Itchy eyes and allergy testing

The blood test is the RAST test - in our case the result of that was useless, but some people find it better than the skin tests.  It takes at least 2 weeks to get the results back.  If you go down this road, ask the lab to send you an Emla patch before the day of the test - you put it on the site where the blood will be drawn an hour beforehand, and it numbs things up nicely. 

The skin prick test sounds nasty but really isn't - My daughter and I have had them and it honestly doesn't hurt.  Takes 20mins of waiting to see what develops where each allergen was put (and the skin very lightly scratched under it).  You can ask you GP to refer you to a lab for them.  The tests aren't only for really serious reactions, and I'd say it sounds well worth talking to your Doc about getting Stuart tested.  You'll be figuring out a lot about what he doesn't tolerate well by all your observations already - sometimes we wait for a medical test to tell us what is or isn't 'wrong' but you've already got a fair bit of info from what you've seen in him.  My son is completely dairy-free too, he reacts to banana too, but kids don't mind at all dining dairy/wheat/banana free... more work for mum but the babies don't mind a bit!  I'm assuming you've cut these out of his diet?   Your Doc will probably have an opinion on what age it's best to have allergy tests - some do them for infants, some say the results are only meaningful if you wait until after a year old.  Either way, probably worth talking with them about it. 

Yeah gluten is a blood test, they do skin prick test for it but it's not that accurate.

Dairy and banana are both high allergen foods (which just means lots of people are allergic to them), these can both be skin prick tested for.

When Spencer has been tested they have done it on his back, their arms are too small, the Dr puts some pen marks first then next to each he puts a drop of each thing he is testing for (each time Spencer has been tested for about 12) and then using what looks like a pin he has made a tiny scratch, scratch is not the best word as it doesn't even leave a mark, it just enough to disturb the top of the skin so some of the liquid is absorbed. Spencer has each time found it ticklish so it certainly doesn't hurt. Then we wait 10 mins and see which if any come up and they measure how big the reaction is. The go red and a little swollen but fade away again quickly, Spencer's are always gone by the time we get home about 45 mins later.

Yep could be hayfever and they can skin prick test for all those as well, might also be cat/dog/horse hair.

Oh Spencer's allergic reaction just give him ezcema, a crook gut and sometimes an allergy rash, so not a severe reaction and they still show up on skin prick testing, just his don't come up as bad as someone with anaphalaxis would. My friends little boy is gluten intolerant and the only indicators were horrid poos and a small patch of ezcema and some moodiness that they couldn't get to the bottom of, his skin prick test was neg but his blood test showed he is actually quite bad with gluten.

HTH

Yeah the blood test is in the elbow. I found the whole experience quite unpleasant and nearly cracked when Spencer had his done as I had to physically restrain him whilst they did it. However he was over it 2 secs after they pulled the needle out and was laughing with the guy that had just done it. I really want DH to take him for the next one but he's a needle phobe so will be me again :(
If he does have one find out where in you area is good to go to cos the place we went was recommended by the paed and I think they must do lots of kids they we were really great with him and made it as quick and painless as is possible. They were good with me too when they could see me getting upset.

With the diet I had to cut all dairy out with Kyle and have just started eating it again now, maybe you could cut down if you don't want to cut out completely. I stayed away from cheese, yoghurt and ice cream for the longest and he seemed ok with me having a bit of milk in tea and using dairy spreads etc and now is ok if I eat yoghurt and so on

For help on food intolerances/allegies here is a good website. Food intolerance network fact sheets