Any adults with allergies to nuts ?

[girlsyearapart]

Hi dd2 is aged 4 now and has had multiple allergies all her life.

We went yesterday to Guys for her yearly skin pricks. All had increased and then she had an allergic reaction to the tests too..

The doctor said its extremely unlikely that she ll ever grow out of her nut or sesame allergies or the airborne allergies to trees etc.

So if you are an adult with these type of allergies have you always had them & how much does it affect your quality of life?

I'm feeling really sad about the whole thing tbh

[flossyfloo]

I have a nut allergy (peanuts is my big one, but allergic to tree nuts too) but I developed this as an adult. well, actually the dr thinks I may have had it as a child but as I can't even stand the smell of nuts so had never eaten them then we weren't aware there was an allergy, iyswim?!

I also have asthma and eczema so I'm allergic to most animals, soaps, fragrances, dust etc and I have hayfever. As I grew up with these, they cause me no problem whatsoever - I don't know what it's like to not be allergic!

As for the nuts, they don't affect my quality of life at all to be honest. As I have never been interested in eating nuts or anything containing nuts, there has been no change there. The only thing I do find, is that because I am aware that I have an allergy and that the more I am exposed to the allergens the worse my allergy could get, I am hyper-aware when dining out. I find with main meals, it is usually pretty obvious what kinds of foods have nuts in so I find this easy. It's usually desserts that cause a bit more of a problem as nuts can be used more often, I find.

As your DD is growing up with these allergies, I think it will be 2nd nature to her, she won't know what it's like to be able to eat anything she wants freely without having to think about it first. Although that sounds horrible to people who don't have allergies, it's a case of 'that's just how it is' for those with allergies and I really don't think it has to cause that much of a problem in day to day life.

Hope I've made sense there and helped!

[girlsyearapart]

Thanks very much for taking the time to post. She is already very sensible as she knows it feels horrible to eat something she's allergic to. She wont eat anything unless an adult she completely trusts gives it to her.

I guess I always expected her to grow out of it but it isn't looking likely in the least.

A boy I used to teach died a few years ago as a young teenager as he didn't have his pen with him

[snickers251]

Another nut allergy sufferer here (hence my nickname!)

I only developed it as an adult tho but it does not affect my life whatsoever and have only had the one serious anaphylactic shock when I discovered it.

When I was tested it appears quite a few things I'm allergic too. The funny thing is the only nut I'm not allergic too is cashew which my mum points out she ate them like mad during pregnancy! Funny that!

My cousin has an allergy to cows milk ( it's actually a lot more serious than an allergy) and she has grown up being taught to avoid most foods. She's very clever and has adapted very easily at 6yos as its all she has ever known. If anything she eats better than most! Xx

[freefrommum]

I know how you feel girlsayearapart. My DS is 5 and has multiple allergies since he was a baby which so far don't seem to be getting any better. They do say that nut allergies tend to be the least likely type to outgrow. My DH is allergic to nuts, has been all his life, but has thankfully never had an anaphylactic reaction so doesn't have an epi-pen and doesn't have to avoid things that say 'may contain' so it has very little impact on his life. I do worry about DS though and how his allergies will affect his life if he doesn't outgrow at least some of them as it can be quite restrictive, especially eating out. On the positive side, he is very aware of his allergies and has never really known any different so just gets on with it. It's the teenage years I worry about (stories like the one you mention make me shudder in horror) but I plan to enrol him on one of the Anaphylaxis Campaign family workshops when we get to that stage.

[girlsyearapart]

She's a September baby so only in nursery this year. They have had to use the epipen once already and luckily it was while I was still there as she reacted to something on the way to school..

Couldn't fault their treatment of her and feel a bit better about her starting reception there in September.

I was just really hoping that she would have had a more positive outcome yesterday so I could relax a bit more and let her go to people's house for tea etc.

[bruffin]

DH has some treenut allergies, Not sure when the started though, but he still has them.
Ds 17 has been allergic to tree nuts and sesame seeds since he was 4, He also was allergic to peanuts, but out grew it by the age of 12. He probably isn't allergic to cashew.
The teenage years are the worst, because they have no sense of risk. Despite years of being brilliant about checking, ds took a biscuit with macadamia in it because he thought he had it before. They have no sense of risk and think they are invincible at that age.

[girlsyearapart]

Those are the years im dreading bruffin

Did he have his epipen with him?

[bruffin]

He hadn't had an epipen until then, because his breathing had never been affected until then.
This time his breathing was affected probably because chunks of nuts were involved, but piriton did work, but he did get an epipen after that.