Talking Allergies

My 14 month old son has peanut allergies (just found out yesterday). We need help. We've been to 2 allergists who, in our opinion, were not helpful. I can't even ask them questions - I was told that one of them wouldn't answer questions over the phone and I had to bring my son in and the other doctor told me to look online.

I need help...what ingredients should we be looking out for when shopping...I saw that vegetable oil and lecithin and hydrogenated veg oil could be problematic but the doctor only stated hydrolyzed veg/plant proteins are the ones to look out for. Is there a list anywhere?

He is not allergic to tree nuts, just nuts. The second doctor said we can try him out on nuts when he can chew better (he's eaten Honey Nut Cheerios about 25 times already).

Also, he ate peanut butter 3 times (prior to diagnosis) and that's all he had was a face rash/hives around his mouth which didn't seem to bother him and went away after 30-45 minutes. Has this happened to anyone else?

As you can see, I need help.

Thank you.
Sharon

Take care of yourself, this is going to be a big change for you. You can do it.
Here are a few links that you may find interesting.

About peanut allergies:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fss ... arae.shtml

Register for food recalls:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/cor ... toce.shtml

Some interesting articles:
http://www.faastcincy.org/living_with/index.htm

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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 there -

Welcome to the forum -- good for you to find this resource so quickly !! I hope we can help.

You probably already know this, but peanuts are a legume (like peas, beans, lentils), while tree nuts are, well, nuts from a tree. It's good to know the difference. And a lot of non-allergic people don't.

Companies that are trustworthy with good labelling (in my opinion) are Dare, Quaker, Kellogg's and Kraft/Mr. Christie. Every time I call to check ingredients I am told that their policy is to indicate whether a product may contain an allergen or not, if they feel it is necessary. Obviously if it contains peanut/nuts that will be indicated,but if they feel it may contain peanuts/nuts, they will indicate that.



For products made in Canada and the US I do not think these ingredients should be problematic.

According to the CFIA at http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fss ... .shtml#2.8 :



So even though this is just "recommended", I cannot see any Canadian company not indicating peanuts or tree nuts in their product.

The US has just passed a labelling law that says that the top allergens, including peanuts/nuts, must be indicated in labelling.

Dare has quite a number of peanut and tree nut free products. Quaker has new Chewy Granola bars that are peanut free (and basically nut free as well). A lot of Kellogg's products are peanut/nut free. Having a peanut allergy isn't the most fun, but more and more safe products are becoming available for those with peanut/nut allergy, so that's a good thing.

I would not follow the advice to just "give him nuts" when he can chew more. I do not think that is wise. First, I would personally find another allergist if at all possible and get further advice on that. If it were my child, I would not even think about introducing tree nuts until at least age 3. My allergist, whom I respect very much, tells parents not to introduce peanuts OR tree nuts until age 3 at the very earliest, and truly, given that the child already has allergies, I would probably have the child tested for nuts first and then get advice from a knowledgeable allergist about how to proceed from there.

You should know that a lot of people with peanut allergy are advised to avoid all tree nuts as well because of the risk of cross-contamination. Peanuts and tree nuts are often processed together and it's almost impossible to guarantee that there aren't traces of peanuts in processed trees nuts, or traces of tree nuts in processed peanuts. It does limit what you can buy, but that is the current reality.

As for reactions: there is no way of predicting a reaction. Someone might have a minor reaction the first time and then a major one the next time. Even the way people react can change from one episode to another. That's one of the many not-so-fun parts about alleriges - you cannot predict. I'm assuming you've been prescribed an EpiPen?

A good resource to look at as well is

www.allergysafecommunities.ca

This web site is based on the new Canadian anaphylaxis guidelines, and has a lot of good info that is worth reading.

You are probably feeling really overwhelmed at this point, which is pretty normal. It's a pretty steep learning curve, but you are doing the right thing in taking your child's allergy seriously and in getting info, so take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back. It will get easier with time.

Take care,

Karen

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

See also http://www.allergicliving.com/forum/vie ... php?t=1137 for more info about labelling that might be of interest.

And welcome to the wonderful world of food labelling.

K.

_________________
Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

Welcome Sharono -- I agree that it's important that you find an allergist that is providing you with the information you need and is approachable so that you can feel that you have your questions answered. It's great that you've found this website and this forum -- everyone here is very supportive and if you can take the time to read the previous discussions, I'm sure that you'll find that you'll have a lot of your questions answered. If something you read doesn't make sense to you, or you need further clarification - just post and I'm sure someone will respond! In the beginning, learning to live with a life threatening allergy can feel very overwhelming, but in time and as you find the answers to your questions, you'll see that you can manage it. I'm not sure where you are located, but you might want to see if there are any local anaphylaxis support groups that you could attend in your area http://www.anaphylaxis.org/content/prog ... t_list.asp or http://www.allergicliving.com/forum/vie ... p?f=41(the links are if you're living in Canada) . Anaphylaxis Canada's website gave me a great deal of information when my son was first diagnosed -- you might also want to check out their website as a starting point http://www.anaphylaxis.org/ . Take care .

Hi Sharon,

Welcome to the forum. You came to the right place. This forum is your best source for support.

You will find that Karen, the moderator, as well as a lot of members are really savvy and resourceful about a variety of allergy questions. I learned a lot from them. The more you know, the more you are prepared to act when your child reacts.

Make sure you also have Benadryl in your allergy kit.

Even though your son doesn't react to Honey-Nut Cheerios, I would stop feeding them to him and switch to the plain Cheerios, which are safe, and are healthier anyway as they contain less sugar.

You should think of getting him a Medic-Alert bracelet as well.

It is very hard to get information from the medical community. I have myself complained about that. Unlike for diabetics and asthmatics, there are no education programs out there for allergic people. Hopefully some day this will be remedied, but in the meantime, we have to rely on each other and on forums and websites such as this one, and on magazines such as Allergic Living.

I think if your child is going to have a food allergy, a peanut allergy is the easiest to deal with. There is a lot more awareness out there for peanut allergic people and a lot of peanut-free products.

Good luck!

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15 year old - asthmatic, allergic to cats, dogs, horses, waiting to be "officially" diagnosed for anaphylaxis
12 year old - asthmatic, allergic to tree pollen and mold, OAS
Husband - Allergic to amoxycillin
Self - Allergic to housework only