Talking Allergies

It sounds like a lot of people had a great year. Our kids had a great time and the great pumpkin also visited our house with some new toys for the kids. One thing I did do differently this year was go around to some of the neighbours and give them treats that were safe for my boys so that they did have a fair bit that was safe. We have had nothing but greatness from both of my sons schools, other parents, Beavers, and gymnastics. I am happy to say not one error in judgment from anyone. People have been very inclusive and compassionate, it makes me feel so
much more positive about our families allergies. Happy Halloween.

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myself -Shell Fish, asthma, environmental allergies
Husband - Environmental allergies
7 year old- peanut, environmental
5 year old- eggs, nuts, fish, peas, environmental, and asthma.

The Great Pumpkin brought Webkinz to my house too! And my sons actually ended up with so many safe treats this year, that they gave some of those to the Great Pumpkin too, just to up their odds of getting something really good in return.

Many of our neighbours were handing out the peanut free Nestle treat size bars, Twizzlers, chips and rockets. Our sons actually got to keep almost half of their candy! For the first year ever I was more concerned with them getting too much, rather than concerned with them feeling bad about how little they got to keep. It's so good to see more P-free choices available, and more people choosing them to give out.

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1 son allergic to eggs, peanuts, green peas, chick peas, lentils and tomatoes
(avoiding tree nuts and most other legumes too)
1 son allergic to eggs, and has outgrown peanuts
Both with many environmental allergies, asthma and eczema

Twinmom said-

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Yay, this sounds like a wonderful Hallowe'en year.

Three cheers for the Great Pumpkin.

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

From a peanut / nut perspective, I found this year was better than last too. Out of his whole bag of loot, it seemed like a lot less chocolate bars with nuts/peanuts. He got a whole bunch of the Nestle peanut-free bars, and I also noticed a whole bunch of the peanut-free Twizzlers licorice and Nibs. Also, lots of Tootsie Roll products. He went trick-or-treating with a buddy who is non-allergic and we ended up swapping some unsafe treats for safe ones. The kids were great. As my little guy was running from door to door with his buddy, I overheard him say to himself, "this is the best Halloween ever!". It was too cute!
When sorting through his candy, I did come across a full size Reese chocolate bar loaded with peanuts (not the peanut butter cups). I had a moment when I thought this might be a "backlash" statement....I guess one never truly knows.

I had a "backlash statement" experience of my own. Only afew of my neighbours had peanut choc bars...but all but one had a safe alternative when they realized it was us. The only one of my neighbours who has given us peanut choc bars 2 years in a row is a teacher at our local peanut free school who taught my friends PA daughter last year. That was the school we considered...and would've been my daughters' teacher had we not chosen to homeschool. It strikes me as odd that a teacher at a peanut free school would choose to hand out peanut choc bars when there are 3 kids on the block with PA plus my younger daughter and her allergies. Is she really that ignorant about PA or is she just a beep?

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DD age 9 1/2 -peanuts, nuts,
DD age 7 1/2 - milk, eggs, chicken, peanuts, treenuts, cats, dogs,
DS age 2 1/2
Husband- asthma, eggs, treenuts, fish, shellfish environmental
Self - penicillan, eurithromiacin, mild laytex allergy.

Aw, let's hope she's just obtuse.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

We had a great Halloween too! It's amazing all the considerate people out there!

I just noticed that there was mention of Tootsie Rolls... are they safe??? For some reason, I seem to remember they are unsafe... we always give ours away. I thought Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie pops contained peanut, or were a "may contain" peanut... am I wrong?

Funny story... at my son's school, they asked that NO treats be sent in. Of course, some parents don't listen This one little 4 year old boy was giving out lollipops at the door when the kids were heading home. When he handed one to my son, my son said "Is this "may contain"?" This really made me smile cause the little boy had NO idea what my son was talking about

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14 yr old daughter: no health issues
11 yr old son: allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, sesame, sunflower, mustard, poppy seeds, green peas, some fruits, instructed to avoid all other legumes (except soy & green beans), pollen, cats, horses

Good of your son, Julie. But where was the teacher!

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Hi Julie -- here are the Tootsie Roll brands: http://www.tootsie.com/products.html

I took the following from the Tootsie Roll FAQs page: http://www.tootsie.com/faq.html

Great news about the Tootsie Rolls - thanks ethansmom!

And, Susan, about the teachers... well, they were there (there are 2 of them per class in the kindergarten years), and, even though the principal of the school sends out many reminders, the treats still come in - on occasion. I guess the principal hasn't stood her ground firmly enough and just said "No!" to the treats. The teachers do not allow the children to eat them at school... they are sent home for the parents to make the final decision. So far, thank goodness, I only see this on special occasions (Halloween, etc). I always make sure I'm at the school for the party so I can oversee any food related activities because I just KNOW the treats are still making their way into the class (plus, my son cannot eat any of the food anyway). When the school has a party, pizza is provided by the school (of course, my son cannot eat the pizza and we bring our own in) and the parents are asked to send in veggie trays, cheese trays, fruit trays, boxes of crackers, juice, napkins, paper plates, etc. I always send in a tray (or two) of some sort so I know my son has some safe food options and can share with others, and my son never eats off of any of the other trays, so I always have to send in all of the food for his lunch. He pretty much can never eat the crackers, and sometimes cannot drink the juice either, so I end up sending in all his food, PLUS bring in a tray or two of food to share - sheesh. The things we do, eh? I really don't enjoy the school parties, and they are pretty stressful for me, but my son enjoys them and doesn't mind having his own food, so I do it for his sake. If it were up to me, I just wouldn't bother.

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14 yr old daughter: no health issues
11 yr old son: allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, sesame, sunflower, mustard, poppy seeds, green peas, some fruits, instructed to avoid all other legumes (except soy & green beans), pollen, cats, horses

Julie wrote-

I have an issue with this because this is what happened in JK and Sk with our daughter. I really feel that it is too much to expect from a JK/SK student to be mature enough postpone their gratification until they reach home especially when they might be pretty sure they won't be allowed the item. I have seen adults who have trouble postponing gratification.

I recall last year as I walked home from the bus stop (5 minutes) with my husband describing our daughters increasing symptoms including lethargy and projectile vomitting. I rushed in the door and checked her backpack to find a loot bag with loose candies in it.

Stupid me! I had never trusted the other teacher but today she'd be in the class of the teacher who had never fed her so I thought she got it. They had an Easter party that day and I remembered thinking OK, good, it's Mrs G's class.

I Urgently asked her if she had eaten any between boughts of vomitting. She said, "No.', but was she telling us the truth or what we wanted to hear?

It did turn out that she just had a bad case of the flu and it was a coincidence with the timing but what a worry!

The schools need to enforce their policies or they simply don't have any.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

I can't even comment on the JK/SK situation we're having enough of a time ourselves that I am not really keeping it together these days.

BUT, my daughter has been very into Sick Kids hospital since she learned about Terry Fox this year. We didn't do the Great Pumpkin idea as we were fortunate - we planted treats with friendly neighbours and my girlfriend ran slightly ahead to plant as we trick or treated so it was a very inclusive Halloween this year. Still as you always get some allergen laden or questionable treats or simply too many, we suggested to our daughter that she send her excess and questionable candies to Sick Kids to the kids that can't trick or treat. She got so into this idea and it made it a matter of thinking of others instead of allergies (for once).

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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

Renie, that's so sweet of your daughter. I always find it amazing how caring kids can be about other children. That's a nice alternative for Hallowe'en excess/unsafe candy, too.

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

After seeing all of the candy and costumes in the stores, I figure it's time to bump up some of the Halloween threads.

I much prefer this candy-a-thon over Easter as it seems we have so many more choices.

We still do the Great Pumpkin.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb