I recently found out that my granddaughter is allergic to peanuts. I've also been told that this is becoming quite common. Her parents now always have to carry an anaphylactic shock kit "just in case". Does anyone on the forum have any words of wisdom on this subject?

-- Ann (avdb11@canada.com), February 19, 2002

Answers

Some commercial chili mixes used by restaurants contain peanut butter and some snack foods are processed with the same equipment as peanuts.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), February 19, 2002.

Words of wisdom....take it seriously and always be prepared with an epi-pen or some other anaphylactic shock kit.

A friend and I were exploring some cultural site way up a canyon in the Dakotas. We bought sandwiches at a diner on the way out...we asked for no peanut but did end up with a dessert square which turned out to have traces of peanut oil in it. He left the kit in the truck after driving a trail for over an hour and we hiked in about another hour to look the site over. We ate, he puffed up right before my eyes. I tracheotomied him and ran to the truck to radio for help. I got Indian health services and they got the helocopter out of Rapid City. He was gone when I got back up the canyon...the copter guys did not have a good topo map and we had no GPS they found the truck eventually and then us but it was too late. If we had taken the kit off the dash of the truck to begin with it would not have been like that.

Take care.

Oscar

-- Oscar H. Will III (owill@mail.whittier.edu), February 19, 2002.

Some restaurants use peanut oil in their cooking. Best ask before ordering.

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), February 19, 2002.

I just finished LPN school. One of the major causes of severe allergy is peanuts. One instructor told us of one case of someone who reacted simply by being breathed on by a person who'd eaten them! Now that's bad! Do have a shock kit handy at all times. You might never need it, but if you do you will need it PRONTO!

-- ellie (elnorams@aol.com), February 19, 2002.

Don't forget about hot dogs deep fried in peanut oil.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), February 19, 2002.

Talk with your doctor, here are a couple of article that may be of interest:

The current increase in the prevalence of food allergies appears to have several causes including better screening, improved diagnosis and changes in both the techniques used by food manufacturers and eating habits: Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 1998 May;9(2):103. Labial food challenge in children with food allergy., Rance F, Dutau G.

Clin Exp Allergy, in Aug. 2000: The psychological burden of peanut allergy as perceived by adults with peanut allergy and the parents of peanut-allergic children. The authors conclude: "Given the considerable disruption in daily activities and family relations reported by the parents of peanut-allergic children, accurate diagnosis of peanut allergy is essential. Our work should make health care professionals dealing with children with confimed peanut allergy more aware of the support that these families may require. Furthermore, we hope to motivate food industries to offer more 'peanut free' products to decrease the dietary restrictions of these patients while minimizing their potential for accidental ingestion. "(posted Aug. 23d, 2000). The psychological burden of peanut allergy as perceived by adults with peanut allergy and the parents of peanut-allergic children., Primeau MN, Kagan R, Joseph L, Lim H, Dufresne C, Duffy C, Prhcal D, Clarke A., Divisions of; Allergy/Clinical Immunology; Rheumatology, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), February 19, 2002.

2 of my nephews have this allergy. They eat very little food that their mother doesn't prepare. My sister doesn't just read the labels: she finds out what else is made in the factories! She is afraid that a chocolate bar may get a contamination from a nut bar made in the same factory. No one thinks she is over reacting because there have been a couple of frightening incidents. Mostly, she just finds it easier to fix the family food from scratch, and give him a bag lunch where needed.

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), February 19, 2002.

You don't say how old your granddaughter is, but if she is 3 plus she is old enough to learn about her potentially life threatening allergy. She can be taught to ask a simple question "Are there peanuts in this?" or to say "No thank you" to food or snacks that are offered by anyone but her parents/family/teachers/friends who know her situaton. That doesn't always solve the problem, as mentioned peanut by products are hidden everywhere! A close friend has a life threatening peanut allergy and potluck cassaroles/platters/pies & cake now require a list of ingredients to be placed on the table with the dish. She quite often 'brown bags' to fancy dinner's, business lunch or what have you- with no apologies! She's very good at it! More than several trips to the emergency room have given her the spunk to say "I have special dietary requirements, be a dear and heat this up for me, won't you?" Good luck.

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), February 19, 2002.

It's nothing to mess with. I have this allergy (severely) and carry my epi-pen with me. I'm very cautious when eating out and candy bars are a thing of the past (most are made in facilities where peanut products or traces of peanuts are present). And twice, I had restaurants either lie or be ignorant of the fact that they use peanut products--one of those times, I ended up in the hospital.

-- Cat (catcrazy@somewhere.com), February 19, 2002.

Often sales staff just won't know what MIGHT be in a dish, and what they think is commonsense may not in fact be true - in other words you can't rely on what you're told.

One of my (now adult) sons has a couple of major food allergies. One is to maize, and it just zonks him out rather than killing him, but the number of people who don't think about what goes in the extras (like sauces) is amazing. More than once I've had to put him to bed after something like a pepper steak, even though we asked, and specifically made a point of the fact that anything like cornflour would affect him badly. Really - had to help him undress and all - it REALLY zonks him out. If that had been peanuts he was allergic to, we'd have been hoping the ambulance made it in time.

He also has an allergy to blueberries - at least if they don't tell the truth there, it carries its own penalty - only takes about thirty seconds before he's violently projectile-like sick all over whatever - so far he's missed the staff, but I maintain hope. Traces really count here - packaged candies can do it (do you have Lifesavers? Round with a hole in the middle?) Apparently they won't clean the equipment between batches of different berry-fruit flavours.

In other words, treat it like a firearm - it's always loaded unless you have checked, and it's been in your exclusive undistracted control since then.

It's not actually a peanut allergy - it's an allergy to a VERY common fungus (mould) that grows on peanuts.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), February 20, 2002.

My daughter ate ten peanuts in school last year during a party. She never like to eat them before. She was flown by Pegesus to UVA. She is okay, and you get real used to checking lables. Chick Filet does fry everything in peanut oil. She lives very normal, but you really have to watch candy.

-- julie (jbritt@ceeva.net), February 20, 2002.

Don, THANKS! I couldn't understand how so many folks could be allergic to PEANUTS. I mean, why aren't they allergic to, say, chicken. There is such a big deal over peanuts. Not making it less, but it's more informative to know that it's a mold. What other foods "carry" this mold? Anyway, thanks for the info...

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), February 20, 2002.

Some schools even tell parents not to send PB & J sandwiches to school with their children anymore, which I think is a bit extreme, but I guess some kids trade their lunches (I never did).

You also see a lot of labels that say "may have been manufactured in machinery that contains traces of peanut oil" these days as well. You may wind up making a lot of your own food, just so you can be sure of what's in it.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 20, 2002.

I guess I could have phrased that a little better - it's an allergy to a mould that very commonly grows on peanuts. So commonly that no- one with the allergy can afford to do other than assume all peanuts are infected - after all it takes so little of the toxin spread from one nut to all a bulk-handled batch. It also less commonly grows on other media. So far as I understand it, the mould is one of the genus Aspergillus (to which as it happens I'm allergic). That's a black mould rather than your standard blue-green-grey Penicilium; and I think the chemical released is or is related to aflatoxins.

I understand the mould will also grow on things like dry-preserved meats (e.g. Virginia hams). I'm damned sure it will grow on grain in the bottom of a silo, and in some mouldy oranges (remember - black, not blue) - both of those have put me into anaphylactic (I think is the term) shock, although nowhere near as bad as what the peanut- allergy people suffer from.

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), February 21, 2002.

Does anyone know if a child outgrows this allergy when she/he gets older? The school closest to where I live has a no peanut rule so strict that children cannot even eat peanut products BEFORE they go to school...yes they have a child who goes into shock if you so much as breath on him/her. My granddaughter is 1 and 1/2 years old. They found out she had the allergy when she sucked on a SEALED candy wrapping from her Hallowe'en treats and went into shock. Thank you for taking the time to reply. Very much appreciated!

-- Ann (avdb11@canada.com), February 27, 2002.

Ann, I don't believe so. I'm reaching a little here, and it would be better to rely on experts, but my impression is that SOMETIMES people don't so much "outgrow" an allergy as they develop a resistance to it. That's a fine line to walk, because they can also become increasingly sensitised to the allergen, and which one wins is a question. In the case of your grand-daughter she would never really have the opportunity to develop the resistance, because the repeated exposures would kill her first, and you REALLY don't want her sensitivity to be increased. Kill is a bad word, but better to be warned in advance so you can avoid the situation.

Would probably be a good idea to keep an epi-pen and antihistamines in your house - ones YOU know where to find, and have verified are right for her. Also renew them as expiry dates approach. This rather than rely on whatever kit she carries with her, and then not be able to find at the critical time when she can't talk.

I know I ALWAYS carry a particular brand of antihistamines with me. They pulled me through my second reaction to that black mould, so I know that for me they work. I was fortunate then - I had them around for hayfever anyway, and they just worked (that was the silo-dust episode). I swelled up, red blotches, eyes swelled shut, throat swelled shut - if the antihistamines hadn't worked, I'd have had to be breathing through a hole cut in my neck in around five minutes. Ambulance would NOT have been in time. However, all this is SLOW compared to the reaction those sensitive to it can have to peanuts. My reaction took nearly thirty minutes to develop - they can take less than a tenth that time, and panic can worsen the reaction.

Research this every way you can, and probably a good idea to get a First Aid certicate (go to the course with your husband if at all possible), and emphasise to the instructors (in advance if you can, so they can prepare) that your particular concern is your grand- daughters situation.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), March 01, 2002.