Message for willybreeder - brazil nuts

[beggsie]

Hi there - love your name by the way!

I noticed on another thread you said that you were only allergic to brazil nuts, and I wondered if I could briefly pick your brains on that.

My ds has been diagnosed as allergic to just brazil nuts too. He is only 4 but I am hoping that he doesn't pick up any other nut allergies along the way. Assuming that, how do you cope with just that? I would think that brazil nuts are pretty easy to avoid, but what do you do about 'may contain' for instance? Do you eat other nuts, and if so, do you only eat them out of the shell to avoid cross-contamination? Would you, say, order a dessert that had hazlenuts in in a restaurant?

Sorry for all the questions, any advice would be most gratefully received. T

TIA
beggsie

RE: brazil nuts, my son started with an allergy to sesame seeds, then got a reaction to hazlenuts. At this point had RAST tests and skin prick tests for all nuts. All skin prick were negative - even to sesame and hazlenuts, RAST tests were positive to hazlenut and sesame. But since then he has had reaction to brazil nuts (it's generally in chocolate where we get caught out) and the paed just said avoid all nuts. He can eat things that say may contain traces of nuts though. I just think that although the tests are negative to other nuts it's because he had never tried them, once he tries them for the first time then he gets a reaction. Has your son ever eaten any other nuts?

Thanks for your reply, Squiz. I suppose this is the worry for me. He has has one clear reaction to brazil nuts, which led to skin pricks for all nuts. His brazil nut prick came up very clearly at 6mm, but all other nuts were totally fine. I know that he has definitely had almonds and cashews in the past with no problem (and in fact has had cashews recently by accident with no reaction). I can't be sure about other nuts, but we were by no means avoiding them before his reaction, so he probably has had other nuts at some point. We haven't had RAST tests done yet - probably will do next time we go to the clinic in the summer.

It's such a minefield, and it feels easier to avoid all nuts at the moment, but I hold out hope that things will get less complicated as time goes by!

Thanks again for sharing your experience.

beggsie

beggsie - if you are still checking this thread I thought I'd post about a adult friend of mine who has (just) brazil nut allergy.

He is anaphylactic to brazil nuts and is quite careful checking if they are included in things like fruit cake as he has had some "accidents" with baked goods. He does eat other things with nuts in, and other nuts, and has never developed further allergies. He has though had a few instances of cross-contamination reactions with bakery goods and chocolate (will no longer eat fairtraid chocolate). He will no longer touch muesli as again has reacted to that several times.

DH is allergic to Brazil nuts. He does tend to avoid other nuts by not eating whole ones or anything with nuts in but will eat a walnut whip and give me the walnut IYSWIM. He avoids avocado as well as he sometimes gets a reaction from that, don't know if they are connected.

Thanks ever so much for your responses, wb and bruffin. They are really interesting to me. It is reassuring to hear that other people are managing to deal with this so well. Interesting about the avacado too...not tried that one on him yet....

Thanks
beggsie

Actually, can I ask a further question? Those adults who are allergic to just brazils - do they eat things like asian food? I ask as at the moment, I can't see me being brave enough to let him have a curry or a chinese takeaway when he's a bit older (assuming things stay as they are). However, I doubt that brazil nuts are used that much in that sort of cuisine, and it would be nice to think that his future life isn't affected too much by this (thinking curries after a few pints when he's much older!). Maybe that's just wishful thinking though.........

Asian food - oh yes, in a big way - Indian, Indonesian, Thai and Chinese. He also travelled extensively in the Far East and never had a problem. I don't think brazil nuts are a typical ingredient of asian cuisine (or even an atypical one). And cause they are very expensive they don't tend to be used to pad out other nut ingredients (like peanut is fi).

TBH I don't think you have to worry if you aren't comfortable with giving him these foods. Just teach him to be careful and as a teenager/adult he will probably enlarge his comfort zone himself. My ds1 is peanut allergic and we have no nuts in the house and never give him anything that 'May contain traces' but none of the nut-allergic adults I know live that way. I am certainly not as careful regarding my own allergies as I would wish my son to be. Tough, isn't it?

Beggsie - I am allergic to hazelnuts and cashews and probably brazil nuts too. I just avoid all nuts except almonds, have done so for about 10 years now, but I can eat things that say 'may contain traces' without any problems. I have curries all the time, I just ask what's in them. I'd say it depends a lot on how bad his allergy is. The worst reaction I ever had was a very itchy throat that was swelling slightly (and it scared the hell out of me). That was from a raw hazelnut, IIRC. HTH.

Oh - and I don't feel like my allergy is a huge burden or anything, I just check all food labels carefully, make sure my friends know not to give me cakes with nuts in them, and I know what I CAN eat. It's second nature. So don't worry too much about when he's older, he'll be just fine.

yes DH does eat asian food, I do think brazil nuts are. DS 14 is allergic to most treenuts except cashew and seseme is a bit more problematic although places like Wagammama have a book with all their recipes in so we know what we can order off the menu.

Do you know, I love this place. Such sensible and measured advice/experience. You are right, wb, that I shouldn't worry about that now (quite why I am thinking about his choices in 10+ years time, I don't know!). Feierabend, he's only ever had one reaction when he did complain of an itchy throat, and I don't want to go there again! Very interesting though that you happily eat curries too.

It is tough, wb - I am with you on that one!

Thanks so much
beggsie

sorry I didn't check what I had written

I do think brzil nuts are quite rare as an ingredient compared to other nuts.

Thanks bruffin - I have found that wagamamas are good too, and even places like starbucks have lists behind their counter (although sometimes people can't find them or even know they exist!).