Advice and support for parents of children/toddlers with severe allergy

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My brother is anaphylactic to nuts, I'm not but my DD has inherited bad allergies sadly. She is 2. I know she is allergic to avocado and cashew nuts and they have now given us an epipen after a very bad reaction to cashew. We are waiting for her skin patch test on nuts/avo/bee stings (her dad reacts quite badly to bee) Every time I think about it I have a rising panic about this everyday threat to her health. Try to put it on perspective and tell myself that list of people have allergies and are mostly fine. Any advice for coping with the anxiety of a child with anaphylaxis? Anyone had to use epipen on their child? Her reactions have been quite slow burning as it were with the wheeze coming a few hours after the initial swelling of lips and tounge. am I right in thinking it gets worse each exposure? Also she had quite a bad reaction to the new men B vaccine and now I look back on it she should have been taken to hospital but the surgery brushed it off somewhat. Any idea what could be in it and could she react bad to other vaccines? (She will of course be having them) anyone else experienced this?. Sorry for the long post and so many questions!!

I'm anaphylaxic to so many things and allergic to even more. My son 6 has no allergies and my daughter 1 is allergic to milk and has none of my allergies/anaphylactic.

Doctor can get a list of all ingredients for the vaccines just ask in advance :)
With cashews I'm pretty sure its a top allergy (please check just in case I'm wrong) so has to be put on all product. Always check for may contains, some babies are fine but I don't risk it personally. We check one new food out for a few days as with multiple allergies its harder to figure out what caused the reaction if we try multiple food.

Reactions can take hours to develop or can be instant from rashes, hives, swelling to bad nappies and tummy pain there's so many reactions unfortunately. You only use the epipen in a emergency. My doctor said if I have to think do I need to use it then you don't but that's on myself not someone else.

When I had my skin prick test I saw a dietitian and she helped a lot especially as my own doctor told me I had tonsillitis for 2 years!! It was only when I saw the nurse she said It was allergic reaction.

I found Facebook to be the best place to get information to be honest and joined allergy groups with parents of allergy babies on them :)

It took me a while to get use to allergies. I can't have any vitamins and because I was missing so many of them in my diet I got very poorly and ended up passing out in the road so I would suggest speaking to the doctor and finding out if your child can have them just in case :)

Thanks for the reply. I will check out Facebook pages. Hadn't even thought of that! That's interesting in the epipen advice as they told me at the pharmacy when I collected it if in doubt use it and I can do any harm to use if it's not really needed! Will have to speak to consultant when we go for the tests to clear this up for me..!

*cant

I'd agree with the pharmacist and if in doubt, give the epi pen and call 999 immediately, no matter how well she looks after its been given.

The epi pen website itself is great and has some really good info on how to give the pen etc. You can also register your epi pen so that you get a text reminder when its due to expire to remind you to pick up a new one. I normally recommend to parents that they make up a pack like a pencil case size case with the epi pen, piriton and an emergancy contact card with your details and a list of her allergies. Then when you leave the house, you just have one thing to grab. And make sure it stays with dd. No point in it being in the car while youre out on a walk etc. At the first sign of a reaction, give her the antihistamine (as long as she can swallow ok). The epipen is your back up if the reaction worsens and she is having problems breathing/swallowing.

Do you have a practice epi pen? If not i think you can order one from the epi pen website so you can practice and be confident in how to give the pen if you had to. Its scary the thought of having to use it, but try to let it give you confidence. The plan is to avoid the allergen and never have to use it. But it means you have something you can give that will help her should the worst case ever happen.

Hopefully you have or will soon have an allegy nurse/dr you see. Definately worth talking to them about vaccines and potential future allergens.

Lots of really good support groups of parents with kids with allergies out there, hopefully a google will help you find some!

Look on facebook for "Stanley's Allergy Free Food Adventure", you may find this helpful

could she react bad to other vaccines? (She will of course be having them) anyone else experienced this?

My adopted DD had increasingly severe reactions to vaccines (that we were not fully aware of), it culminated in a severe reaction to a vaccine - she crashed in front of me in minutes, breathing issues and ultimately cardiac arrest. We had a significant stay in picu and some serious doctor related issues.

She would need to have any further vaccinations in hospital with access to a crash cart. I'm even worse, to the point where most vaccinations are considered more dangerous to me than the alternative. Be prepared to cope with doctors trying to squirm out of their beloved vaccinations being responsible for any reactions, they'll willingly admit that anything else can cause a reaction but not their precious vaccines (bitter experience).

OP have you discovered the Allergies board on here (also under health)? Uou may find it useful.