Allergic reaction to a nut. What's the next step?

[StableButBeheaded]

Hi all, apologies if this has been asked before. Basically, I let my four year old taste a cashew nut last night and he had a nasty reaction which resulted in us dashing to A&E, as his lips & face swelled and he started gasping & wheezing. He hasn't been given nuts before to my knowledge, or if he has then he's never reacted to them before.

It was quite scary as it started within seconds of putting the nut in his mouth, he didn't even swallow any. His face came up in big red blotches, his eyes were all bloodshot & watery and he was screaming that his throat was hurting & he couldn't swallow. Then the gasping & wheezing started,and in A&E he was sick three times.

They gave him Piriton at the hospital which seemed to work, and today we've been to our GP (as instructed by the hospital). The GP said that he would refer him for some tests for food allergies, but wasn't very forthcoming about what this involves. I didn't press for more info in front of my son as I didn't want him to get scared or for him to think it's a big issue.

Can anyone enlighten me a bit as to what to expect with this testing? We've been told to (obviously) not let him have anything with nuts in and if it happes again to give him Piriton & go straight to A&E.

Also, can the amount of nut affect how severe the reaction is? I mean, if he'd actually swallowed it, or had more than one nut in his mouth, could that have made any difference?
Any advice appreciated, as I know very little about nut allergy.

My son reacted to eating 3 cashew nuts last year.

He was kept in hospital overnight because the reaction was severe (like your childs) and he had blood taken whilst on the ward and the results were given when we visited the paediatrician 2-3 weeks later.

He was immediately prescribed epipens for home and school and a nurse went to school to train the teachers in its use.

The doctors said to avois ALL nuts etc from now on, so its label reading for us, all the time!

Hope he feels better. x

This sounds like an anaphylactic reaction. There is no need for blood tests/skin prick tests as a clinical observation of symptoms is enough for allergy diagnosis.

You need to get an epipen and carry it wherever your ds is. If you get a referal to an allergy consultant they can get your GP to prescribe a couple (they are usually prescribed in 2's) and you get training in how to use it.

They may want to do a blood test (called a RAST test) to see what else he is allergic to. This just involves giving a vial or so of blood and waiting a few weeks for the results. The allergy consultant will ask lots of questions to determine which things would be sensible to test for (they can test for multiple things with the blood test) and then you will get given a list of the results which will either say 0 or a number from 1-6 for each substance tested for. 0 is not allergic, and 1-6 measure likihood of having a reaction (not severity of reaction).

HTH, I know it can be pretty scarey to see a child with a serious allergic reaction, but at least you will be able to get proper medical care for this now.

There are loads of great mners on here with tonnes of good advice so keep bumping. You can get advice on clinical diagnosis to how to handle schools to great recipes.

In my experience just because you son as had an allergic reaction to cashews that does not mean he will be allergic to all nuts, hence the need for other tests. They will most likely do skin prick tests for about 4 or 5 nuts including cashew I suspect. Most likely peanut, hazlenut too as these are thought to be the most likely suspects. BUT, running up to thr tests keep away from all nuts.

Can I ask, do you usually just eat as normal in restaurant? Give foods that have 'may contain traces of nuts' on the packaging? Has he had marzipan? If so and he has never had any reaction then that is a good thing. When sdd was diagnosed she was allergic to all nuts and even holding hands with a child who had had nuts a fee hours earlier was enough to make her react. However. she is now almost 12 and is being desensitized to peanuts. As a result of this amazing work she is no longer allergic to all the other nuts and happily eats marzipan etc and foods with trace nuts.

Is he allergic to anything else? Have asthma? Ezcema? Hay fever? These are all things that they will check at the hospital to see how allergic a child they are dealing with.

In the meantime, keep a bottle of piriton in your handbag 24/7 and watch for any 'odd' reactions.

On the bright side this may just be cashew nuts, which due to their expensive nature are not found in as many products as cheap old peanuts! Fingers well and truly crossed for you.

Come back and let us know how the hospital visit goes? There are so many lovely people here who can give you so much support xxx

bump

bumping again for OP

Oh I am so sorry - it's a terrible thing to happen and you watch one of your children. There are a few member of food allergy mums who's children are purely cashew allergic, and, as BBF says, if this is the case with your little man then it is relatively easy to avoid.
When you get your appointment to be tested be prepared to spend some time at the clinic. If they do tests it can often take a while to wait for each different department. Do ask the nurses to put some magic cream (anesthetic cream - can't remember medical name but the nurses will know!) on your son when they take his details, this avoids waiting another 30-45 mins for it to work.
They may give your son scratch tests and /or blood tests - there are arguments for and against both of these so I would go with the advise of your consultant. Again, a good point above it to make sure you get tests for all nuts and individual nuts.
It would be sensible to find out what the maximum puriton dose you can give is (Gp will be able to tell you this depending on weight of your child) and if possible get an epi-pen - it will give you peace of mind to know you have the ultimate solution on you.
Good luck - it's an awful thing to happen but you are not alone here! do let us know what happens txx

Hello again, OP here Sorry I haven't popped back in before now. Thanks so much all of you for your helpful replies, and for 'bumping' I feel a bit more like I know what I should be doing now & what to expect.

I saw my HV yesterday, as by chance she had rung up about my son's 4 year check, so whilst DS was at nursery I had a chat with her about it. She said that it will be one of two allergy specialists, either at University Hospital Wales (UHW) or LLandough Hospital (both Cardiff) & gave me more advice on what to expect from the tests.

She told me that if it happens again, do NOT take him to A&E in the car (which we did because we live literally 5 mins drive from UHW) but to call 999 because if he got into difficulty breathing in the car, there's no medical help or advice.

BluBumedFly as it was his first reaction we've always eaten normally until now, including things that say 'may have traces of nuts' as we had no idea he was allergic, though I've never knowingy given him anything particularly nutty before, apart from a chicken recipe with almonds & coconut milk in in which he loves and now can't have...at least for now. Though I now know that at some point in his life he must have been in contact with cashews to develop the allergy.

I did give him a Fruit Pastille ice lolly yesterday (his favourite treat) stupidly never thought to check the ingredients, and noticed afterwards it said it may have nut traces (I'd never have thought in an ice lolly!) but he was fine. It seems like everything seems to say 'may have nut traces', I feel quite daunted by it.

He has no hayfever, asthma or eczema but DH has bad hayfever and also my brother, so maybe there's a link.