Are nut sensitivities always 'serious'?

[AngelDog]

I know it's really common for nut allergies to be very serious & life threatening. But is it possible to have an intolerance / slight allergy which makes you react but not in an extreme anaphylatic way?

21 m.o. DS has eczema on his face which has flared up badly recently despite using Elidel cream twice a day (before that we tried Protopic which wasn't any better). Steroids haven't been effective in treating it either.

I'm trying to work out if there are any environmental factors which might be contributing. I have been eating nuts more often than before (I bf him), and he has had some cashew nut butter a few times of late. He clearly doesn't have an anaphylactic reaction to nuts but I wondered whether it might be exacerbating his eczema.

He's teething which doesn't help, but it's never flared up this badly with teething before now.

Sorry but I'm bot too sure. I've never heard of nuts causing just skin related problems but it seems possible. Hopefully somebody else knows more than me. Good luck, eczema is so difficult and horrible for the LO's.

My housemate has a nut allergy, but it doesn't cause him to go into anaphylactic shock - it makes him vomit instead... and also get a rash, I think?
No idea why this is the case, but just as an example of a different type of reaction...?

I want to know this too. A couple of weeks ago my dd had an immediate reaction to cashew nuts - rash on face, hand and thigh, slight swelling around eyes and hives on hand and thigh. She also had a delayed reaction - forty eight hours later she was covered head to toe in eczema that has only cleared up with heavy duty steroid cream. She had a similar reaction to tomatoes earlier in the year and the allergy specialist said that her eczema reaction to tomatoes was indeed an allergic reaction (t-cell mediated) albeit an uncommon one.

Thanks for the replies.

Interesting, neolara. The dermatologist doesn't think that DS's eczema is caused by an allergy as he only has it properly on his face (he gets a few small spots in other places very occasionally) but I'm wondering whether it might be a contributing factor in making his existing eczema worse.

Interesting that it was a delayed reaction too.

DS has also had a rash on his chest/stomach/arms/legs for about a month. Two GPs have said to just keep an eye on it and the dermatologist said she thought it was something which would probably clear up on its own, but I had wondered whether it could be a reaction to something.

It may be exacerbated by something, but this is just from my personal experience - I'm by no means an expert. My DF has permanently red/purple skin from eczema and other reactions. When he eats something that he has tested as mildly allergic to his skin flares up extra badly... this in turn triggers his problem with dust (his skin is excessively dry and flaky but there's a limit to what they can prescribe - he's had everything going, including sun bed treatment) and reinforces the problem.

food allergies do cause ezcema, for my son, he reacts after accidental ingestion and then comes up in a flare of ezcema.

nut allergies are always serious, unless a immunologist has told you differently.

reactions to food ,esp peanut doesnt always cause full blown anaphylaxis, milder symptoms can happen repeatedly over the years without going in to a anaphylaxis. Thats said, certain things have to be in place before reactions tip over the edge.

so, at point of ingestion, there are these factors,
alcohol,
poorly controlled asthma
viral infection, or recently recovering from one, such as flu, colds etc.
time of the month ( for woman obviously!)
amount ingested
other allergies body is fighting at the same time, such as hay fever, tree pollen etc.
exercise.

an odd but useful fact, skin prick testing for peanut is accurate, however there is no way of telling if next reaction will be mild, moderate or severe.

many people say they have a mild peanut allergy, but with no medical advice , that means that they have a history of mild reactions, and so far havent had a severe reaction , and more than likely think they always will.
thankfully , deaths from anaphylaxis are still rare, so people are being careful despite this, but then again, hospital intakes of people with allergic reactions is rising. so it could be that hosptials are more on board with allergic reactions? who knows?

I have a contact allergy to almonds; if I eat them I have a flare up of IBS plus mouth ulcers and if I use almond oil on my skin I get a painful rash

Thanks for the replies.

I think the rash may have been some kind of infection as it seems to have cleared up since the antibiotics took effect.

My dd's first reaction (to hazelnut) was very serious and frightening, but over the last 7 years she's come into contact with various nuts and the reaction has been much milder. Skin prick show it's specifically almonds, hazelnuts and brazil nuts - but the reaction is a skin reaction (hives round the mouth and neck) and sometimes a feeling of sickness.

So, IME, you can be allergic to nuts in a mild way.