Is it true allergy tests in under two's not accurate??

[moodywren]

My ds is 18 months and over the last 5 wks, his eye has swollen up during the night 3 times, he also came out in hives.
Then Sunday morning he woke with his top lip and his penis swollen to more than twice their normal size. Took him to A&E where they gave him piriton and a steriod which reduced the swelling over the next two hours. They said he's obviously allergic to something but don't know what and they don't do allergy testing on children under two as its not accurate. What if the next time its his throat or his tongue that swells up? Is it worth getting him tested by a homeopath or won't that be accurate either?

[mawbroon]

I would push for a referral. My 16 month DS has just had blood tests for his egg allergy which have indeed confirmed his allergy and given me an indication of how severe it is. I think there can be issues with tests coming back as negative but the reason for this escapes me. Like you say, what if it's his tongue or throat next time. I have no experience of using a homeopath, so can't comment on that, other than personally, I would be wary as I don't know enough about it.

[moodywren]

I have decided to harass my gp until ds is refered, I am going to take him to gp every time it happens until they get fed up with me.

[Chandra]

I think tests may be innacurate at any age, there is no such thing as a perfect reliable test. However, I think a good number of doctors have the well founded belief that most allergies will be outgrown before the end of the toddler years, but that doesn't mean that a child and his family should be left on their own to cope with the problem.

There are an infinite number of things that your child may be allergic to, so it is important to short-list a number of suspects before proceeding with any tests. You can keep a diary to find relationships between what your child eat or was exposed to during the day. We ordered an ELISA test (York Test) for intolerances (they don't do the allergy one for infants) with the idea of having DS tested for as many allergens in one go.

ELISAs are NOT the most reliable of tests, so we used the information given by the test to press for RAST and Skin Prick tests. Most severe intolerances in the York test were confirmed by RAST and Skin Prick tests a year later.

Regarding Homeopathy testing... homeopathy can be fantastic provided you find a very good and very experienced homeopath. And you still need to provide some "suspected allergens". However, when allergies are severe I would NOT consider homeopathy test results definitive or final, too much risk IYWIM