Talking Allergies

Here is my latest worry:

Each of my daughter's reactions have been delayed by over and hour. I am now scared that she could have a reaction while she sleeps and not wake up for it. Would a small child wake up during a major reaction? Maybe those of you who are adults with allergies can tell me.

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daughter: 6 years tree nuts, peanuts

I'm no allergist - but I have had my own experience of sleeping/reacting...

I'd gone to bed, thinking I was sick to my stomach because of the "flu". Really felt awful, slept fitfully but was quite dosy. When I started having trouble breathing, it woke me right up with a start. (Unfortunately, quite scary.) My reaction was to bolt for the bathroom to see what was happening. Perhaps a child would bolt for Mom or Dad?

But I don't know if that response would be consistent.

If you want to frame this as a question for either Dr. Waserman or Dr. Watson in Ask the Allergists, you could ask one of them. Send it to us at: editor@allergicliving.com and put "ask the allergists" in the subject field.

They're great about going and looking up the medical literature to see if there are such incidents if they haven't seen them in their own practices.

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

I'm leery of answering this because I don't like to be an alarmist, but I will tell you about my experience.

First off, my night-time reactions were NOT delayed reactions. I was reacting when my husband was still eating my allergens because during the night he would sweat. What goes in must come out -- and his sweat contained protein from the foods I'm allergic to.

I would wake up in the morning having scratched the skin right off of the front of my leg. These were contact reactions, not ingestion, and as far as I know I never had any difficulty breathing. I still don't know how I could have slept through all that scratching though. I would then have to wrap my legs in bandaging with anti-biotic ointment to prevent infection.

gem, with your daughter's reaciton was there any signs before she went to bed? Until things settle down, could you have her not eat for a few hours before going to bed?

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self: allergy to sesame seeds and peanuts
3 sons each with at least one of the following allergies: peniciilin, sulfa-based antibiotic, latex, insect bites/stings

Hi Gem,

I, too, can only speak about my experience, but I am extremely allergic to nuts, shellfish, tomatoes, eggs and soy, and have had many delayed reactions - many of which have occurred after I went to bed.

Let me tell you, if you can't breathe, there is no possible way to sleep through it. When it has happened to me, I am 110% awake, the adrenaline is pumping, I am scared and I am looking for help.

I am not sure what age your child is, but I would say that if she's old enough to speak, just make sure to let her know very clearly that she should absolutely wake you if she's feeling bad - even if she's not sure what's happening.

This would also be a great question for your allergist.

Good luck!

Jennifer

It is very familiar to me to go to bed just fine and wake up either in the night or in the morning suffering. I have to work through every scenerio to be sure of the cause. My reaction is always hives. The hives can appear on my limbs, torso or head and sometimes, like while visiting my mom recently, everywhere.

If the hives are on my arms and legs only I assume I have had contact with nut particles somewhere so it is a matter of retracing my steps and stopping what I am doing.

If the hives are on my face, neck or scalp it is a little more complicated. Sometimes it can be just my body fighting off a viral infection. Obvious if I have the end of a cold or flu, but not so obvious if I didn't feel sick at all. It could also be tree nut pollen season or the nuts could be ripe on the trees. Last year at camp I narrowed the hives down to a fruit salad that had bananas in it.

When the hives spread to my torso I do have to really take notice because it means I am under prolonged attack. This has happened only in two instances.
The first has been during nut season.
My husband works outside and there are nut trees in the yard where he works as
well as a tree nut farm nearby. Birds steal the nuts and drop them on the road to
crack the shell. Cars run over them, spreading the particles which get on my
husband's hair. He refuses to cut his hair or shower every night. The last few years
I started sleeping elsewhere during nut season.

The second was at my mother's house.
I arrived Friday night with hives already. Just slightly behind my ears probably due to
mild stress of making a trip alone. So it was not a surprise when the hives did not go
away, but whey did they get worse? By Sunday morning I told my mom I was going
to the hospital after church if it did not get better. This is when she told me that rather
than wash down her counters she had simply covered her nut cutting area with other
cutting boards. Of course the hives reduced while at church because I was out of
her house. Next time I visit I will have to bring a tent and stay at the park. And eat
meals out.

Gem,

A fear after my own heart !!!! I still wake at any sound in our house now after our DD had one of her ana reactions during the night as a delayed onset.

I remember I was sleep deprived and home alone and felt annoyed at first since I thought she was just having trouble sleeping and being irritable (I remember blaming teething). Mommy's intuition had me take her into my bed where I could monitor her and good thing I did! I don't think that I could have slept through her reaction and I am certain that she would not have, but that hasn't taken the fear away. Our master is now on the 3rd floor with the kids on the 2nd. It is only recently (she's 3 1/2) that we've stopped using a monitor with her but it is also because I have a monitor in my son's room next door.

Now that she is allergy aware and very verbal, she will often tell us that she is feeling unwell. Still, on nights where we give Benadryl for itchiness (not frequent but since she's contact sensitive it's more frequent than we care), we are up later ourselves trying to ensure it is not going to turn into something sinister. So far, GI upset seems to hit before any respiratory distress but I am not comfortable assuming that reactions will always progress in the same manner.

Anytime that I am uncomfortable (like a known risk event like having been at a place like Science Centre, b-day parties + she says she doesn't feel well), she is more than happy as I take her into my bed and ensure I have two epipens, Benadryl and the phone (charged) at my night side table. Not saying it is a good solution for everyone but for me, since I have never been able to get reassurance that she'd be able to wake and get our attention, this is what is working at the moment...

Good luck and try to benefit from the fears/thoughts in terms of finding your comfort zone and coping strategies but tame the fears due to not being able to be 100% in control of all the risks.

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renie
daughter: ana for egg, sesame, dairy, pistachio/cashew/hazelnut. allergic on contact. allergic to soy protein isolate. other lesser allergies (e.g. dogs, dust mites). well controlled asthma. eczema.
son: p-p-p-p-peanuts