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AIBU?

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Original poster

Peanut reaction, what to do?

34 replies

Madeyemoodysmum · 10/04/2012 22:29

Hi. Thanks for reading. Sorry to post in AIBU. Tried chat but no response. At tea today my six yr old dd had a few peanuts with her sandwich. After a few mins she complained of an itchy tongue and throat. I told her not to eat anymore and gave her ten ml piriton

Nothing else happened and the itching stopped so I have sent her to bed as normal

What to do now? Do I bring this up with the doc. Make an appointment?
How does one get diagnosed? I am very allergic hay fever, asthma etc but I'm fine with peanuts. Any advise gratefully recieved.

OP posts:
only4tonight · 10/04/2012 22:32

you need a referal for allergy testing from the doc. Its all very long and boring but upshot is DD needs to carry 2 Jext (Epi) Pens with her at all times just to be safe. She has only ever had 1, Mild, reaction (Touch wood) but allergy testing showed a pretty severe reaction on the skin prick test and confirmed by rast. So its safer to have the back up.

Kladdkaka · 10/04/2012 22:34

Get her to the GP asap. My friend had this with hazelnuts and thought nothing more about it. Next time she ate some (at my house) it was much worse and her throat restricted so she could hardly breath. Thankfully it went down before we could get her medical attention. Now she carries an epipen.

zookeeper · 10/04/2012 22:42

definitely go to the doctor as I understand that the second time this may happen is much worse. If it is then you'd best have an epipen.

Original poster
Madeyemoodysmum · 10/04/2012 22:45

Thanks. I will ring for an appointment tomorrow.
Do yr dcs have to avoid trace foods or just the nut or ingredient

OP posts:
AlbertoFrog · 10/04/2012 22:47

Please get DD assessed as soon as possible. I really don't want to alarm you but a severe peanut allergy can be life threatening. Hopefully your DD won't be too affected but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Oh and perhaps it's time to make yourself aware of just how many products can have traces of peanuts/peanut oil in them.

Good luck.

RightFedUp · 10/04/2012 22:49

One of my Ds s has to have pieces of peanut and isn't allergic to other nuts. 'Traces of' doesn't start a reaction. You'd best be advised by the allergy clinic, though.

Original poster
Madeyemoodysmum · 10/04/2012 22:52

Ok. Thanks again I will ring first thing.

OP posts:
AlbertoFrog · 10/04/2012 22:52

My SIL had a reaction after eating crisps from a wooden bowl which had previously held peanuts. Bowl had been washed several times. Her's was a very extreme allergy though.

DH has had his throat close up after eating hazelnuts. V scary.

Best to avoid all nut products until you're sure of what you're dealing with.

ImperialBlether · 10/04/2012 22:54

A friend of mine lost her son aged 17 to a peanut allergy.

Please, please take it seriously and arrange for her to be tested.

Original poster
Madeyemoodysmum · 10/04/2012 23:02

I will I promise.

OP posts:
Noqontrol · 10/04/2012 23:05

Yes definitely go to Gp. Often the first allergic reactions are not so severe, but future ones really can be. Tomorrow a Gp appointment for sure.

heliumballoons · 10/04/2012 23:06

Take her to the GP. YANBU to be confused about what to do next - alergies are a minefield.

FWIW it's often recommended a double dose for allergic reactions so you did the right thing.

I would also ask to get this moved to allergies - lots of traffic there, from people who deal with this daily. We have all been there from first reaction, through GP, allergy testing and getting epi-pens.

We are very nice Grin

musicposy · 10/04/2012 23:07

Get an appointment with GP and get proper allergy testing. Once you've had one reaction, you can't tell how severe the next one will be, that's what the hospital always tell us.

DD1 is very severely allergic to peanuts and her first reaction was just a rash and itching when she was two. Stupid GP said to wait until she was older as she wouldn't like the skin prick tests. At 6 she ate a piece of cake with nuts in it, went into anaphylaxis and was lucky to survive it. We were then referred to the allergy clinic pronto and she was given epipens.

She's since gone into anaphylactic shock 3 more times, each from really minute amounts of peanut. But she is particularly badly affected. They guess that an eighth of a peanut would certainly kill her. Even the skin prick test on peanuts (which is pretty safe) caused her to have a bad reaction and they had to administer antihistamine and put her under special observation for a couple of hours, but at least she was in hospital!

She cannot eat "traces of" products. Most of the time manufacturers are covering their backs because stuff is made on the same line but you can't tell which box might have traces and which might not. DD has had bad reactions (not full blown anaphylaxis, but severe vomiting, rashes, itching) from things which say "may contain traces of" two or three times and so now we avoid them.

You may well not be this badly affected - we've been told that DD is particularly severe - but I would be careful in the meantime. It can't hurt not to eat them and it might hurt to do so, after all. Don't be fobbed off by the GP, either. DD1 nearly lost her life because I allowed myself to be.

heliumballoons · 10/04/2012 23:08

and peanuts aren't actually nuts. That's one peice of information you'll learn and is vital to know.

only4tonight · 10/04/2012 23:10

The consultant explained the traces of thing. He said, basically, a machine that had been used to form something with a nut in previously has been used to produce this product. Now the one you have could be the first of the line and likely to be high in traces or 10,000 off the line with next to no risk at all. There is no way of knowing which it is.

He said the risk is up to you whether you want to take it. DDs allergies are peanits and house dust mites. Nothing else thus far. So we tend to allow traces of as long as we have her anti-histamines and jext pens to hand. Which we make sure they always are.

Henwelly · 10/04/2012 23:11

Oh and dont be fobbed off - my doctor refused to refer, I refused to leave so he smugly said "I will ring my friend who is the allergy specialist at local hospital, will that make you happy?"

I could hear the doc on the other end tear strips of my doc for even asking - I got a letter there and then.

Its often the 2nd reaction that is worse, your body has then built up the antibodies. If its severe enough for epipens she will probably be advised to avoid all nuts.

musicposy · 10/04/2012 23:11

Yes, DD is actually fine with tree nuts. We tend to avoid all nuts when out and about, however, because so many caterers etc are not very clued up on it. Usually "may contain traces of nuts" products are fine, but "may contain traces of peanuts" products are a potential death sentence.

It's a minefield and that's why you need proper help. You'll learn fast, though!

Acekicker · 10/04/2012 23:13

Yep - join the allergy board, lots of us over there will hold your hand over the next few weeks.

Definitely docs as soon as possible this week and insist on a referral - ideally to a paediatric allergy team if you have one in your area, but there aren't many in the UK unfortunately.

In the meantime try to avoid all nuts as the risk of cross contamination is high. Have piriton to hand (decant some into a smaller bottle if necessary and join us all in cursing and wondering why the fuck they don't do it in sachets). I personally (am not a doc caveat however) would be tempted to perhaps give her another dose of piriton now/as you go to bed. The 'danger zone' for a reaction is longer than people tend to think. When DS had his reaction (sounds similar to the one you had) it was a Sunday morning and OOH told us to keep the Piriton up for the rest of the day and keep watching for signs of reaction (nettle rash round the mouth, complaining of itching etc).

Also - have some very unMN hugs, you will probably need them at some point.

The 'second time is worse' thing is something the jury seem to be out on - we were told by our doc (paed allergist) that he doesn't think that is the case, it's more the reaction varies according to how much is ingested.

musicposy · 10/04/2012 23:15

yes henwelly DD was told to avoid all nuts at first. Then she had a nut challenge at hospital with some specially made cookies (almonds, brazil nuts etc) and she was fine so they then said she could eat those.

bizzey · 10/04/2012 23:16

HI Madeymoodysmum

I have a ds 10 years old who i suspected had nut allergy ? aged 18 months when he took a bite of my smooth peanut butter sandwich and sicked up his milk he had just had.

I didn't take him for testing ,i just kept nuts out of house and diet.

When he started primary i mentioned it on his form and school nurse told me to get official test as it was serious .oppps!Blush

He is 11 in 2 months and was re-tested only because they were testing for something else and thought they would do the lot while we there !!!

He has epi-pens but i dont always carry them with me as i still check what he eats etc while out ,but i do take them and pirition(all perscription) when we go on hols or visit friends.

If your dc does get dx the information will seem daunting!

In OUR expirience ds is ok with may contain traces...or packaged in nut factory.. it is hard to find many things without this warning..???? poss to protect themselves?

But as i said it is VERY important to treat your DC as an individual and NOT take my infomation as ok for all..

I just wanted you to know it is workable..my ds has known about nuts from a very early age and so do his brothers 9/8 yrs and have never asked for nutella in the house or other things!!!!

He is going to secondary school in sept witch will give a few concerns for a few weeks but he is sensible and i am sure he will be fine

Let us know how you get on

HTH

musicposy · 10/04/2012 23:17

Never knew about the allergy board! Will take a look :)

only4tonight · 10/04/2012 23:17

I will second not being fobbed off by gp. My locum 'forgot' to refer her. Its only when I asked when we went in for her booster jabs that they went 'oh yeah' seeing how badly dd reacted to the skin prick test I can only thank my lucky stars she hadnt had a bad reaction before.

We went into the consultant on the day of the skin prick. During the consultation he said she probably wouldnt need an epi pen but would prescribe if we wanted him too. She had the skin prick test and, despite him stating that the level could not be accuratly judged, he changed his mind pretty rapidly and prescribed the pens straight away. The lump for peanuts was over 3 x the size of the pure control.

only4tonight · 10/04/2012 23:25

piriton sachets F%$King GENIUS idea. Why dont they do that???

bizzey · 10/04/2012 23:34

.Lots of messages while i was typing with my 2 fingers ..still finding the letters...!!

DS 2nd reaction was a cross contamination...dh had bag of choc covered raisins and p/nuts but was checking and only gave him the rasins ones but he was sick /swollen /red lips..

Slight hyjack now but only4tonight ..he has just been dx for house dust mite as well(seriouly dodgey allergy to have in my houseBlush can i talk too you on another thread as dont want to steal this one..

Beamur · 10/04/2012 23:39

Good idea to get proper advice - the severity of the reaction/allergy can vary from person to person.
A friend of mine has a DS who is severely allergic, cannot tolerate even a trace of peanut, carries epipens at all times etc.
I have a mild hazlenut allergy, and have been advised to avoid peanut too, but I don't have to worry about food which 'may contain traces' - I ate a chocolate a few days ago which I didn't check the ingredients for first and it has hazlenut in it - made me feel sick, but that was all.