Is there a Catfish test?

By BAS Friday, September 28, 2007

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Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some insight about a possible Catfish allergy.

My almost 3 yr old daughter was recently diagnosed with allergies to peanut and sesame. She has never had a full-blown reaction, but had oral symptoms to both. Subsequently she seems to have reacted to eating Catfish even though she has eaten various fish in her life without problem. Initially it presented as very bad, sudden hayfever symptoms (rhinitis, itchy nose and eyes). Then her eczema flared up and her face got very red. Eventually one eye swelled (she was rubbing it alot). She never developed any oral, gastro, or respiratory symptoms and even continued to eat it. Our allergist is 3 hrs away so our family doctor ordered a blood test for seafood mix. It came back negative. Tonight she had a similar, although milder, reaction to Cod.

What's up? Is it possible she is only allergic to Catfish and the blood test didn't detect it because it isn't included in the test mix? Is there a skin test serum specific to Catfish? Is she just at the early stages of sensitization? Should we be rereferred to the allergist for fish allergy skin testing?

How Do I Interpret Allergy Test Results?

Comments (7) | Add comment

Sloane Miller, Health Guide

10/ 1/07 3:14pm

hi bas,

sorry to hear about these allergy sympotms, that must have been scary for all of you.

im wondering, is there an allergist nearer than 3 hours away? that is very very far away esp. if your child has a reaction to anything. you may want to consider having a conversation with an allergist in your town if only for emergencies.

also i participated on a radio show about allergies here in NYC. [www.wfuv.org-cityscapes] the allergist explained a very interesting situation with fish and histamine about which i was unaware.

bascially, as i understand it, fish can have a build up of natural histamine that when we eat it we can react with an alergic reaction eventhough we may not be allergic to the fish under normal circumstances.

you can listen to the full show here http://wfuv3.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category=podcasts

and the doctor was dr. liz lowey at www.cityallergy.com.

it might help to explain what's going on with your child's allergies but certainly something to discuss with your family doctor or a local allergist.

best of luck! Big Smile

sloane

BAS

10/ 1/07 8:58pm

Thanks for the info Sloane. I'll have a listen, but I did do some research into histamine poisoning when it happened. Apparently you cannot get it from Catfish. They just don't build up enough histamine.

As for seeing a closer allergist, we live in Northern Ontario, Canada, in a city with a population under 200 000 people. There are NO allergists any closer than 3 hours away. In fact, there are no doctors here that will do allergy testing at all. This is precisely why I'd like to know if they can even test specifically for Catfish. I don't really want to drive all the way there to find out she is negative to the fish they can test for and still not know about Catfish.

Sloane Miller, Health Guide

10/ 2/07 8:17am

hmmm,well,what about calling your health insurance company to talk to a nurse? do you have that in Canada?

BAS

10/ 5/07 3:49pm

Health care in Canada is publicly funded so I don't have anyone I can call. My only option is to go back to the doctor. I am certainly willing to do that, but if they cannot test specifically for Catfish, then it is not a worthwhile trip. I just don't know who to ask.

Anonymous

10/ 1/07 7:13pm

I was searching the web to find information about my my weird allergies. At the age of 8 iI had a severe allergic reaction to crab and catfish. I didn't eat either for years, but I still ate other seafood like salmon, shrimp, mussels, clams, and tuna. Now that I am grown (26), I would like to taste other types of seafood (lobster, cod, etc)but I am afraid that I will develop an allergic reaction. On Saturday I ate scallops for the first time and didn't develop a reaction. Today I was looking for information that could possibly explain why I'm allergic to some things vs. others, and I am finding that this is a case by case thing. I always try a small bite of something and if it immediately makes my throat itch-toss it! I just keep my Benadryl / Epi pen close.

Hope this helps.

BAS

10/ 1/07 9:03pm

The part that confuses me is that she had oral symptoms to both peanut and sesame (that is what alerted us to the allergy) but not to the Catfish. Just facial symptoms.

Vicki M

10/26/07 11:24am

I found this response from Pat Theiler from an earlier thread. It has some really interesting information in it. Check out the links.

Vicki M

Fish allergies are one of the most common allergies in adults. As a start be sure to check out the Food Allergies background information. Dr. Paula J. Busse also has an article on Food Allergies in Adults and discusses the kinds of fish that are more likely to cause reactions. Most people tend to associate fish allergies with shellfish, but finned fish, which would include catfish, are another common source of allergic reaction. As Dr. Busse notes in her article, some symptoms of food allergy develop within 15 to 30 minutes of eating. So if your symptoms developed more than 1-2 hours after eating the food you may have an intolerance to it but not an allergy. According to Dr. Busse, the usual symptoms of a food allergy include hives, itching, nausea, vomiting, feeling lightheaded, abdominal pain, swelling of the lips/tongue and in some cases difficulty breathing. Dr. Busse notes that If you experience any swelling of the lips and/or tongue and notice that you can not breathe or your voice changes, you should immediately go to the emergency room as this reaction may be life threatening. In addition to reading Dr. Busse's posts, you might want to check out some of the past community discussions regarding shellfish allergies. A number of comments mention fish allergies. Patricia Theiler Community manager

Is there a Catfish test?

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