In thinking that my GP's advice was wrong?

[TheHelpfulHiker]

DS2 is four and we suspect he has a peanut allergy. When he was a toddler he had a severe reaction to peanut butter (ended up in A&E although was over pretty quickly). On another occasion we were at a party with a bowl of peanuts on the table and he came out in hives, although he didn't touch them, others around him did so there would have been traces on the table etc. We have subsequently done a skin test with some peanut butter and again his skin reacted. Now he is starting school so we need to formalise it and find out how severe it is, what we need to do to manage it etc. I know we should have done it sooner, but I took him to our GP this morning and the general consensus is that we can't be sure it's peanuts as there are many ingredients in peanut butter and even peanuts have salt and other preservatives(?) on them. SO my GP told me to go home, give him 2-3 peanuts (after boiling them so there is nothing else on them), have some piriton to hand and call 999 if he has a bad reaction. AIBU or is that nuts? (pun intended). In the end we gave him half a nut, his face went blotchy and came out in hives so I dosed him up with piriton and it subsided. We have another appointment on Thursday. Fingers crossed we get further! If any allergy parents have any tips on what to say and how to make some progress I'd be so grateful.

He's right. The best thing you can do for kids with a peanut allergy is to start exposing them to peanuts. I don't know if his specific technique is correct, but his idea is right.

This is entirely bullshit and terrible advice, just like the advice from the GP.

DS2's best mate has a nut allergy alongside other allergies. We attended a New Years Eve party with him and his family a couple of years ago where someone had opened a bag of peanuts and put a bowl out. He was sat next to us having a drink when I realised his eyes and cheeks looked swollen, mentioned it to his Mum and within a couple of minutes he'd had to be ambulanced to the nearest hospital with anaphylaxis. His allergy is so severe even being in the same room as a bag of peanuts can trigger him as he's breathing in peanut particles. So no, chucking a few peanuts into his mouth isn't going to reduce the allergy, instead it's likely to kill him.

thanks @birdsfoottrefoil, you're right. In fact after the initial reaction he seemed fine, but then got started reacting again a couple of hours later. We will be watching him closely.

@TheHelpfulHiker that's insane advice. You need to report that to the surgery manager and book an appointment with another doctor ASAP

Insist on an allergy clinic referral. Ask how long it usually takes to get an appointment. If it is too long (often several months in our area) then could you afford to see a specialist privately? You can also buy epipens but they do need replacing evey six months.

There is a shortage atm and we have been told to hang onto out out of date ones as none of the chemists we have tried can fill our GP prescription.

Really push to get your DC seen. I'd tell the school your DC has a nut allergy and had to go to A&E. That you hope to see specialist soon. Is the school nut free, my DC's primary was as so many DC had nut allergies. I'd also always carry some piriton in your bag until you can get the epi pens.

@sapatsea we have them back in our area. While epi pens were out we managed to get Jext pens as an alternative.

I half expected for this to be pfb but jesus christ no way that mental

I agree it was ill-advised of the GP, but it's now an accepted treatment of nut allergy in hospital.

Obviously, in a hospital the risk is greatly reduced, and it's a controlled environment. They start with very, very small amounts of peanut and gradually increase them, until the severity of the reaction is much reduced.

I agree it was ill-advised of the GP, but it's now an accepted treatment of nut allergy in hospital.

I really hoped this was true, as I have a teen with a life-threatening peanut allergy. But it's not an accepted treatment yet.

More research needs to be done but the latest research shows that oral desensitisation actually increases reactions, including anaphylaxis.

www.shropshirestar.com/news/uk-news/2019/04/25/peanut-allergy-can-be-made-worse-by-desensitising-approach-study-suggests/

BTW I've been having allergy shots to reduce my pollen allergies, and even those sent me into a massive systemic reaction once - it happened after I'd left the clinic and was no longer anywhere near a hospital. Allergies really can be terrifying and should be taken very seriously.

Ridiculous advice from GP. My daughter has a tree nut allergy, diagnosed after multiple tests from a pediatric specialist, referral done via our GP, following a reaction to walnuts. She now carries an EpiPen and piriton everywhere. Has never had such a severe reaction as the first episode, as we know what to avoid. We asked for a retest several years later to see if she had grown out of it and was advised to assume she was still allergic, as retesting could cause a more severe reaction the the nuts and potentially be fatal. Your GP should be reported.

That is absolutely shocking. We were referred to the allergy team at our hospital as soon as DS showed minor signs of an allergic reaction. Please report the GP to the practice and GMC. That could have gone very badly indeed.

drsausage I no longer live in the UK, and read reports of the trials and thought (mistakenly) that it had been adopted everywhere.

Just letting you know that my GP in the Netherlands offered same advice after we received a positive blood test for my son. I told her that she was incorrect and she wheeled out the old “Did you go to medical school, or did I?” chestnut. I pulled the anaphylaxis protocol from the NL health service out of my handbag and handed it to her, and said “No, but I’m not a fucking moron, and don’t want to kill my kid. Now are you going to treat me like an intelligent person from now on and adjust your attitude towards me, or am I going to file a complaint?”. We got on quite nicely after that.

*Her advice was to give him a peanut butter sandwich. 😱😳🤯