Regarding this peanut allergy

[murphys]

Both my dc do martial arts. There is a boy at their class (D) who imo is a pfb. I have known them for a while as he was at primary with my ds. When chatting with his mum, it would appear that she is still sitting with him doing homework, doing his projects for him, if you have a conversation with the boy, the mum will automatically answer his questions for him. The boy is 16.

I know that he has an allergy to peanuts as in a previous conversation, mum wouldn't allow him to go on school camp as she said that she couldn't take the risk that peanut butter wouldn't be served there in sandwiches.

They have done marital arts in the same class for 3 years now. Last week dc came home and said that before they were to start sparring, Shifu (instructor) asked everyone is anyone had eaten peanuts in the last two days. My dc are great fans of peanut butter, ds said he had a sarmie that day. Shifu then said that D's mother had requested that if anyone has eaten peanuts, then they are not allowed to spar with D. So, as ds is D's sparring partner usually, ds had to sit out until such a time as they rotated the class.

Last week I was a bit surprized by this, but now I just overheard the dc who are on holidays now. Ds offers to make dd sandwich. He just made her a peanut butter one. She gets it and I hear her gasp and say 'oh no I cant eat this as we are going to class tonight'.....

Do you think aibu in thinking that we shouldn't have to change our diets and fret about what we eat in case they do sparring this evening in class? This hasn't been an issue in all the years they have been going with D and the mum didn't mention that he had any allergic incidents recently.

[Thumbwitch]

It's interesting to look at some of the worldwide allergy stats though, in terms of top allergens - things like chickpea allergy are far more widespread in countries that use a lot of chickpeas than in the UK, for example.
www.phadia.com/en/Products/Allergy-testing-products/ImmunoCAP-Allergen-Information/Food-of-Plant-Origin/Legumes/Chick-pea/
Chickpeas can also be allergenic to some people with peanut allergies, ditto lentils, according to that paper.

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

Also, just to come back to someone else's question further back about possible genetic links - again, personally, we have no family history (as far as we know) of anyone having food allergies, on either side of the family. My daughter appears to be the only one.

My maternal uncle and grandmother suffered from migraines (triggered by certain foods, as do I), but not nut-related.

Also, following on from what I said earlier about eating nuts during my pregnancies - daughter is allergic, son is not. So can't think of a link there either, really. Daughter didn't start developing her allergies until she was around 8-yrs old. She also had to stop horse-riding lessons because she suddenly developed reactions to the horses, and she couldn't handle our rabbits any longer for the same reason. (Whereas she'd been fine with all animals beforehand).

I understand that if very young children develop allergies early on they often grow out of them, but if they make themselves present in later years, then the person tends not to outgrow them. Although I'm sure there will be exceptions to this rule.

It is indeed complicated.

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

Thumbwitch and DoJo - those are interesting articles you've linked. I'll read them more fully later on. Thanks for posting them - very helpful!

[Thumbwitch]

I'm still of the opinion that increased use of pesticides has affected the rise of allergies but I know it's a) not a popular opinion and b) hard to prove, even if someone would fund the studies and go up against the interests of some of the most powerful and richest companies in the world.

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

I think I agree with you, Thumbwitch. We grow our own veggies in summer and don't use pesticides at all, and I try to buy organic meat where possible (and that was because I was worried about added injected antibiotics and steroids, etc, into the animals years ago). This does seem to have helped, as daughter doesn't seem to have had as many episodes as she could have done. But as you say, not proven - just best to try to limit damage wherever possible.

I'm also of the opinion that too much meddling in nature is taking its toll.

[Thumbwitch]

I'd agree with that too, Evans. It annoys me that food processors and manufacturers manage to add in extra proteins where they shouldn't be, so that people can be completely bewildered as to why they have reacted to something!
An example is the use of hydrolysed vegetable/soya or milk proteins, added to processed meats, to increase water binding and therefore effectively increase the weight of the product. Not very good for people with CMPA, or soybean allergy! but not widely known unless you research it.

[Thumbwitch]

this is a useful pointer about non-meat ingredients in meat products

[PPaka]

Of course you are not being unreasonable
The mother has made all of this up, maybe for attention or something
She's not just protective of her son because he might, you know, DIE or something

You can't possibly know how bad the allergy is unless you ask her
Maybe the child had a very near miss recently, maybe it's getting worse

[mumteedum]

Evans and thumb...i am an exception then. AFAIK born allergic to all nuts and peanuts severely. Found out like pp when dad ate peanuts and picked me up. Trip to hospital as I swelled up. I was only a baby.

I also think there needs to be more research and wonder if we'll ever know. I think it's something like pesticides or other product /drug that was used and set this off.

Did you know peanut oil is commonly used in creams under another name? It's in zinc and castor oil for example.

[mumteedum]

Xpost and agree there too. :) I said 20 years ago the idea of gm scares me as severe allergy sufferer.

[mistlethrush]

I'm allergic to chocolate - and that turns up in all sorts of face creams etc (which I am also allergic to)

[Thumbwitch]

Mumteedum - sorry, exception to what? lots of people are born allergic, they don't all develop allergies in later life, I don't think I said that anywhere, did I?

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

Thumb - I'd mentioned some things in a previous post, and said there will be exceptions. I think this is what Mumteedum is replying to.

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

And yes, of course, some people are born allergic. Others develop allergies as time goes by. There isn't a written rule for it all.

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

It was chocolate that triggered my Nanna's migraines, bananas did it for me (but now I'm okay with bananas - nowadays Pimms or champagne I can't tolerate) Curses

[Thumbwitch]

Ahhh, thanks Evans :)

My Dad's migraines were triggered by chocolate, cheese, chicken, cream - poor bugger! But since he started having to take BP meds in his 70s, he's hardly ever had a migraine. He didn't have high BP before, it was checked as part of the medical investigation into his migraines (lasted 3 days, he was having 2 a month, sometimes more) and yet the meds still helped...

[Thumbwitch]

Oh and oranges. Also a common trigger for migraine.

[mumteedum]

Yes Evans and thumb, that was it. Sorry if sounded arsey, wasn't meaning to be

[aintnothinbutagstring]

My DS has an allergy to peanuts, discovered when he was weaning onto food and I stupidly give him a crust of my pb on toast. I'd been eating it daily during pregnancy and also up until the first reaction he had at about 6month. He also had an egg allergy that he's outgrown, hes 3 now, he also had a delayed milk allergy whereby he had a severe reaction 24hrs after consumption but he's outgrown that and can tolerate small amounts of milk (too much gives him really itchy eczema). He's not allergic to any other nuts, tree nuts, but consultant advises steer clear of any nuts as they're highest risk of cross contamination. We don't expect him to outgrow his peanut allergy as apparently that's only 20% likely. One should take particular care with epipens, especially if you live in a hot country as they quickly become useless in temps around 30°. There was an awful story of a girl in California who died after injesting a peanut containing snack at a summer camp, 3 epipens could not save her.

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

Sorry if sounded arsey
No, it didn't, Mumteedum

[Thumbwitch]

No, it didn't sound arsey, Mumteedum, just confused me! :)

[settingsitting]

Thanks for that info about epipens in hot weather aintnot.
www.epipen.ca/en/about-epipen/how-to-store-epipen
My son will shortly be in a hot country. I have sent the link to him.