AIBU to ban a guest over dismissing a severe nut allergy?

Oh dear.

@Hawksparrow he was a bit cavalier. Didn’t always carry an in date epi-pen and his mates had to get him to hospital on a few occasions. His wife and others used to have conversations about being more responsible because he had young children to care for.

DNieces’s husband would probably not have eaten a random cake at a party anyway though, at least not if he was serious about his allergies.

@Alittletiff I know it’s illogical. I really don’t think she meant harm to DNiece’s husband. I think she genuinely forgot and it was carelessness. But carelessness costs lives and we were lucky that day.

We had subsequent family gatherings without incident.

@bagpuss90 If you've specified that nuts are not welcome, the friend's 'D'P is excluded by default

Sorry that happened to you @Superscientist…it sounds incredibly scary.
I’ve had an anaphylactic reaction to medication myself and it made me very nervous about having another. Mine happened in a hospital, but unfortunately the nurses didn’t recognise what was happening either and refused to give me an epipen even though I asked (gasped!) for one repeatedly. (I wasn’t prescribed an epipen at the time. They gave iv steroids instead which is not the recommended treatment, but luckily it wasn’t the worst reaction and all was well.)

Re the coughing, I think too that children coughing in schools are always assumed to have colds when sometimes it’s an asthma attack.

Hopefully this is what the training will bring in when the changes come into force in September! Knowledge is so varied, my daughter has allergies, thankfully not severe, but it means I'm in support groups with many other parents and the people that have the hardest times are those where the schools think they know about allergies and don't need input from the parents. Communication between the parents and school makes such a difference.

My mum had issues with me in school back in the 90s as my hayfever used to make me fall asleep, this is also a symptom of anaphylaxis. She had a long circular argument "she can't sleep in class" "it's an illness" "if she's unwell keep her at home" "she's only unwell if she's outside near pollen" "but she can't sleep in class". They did eventually agree to give me my antihistamines when necessary.

I had two anaphylaxis reactions at work and they changed their advice to the First Aiders after the first episode and then they introduced new training within 12 months. It was a terrible experience - it happened at lunchtime so none of the 1st aiders were at their desks/phones. The ambulance was given the address for the trade entrance which was on a different road so they struggled to find the building and no one thought to inform the onsite doctor. Lying on the floor unable to breathe or see with a swollen face listening to people panicking on not knowing what to do was terrifying. I had been able to take my antihistamines and oral steroids but didn't have an adrenaline pen at the time.

Mine started with a cough and to the outside it sound like I'm trying to shift a tickle. As an adult I was able to recognise and get help as I knew different but a child might not.

There are also different presentations of allergic reactions, it is really important to not have a restricted view of hives - swelling - restricted airways - anaphylaxis as this can delay adequate treatment. One of the contributing factors reported in the death of Benedict Blythe was the staff not recognising his symptoms as an allergic reaction as it wasn't what they expected an allergic reaction to look like.

I’m not sure why a school wouldn’t recognise vomiting, stomach ache etc as possible symptoms of IgE mediated food allergy/anaphylaxis, because they’re actually very common symptoms of this, occurring in about a third of all cases (though you'd expect other symptoms too).

It’s very unfortunate if schools don’t know this. More training needed obviously.

There are non-IGE allergies as well as IGE-allergies and intolerances.

IGE allergies are the ones that most people think of and cause swelling hives, rashes and anaphylaxis.
Small amounts of the food can cause big reactions.

There are also different presentations of allergic reactions, it is really important to not have a restricted view of hives - swelling - restricted airways - anaphylaxis as this can delay adequate treatment. One of the contributing factors reported in the death of Benedict Blythe was the staff not recognising his symptoms as an allergic reaction as it wasn't what they expected an allergic reaction to look like.

Non-IGE allergies cause gastric symptoms like intolerances but like allergies trace amounts cause reactions. These are most common in young children and can be outgrown and antihistamines improve symptoms which isn't the case for intolerances.

Intolerances cause gastric symptoms but there is a dose response and the more you have the worse the symptoms are

You can also have non-immune anaphylaxis too - I had 3 anaphylatic reactions to different foods in 6 months, allergy testing was all negative. I saw a specialist and they diagnosed a histamine intolerance and the anaphylaxis was caused by histamine overload. I have since followed a low histamine diet and keep antihistamines on me and not had any further anaphylaxis. I stop eating any food if my cheeks and top lip start to tingle and take antihistamines.

Hmm….why does this sound so familiar. You couldn’t make it up!!!

I don’t think stomach pains are allergies , intolerances are not allergies.

allergies start with a hives reaction and then you get an anaphylactic the next time .

my MIL annoys me intensely by inventing allergies all the time ( honestly told me she was allergic to water once!)

She does it for attention seeking . And when you have a real allergy it is downright offensive.

I have a severe allergy to blue cheese. Unfortunately I have had several anaphylactic shocks and carry an epi pen.
Been reading the thread on later pages re other sufferers experiences .
mine if my AS was at an inset teaching day shared with other schools , I stood up and asked the whole room if there were any items containing blue cheese in the bring and share lunch. No one spoke up .
I had an AS after biting into a sausage roll with Stilton in it ,

So teachers are not immune. I was quickly carted off to hospital and have no idea who it was. This was 20 years ago so I would hope more people are more enlightened these days .

My DS has one (EpiPen) too. Said relative developed her “allergy” the same week as my son…when questioned, it was stomach ache. Though it gets talked about frequently. But worth them exploring!

I would think definitely not without investigation, as it’s hard to know if a slight stomach ache after food is due to an allergy or something else, if that’s the only symptom.

Your relative should contact his GP if he wants to check it out.

DS was only prescribed an epipen when he had a reaction where his airways were compromised, but I’ve heard of people being prescribed it if they test positive for peanut allergy, say, and also have asthma, as they’d be considered high risk.

I don’t think people with stomach aches will be issued adrenaline injectors though.

Intolerances are different, but studies have shown that half of those people who had a fatal anaphylactic reaction previously only experienced mild allergic reactions.

All allergies need to be taken seriously because they are so unpredictable.

Thank you for your detailed reply @Hawksparrow .

As I am very risk averse when it comes to nuts I would just avoid giving a nut allergic person any kind of nut.

Peanuts and tree nuts are classified separately as allergens for food labelling.

Coconut is not included as a nut for this purpose, so a product containing coconut will not be labelled as containing nuts. Allergies to coconut are rare, apparently.

In the UK products containing pine nuts aren’t labelled as containing nuts either, but in the US they are.

In the UK, if something is labelled as containing tree nuts, it’ll contain one or more of the following:
almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecan nuts, Brazil nuts, pistachio nuts, and macadamia nuts.

The labels always say tree nuts to distinguish them from ground nuts (peanuts), but many people who are allergic to peanuts are also allergic to at least one type of tree nut. Cashews and pistachio nuts are closely related, as are walnuts and pecans, so someone allergic to a pistachio is quite likely to be allergic to a cashew too, for example.

If someone says they’re allergic to nuts without giving more information, I would try to avoid all the tree nuts and peanuts too. Another issue is that a place that processes one type of nut often processes another, so there can be ‘may contain traces’ warnings.
DS has nut/peanut allergies and we have the same issue with seeds. Many are processed in facilities that process nuts too.

The cousin worked in a school… if she forgot, then that’s almost as concerning as it being intentional!

Yes, people are so blasé too. One relative bangs on about a particular allergy when it just givens him slight stomach ache - people don’t know the difference between severe allergy, moderate allergy and intolerance. Drives me bonkers as it’s critical.

Yes, I wouldn't give pine nuts or sesame either.

Yeah, that's true. Apparently pine nuts aren't nuts either. That was news to me. But still, if someone told you they had a nut allergy, anyone with sense would avoid anything that could be problematic

Being pedantic here - peanuts are a legume, so someone could be allergic to peanuts and OK with almonds. My vegan relative is allergic to peanuts and drinks almond milk with no issues.

However, if anyone said to me that they were nut allergic I would assume that it is all nuts, including coconut and chestnuts, unless told otherwise.

Forgot, most probably.