skin test vs. blood test

[moonlight mom]

I am still trying to figure out what is causing my son's eczema. He had a blood test, which showed a significant reaction to wheat and eggs. I cut out those two foods and noticed an improvement with his loose bowels, but only a small improvement in his eczema. I took him to an allergist that did a skin test, which showed no allergies.

The allergist said the blood tests are worthless and he has no allergies (she was horrible in so many ways- doctors are so demeaning). I am nervous to give him wheat and eggs again. I game him a piece of sprouted wheat toast yesterday and he had an enormous bowel movement this morning and his eczema did seem worse. It is so hard to judge this stuff!!

So the blood test is positive and the skin test is negative. My question is - what is more reliable - a blood test or a skin test? I feel guilty keeping him from wheat because he can't have alot of him favorite foods, but I don't want to give him something that is causing him discomfort.

[tempestjewel]

Do you know which blood test he had? From what I've gathered skin tests are usually LESS accurate then blood tests, but there are many different blood tests (RAST, ELISA, etc) that measure different immunoglobins.

[moonlight mom]

He had the RAST blood test and also an IgE level which was very high. My ped says this definately means he has an allergy. The allergist that did the skin test disagrees.

[mclisa]

RAST is 60 % accuracy
Immunocap (blood test) is 90% which is the same as skin testing

[tempestjewel]

Anecdotally our skin tests were only accurate for peanuts, but they did not show a dairy allergy that my DD clearly has.

If he reacted gastrointestinally it sure seems like an allergy. Sometimes it can take a few days for allergies to come out through the skin (at least it does for us).

[weddell]

My understanding is that blood tests tend to have false negatives and skin tests have false positives. But that doesn't really help you, does it. Actual reactions trump all tests. I don't think it hurts to restrict the diet somewhat and see if things get better with time.

[cristeen]

Have you tried a muscle test? You can test for way more that way, and it tends to be more precise.

[tysmamaca]

Is muscle testing the same thing as NAET?