After the bloods were taken, we headed to clinic. Dr Agrawal said that he would be doing a hazelnut challenge in the morning and starting peanut OIT in the afternoon. Hazelnut was a small positive on my skin prick test and previous blood test results suggest that my allergy is related to birch tree pollen. Nevertheless, I was quite nervous for this as I knew it was a true allergy and one which has given me symptoms when sat next to someone eating a Kinder Bueno before!
So… the hazelnut challenge commenced
You are given a certain amount, wait 15 minutes, oxygen and heart rate checked and if all ok, you move up!
25mg – no reaction
50mg – no reaction
100mg – no reaction
250mg – no reaction
750mg – huge amount of tingling and itchiness as soon as I chewed the nuts! Thankfully it subsided on its own by drinking water and eating a snack. But Dr A decided to stop the challenge at this point which I knew was the right decision!
This was the first time I’d felt this level of itchiness and tingling in the mouth and tongue. Throat felt mostly OK. No antihistamine or epipens were required. And despite not making it to the final dose – I was soooo pleased to know that I could tolerate quite a sizeable amount without any symptoms. 🙂 They did keep me under supervision for about an hour afterwards.
12-1 – lunch back at our place! Nice to take a break!
Next up – starting peanut OIT 🥜
OIT & Me 