DS and peanut allergy

[LeonardoAcropolis]

Hello, my DS, age 3, has been diagnosed with a peanut allergy. We received a letter from the doctor at the allergy clinic yesterday.

He had a reaction after eating a curry sauce containing peanut butter (red patches around mouth, sneezing and swelling around one eye which subsided after a dose of piriton). At the allergy clinic his skin prick test showed a reaction to the peanut but the doctor said that as the hive was only slightly larger than the 'control' hive, this is a borderline reaction. DS had a blood test, and the results showed that he is allergic to peanut and will require an epi pen.

So, does this mean that his next exposure (hopefully never) to the dreaded nut will result in anaphylaxis? or is it one of those things we will never know?

We go on holiday in two weeks and I hope that I can get his epi pens before we go as I am now nervous about the flight. The clinic wants me to make an appointment with the allergy nurse, but if we can't be seen before our hol would our gp be able to prescribe them instead?

Also, does anyone else have a little one with a peanut allergy? Are you constantly nervous?

He is only allergic to peanuts, he showed no reaction to tree nuts. Which he doesn't like anyway

Hi, it is always ery worrying but you do get used to it.

There's no real way of knowing. DD had that type of reaction when she first came across nuts, but she is anapyhlactic now and takes an Epipen everywhere.

Chocolate is one of the most tricky things to avoid - DD is nut/peanut allergy and basically Cadbury's is off limits, as are many choc ices/ice creams.

Galaxy choc is good, Kinder also works for us (but always read the label). Maltesers. Magnum White choc ices, fruit lollies.

I would never take her to an Indian or Thai restaurant, too high risk. The one exception we have made is a local specialist takeaway where they have a nutfree menu (and even then I'm not that keen!).

The Anaphylaxis Campaign is definitely worth joining, you get a newsletter and a helpline.

Also - thinking about travel - you can simply buy your Piriton at the Boots airside, that's what we've ended up doing in the past.

Depending on where you go it could be more of an issue - we go to France and Italy where biscuits/sweet things are no go. We have learned to pack biscuits. As a general rule of thumb the big manufacturers are usually a better bet than supermarket own brands in terms of finding options that you can eat - so you're better off checking McVities Digestives, for example. Sweets like Haribo are a good fallback, too.

My dd is allergic to peanuts. She was diagnosed at 2 and is now 5. Initially I was a nervous wreck, but I quickly learned and now it's absolutely fine. You just get used to checking labels obsessively.

Labelling is rubbish generally. I allow my dd to have food labelled "may contain traces of nuts" but not 'may contain nuts". If the label doesn't state a specific nut (E. G. almonds) I assume there is a possibility that "nuts" could include peanuts. We do allow my dd to eat other nuts but only if we are present. Chocolate buttons are fine and also galaxy.

To reassure you about the plane, we took a flight at Xmas and every person on the plane was given a bag of nuts! (internal flight in Africa - pretty sure this wouldn't happen in Europe). I completely freaked out, but my dd was fine. She's a thumb suckered and my biggest concern was that she would touch something that had been contaminated and then put her hands in her mouth. I brought lots of baby wipes to wipe every thing down and all was OK.

When we've gone on holiday we've printed out translations explaining that dd is allergic that we can show in restaurants. Travelling in Europe has generally been no problem. In South Africa we had a near miss. I wouldn't go to China or India and we would never take dd to Chinese or Indian restaurants.

You will also need to impress on you dd that she must never eat anything unless you or another adult has said it is safe. This is very important but a bit of a pain.

Also, very important not to share bottles with others if you can't guarantee they haven't been eating peanuts.

None of us eat peanuts at all any more because of the risk of cross contamination. I miss my peanut butter and marmite sandwiches!

Thinking about paying for 8year old daughter to be desensitised to peanuts at the Cambridge clinic and just want to hear from anyone who has used the immunotherapy clinic as can't find any reviews on the internet.

Do you know it costs £15,000? If you wait a few years, it may be available on NHS.