nut allergy

[sibble]

I took my DS (3 years) to specialist yesterday as he has had a reaction to products with nuts in twice in last few months. Thought allergy was mild but turns out to be severe. Poor little thing had had 4 blood tests, allergy testing etc and more to come. We now have to carry adrenaline epi-pens with us at all times.
Is anybody else in the same boat and how do you get around everything in the supermarket saying "may contain trace of nuts"???
I have also posted a few times recently suggesting nuts as part of a high zinc diet for nausea in pregnancy. The specialist, however, has a theory that we are seeing an increase in nut allergies because of more pregnant women eating them and babies becoming sensitized in the womb. i didn't eat nuts with DS but covered myself in almond oil to stop stretch marks rather than use products with chemicals in. He believes this has caused/contributed to DS's allergy. Has anybody else heard this as it has made me feel really bad and cautious about using/eating nuts if pregnant again. Will also now start literature search to see if come up with anything.

hi sibble sorry to hear about your ds allergy,i dont believe that theory,i come from spain where we eat a lot of nuts and i dont know any cases of nut allergies or ever heard of them before i came to england,here i know of 3 people with the alergy,i don`t think your doctor should have suggested it was your fault until there was enough evidence to prove this theory

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Sibble, we have recently been through the same and ds (almost 3) has been prescribed epipens. Our doctor advised us to continue avoiding all nuts (cashews are his worst) but not to bother excluding foods labelled "May contain nut traces" if dh has been eating these without any harm so far. You should be given an appointment with a dietician so you can discuss these things.

Dont feel bad about things you used in pregnancy, there is no proof that this is the cause. You have enough to deal with, dont pile the guilt on as well.

Good luck, I'll post more when I can although I know little more than you.

Hi sibble

I was actually sent some recent research about this this week. It said that allergic type immune systems are sometimes described as being Th2 biased. (Th2 is a type of immune cell- if there are too many of them- the immune system becomes prone to allegic reactions/autoimmune conditions) There are more of these immune systems around now- and a correspoonding increase in allergies, eczema, asthma and autoimmune conditions like autism and juvenile diabetes.

So whatever is tipping childrens immune systems is probably responsible for the increases in all these conditions. So it's not something as simple as eating nuts. Who knows what it causing all the increases- vaccinations? antibiotics? food additives? toxins in the environment? No one knows really. So don't beat yourself up over it! Definitely not your fault!

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i`ve just read this in a magazine
great news for sufferers of nut allergy.a study published in the new england journal of medicine has found that monthly antihistamine jabs could prevent life-threatening reactions
i hope this is of any help

Thanks everybody for your messages. We are doing OK. Have joined the allergy association in NZ and have hired epipen trainer and masses of info for his nursery. They were really good too, children can nominate topics so they are doing an allergy week for DS. Showing the video where elephant has nut allergy, cooking without nuts etc. Were on holiday last week though and real pain trying to find places to eat that are nut free and not burgers and chips. think have "overtrained" DS though as everytime he doesn't want to eat or drink anything he now tells me he can't have it as has nuts!!! Even juice!!!