months - we were then referred to st Thomas for further allergy testing (shorter waiting time than kings). A number of allergies were identified and they then told us to go away and not come back until he turned 4 and avoid all foods that he tested positive to and also he would not outgrow any of the allergies before then.

Well understandably I wasn't impressed with that, ended up researching other allergy consultants and paid to see Dr Boyle based at St Marys/imperial at his Harley street practice - he recommended and wrote a letter for our GP that we get referred back into the NHS at St Marys. This has worked out well we are seen regularly now on the NHS at st Marys hospital, we have been for a number of controlled food challenges and continue to do so. We have seen my son just outgrow his dairy allergy and partially his egg allergy - which we discovered before he turned 4.

[midivydale]

Thanks everyone for all your input, much appreciated. The help that we have received so far is pretty non existent so will go down the private route (which I should have done years ago). Thanks everyone for all your suggestions, will get on to this today.

What is the difference between a skin prick test and blood tests?

[Strawbs]

Blood test they will draw blood with a needle (my son got given numbing cream), skin prick test they put a dot of all sorts of things along his arm in liquid form and then will ever so slightly knick him with a razor to allow it to seep in to the skin and they area will have a reaction if he is truly allergic.

My son had them when he was 2.5 and I thought it would be horrendous but he handled it really well.

I have had them myself and can vouch it is not very painful.

The person I saw near St Thomas' was excellent and well worth seeing.

any questions let me know xx