Peanut allergy and school

That is not the same study dinglydell, this is at UK and the poster on the allergy board dc was severly allergic.
I think it is the Leapstudy Misdee, there is also the EAT study which is looking at introducing solids and the relationship to allergies.

[hijack]

When is Baby6 due, Misdee?

Dp and I asked dd's specialist about that trial and he said they don't use it for anaphylaxis related to nuts because it is potentially too dangerous (apparently a teenage boy died during it in the US) and in Canada they found that even when they thought someone was cured, the allergy suddenly came back when the person was least expecting it. I don't know if he was just being downbeat about everything with us but he kind of made out that all we could do for dd was complete avoidance. It really got us down for a while after we saw him that first time but we've got used to it now. I'd like to think there was a cure though somewhere down the line.

Oh is that the LEAP study? I will be contacting st thomas hospital about that one once baby6 arrives due to the strongf history in the familY.

There are trials at the moment that are showing a cure for nut allergies, There was a also a boy on tv recently who was anaphylatic to dogs and would collapse by just walking past one in the street. He has also been cured by using the same method. There is a poster on the allergy boards who has been taking part in the trialsaddenbrookes study

They basically start by ingesting a micro piece of the allergen ie peanut or in the boys case dogs hair on a regular basis and gradually building up the tolerance on a gradual basis.

Is it from this article? www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/02/010213070927.htm

So it seems that some people can outgrow a peanut allergy depending on how bad their allergic reaction was. I think dd's specialist said hers was not only very severe but because she had multiple allergies she wouldn't outgrow it.

I noticed that the article does say later on that peanut allergies are the most severe of all known food allergies and that more people die from them each year than any other allergy. So there is some scientific truth in that.

Ah ... before seven. That might make a difference. Dd is 10 so perhaps that's why her specialist gave us the information. I will certainly ask him to confirm though at her next appointment as that would give all of us a lot of hope.

20% before age 7 outgrown peanut.

IA well if that is the case it gives us much more hope for dd but that was never suggested as an option by her specialist. We tried to talk him into saying it was a possibility but he insisted we should put that out of our minds. Possibly because dp was having trouble taking the severity of her allergies on board and had always hoped she might grow out of them or get desensitized or whatever.

A severe anaphylactic allergy to nuts was outgrown? I'd have to see evidence of that because I've never heard of it. Of course I know that other things cause anaphylaxis - dd has a range of foods that cause it in her. She also has some milder allergies that she might grow out of.

Yes, you have to take precautions whether there's a ban or not. But a ban makes things safer.

I'm repeating myself now though and I can see I'm in the minority with these opinions so I don't know what more I can say on this.

Yes they are. My own brother outgrew his. There are numerous papers on the subject. My childs Dr said its most common under the age of 8 and for children with a grade 1 or 2 allergy but he has known it with a grade 3 allergy. Its Adenbrookes btw.

"But that nut and seed allergies are never grown out of and almost always lead to anaphylaxis. "
Well that is not true as my DS has outgrown peanuts, he eats them regularly now!
You will see on the allergy boards that there are children who have anaphylaxis to foods other than nuts.

I also don't see how banning helps, as you still need to take the same precautions whether a ban is in place or not.

If a milk ban were made a possibility I for one would support it.

No they're not IA, anaphylactic peanut allergies are very rarely grown out of. my dd's specialist said he knew of one case in which a woman's autoimmune system changed during pregnancy and she was no longer allergic to peanuts. that was his only case in thirty years.

So if you can't ban milk that means by default you can't ban anything else that might cause allergies? So if the cleaners started using a cleaning product that brought the kids out in a rash, they couldn't ban it because they didn't ban milk? It doesn't make logical sense. You can ban nuts. It would be virtually impossible to ban milk.

If she hadn't been at the table she may not have thought that it was OK to touch the pretzel. It has everything to do with it.

i would love to see a milk ban in place in dd's nursery. honestly i would.

IA I still don't think you should be prejudiced against the table. It had nothing to do with it.

Bue we're not in North America. We have a massive range of foods to eat. A peanut ban wouldn't 'punish the poor' here. My dd's school is in a deprived SE London area and nobody has questioned the no nut policy. I know because I asked after one of these conversations came up once before.

Even if that wasn't bollocks it wouldn't make sense.

You tell a child that is anaphalactic to milk that milk can't be banned because some other peoples allergies to milk aren't very serious and they might outgrow it?

About 20% of peanut allergies are outgrown btw.

Your body does tend to deal with fruit protein quicker and break it down before you die but not always

Bruffin, I'm repeating what my dd's allergy specialist told me. She also gets a swollen mouth after eating certain fruits - strawberries, melon and cherries. He said that fruit allergies rarely cause anaphylaxis. He also said that dairy allergies can be grown out of in some cases. But that nut and seed allergies are never grown out of and almost always lead to anaphylaxis.

Like I said, it's not a competition about which allergies deserve the most attention. They all do. And for some of them we can offer help and for others it woudl be good to do a lot better to help.

I didn't call the family dumbass, I called the table dumbass.

"It's not like peanuts are a staple....like bread or milk....so the school should of course ban them."

This is why I see bans as even more problematic in North America - peanut butter is a major staple of the childhood diet there, in a way that it isn't in the UK, so a peanut ban can be a problem for a) parents of kids who won't eat much other than a PB sandwich for lunch (I was one for a quite a few years!) and b) low income parents, since PB is a cheap, nutritious protein. In fact my mother's friend, whose daughter is allergic to just about everything, has always opposed peanut bans over there because they punish the poor.

IA I think that's very unfair of you to call that family dumbass. I would just say that they made a mistake and didn't take the allergy seriously enough.

Misdee I can't guarantee nut and seed free life for dd either. She also has brittle asthma and has spent a lot of time in intensive care. I can't protect her from those things and I worry a lot about how she will cope in her teenage years which are apparently the most dangerous. But when there is something that I can do which might help I can't help but want to go for it.

"But most of those allergies don't cause the severe anaphylaxis that nut allergies do"
That is not true!

And my DS has never had a reaction at school where there has been no nut bans either

[bangshead on brick wall]

you do know that ANY allergy has the potential to turn into anaphylatics dont you?

But most of those allergies don't cause the severe anaphylaxis that nut allergies do. It's not a case of saying one allergy is more important than another, it's not a competition. I have total sympathy for people with an anaphylactic allergy to milk although that level of reaction to milk is not as common as milder forms of allergic reaction. If a school could ban milk safely or find a way for children who are allergic to it to avoid it, then I would be all for it.