Dealing with severe nut allergies in France

[Anonymous]

I went on the OIT site and there are no allergists listed for Maryland. Who is the allergist in Gaithersburg that does OIT? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an allergy parent, I’m kind of skeptical your child could have a “severe allergy” you are just discovering in ES.

Putting that aside, epinephrine, if given quickly, is extremely effective and not something you should be wary of using. My daughter sees Dr. Wood at Hopkins, failed a food challenge there, and I’ve seen epinephrine in action. A miracle drug. There is no downside to giving Epi even if you are unsure if the person “needs” it.

Wow. Just wow.

Yeah, totally rude.

Signed, parent to a kid allergic to peanuts and almost all treenuts

NP here and you, 1st PP, are not just rude but dangerous. First, OP and others' experiences with increasingly symptomatic reactions in subsequent exposures are well-documented. Just because it wasn't your experience doesn't mean it doesn't exist and you should not be making uninformed statements that could cause someone experiencing this type of escalation, or at risk of this type of escalation, to dismiss the possibility of a future severe reaction.

Second, of course epi pens can be highly effective and of course you should not be wary of giving it if it's called for, but you should avoid the potential need to give it as much as possible and OP is right to be asking questions and making plans for travel. People die even after epi pen treatment, such as this girl, whose father was a doctor and was present the whole time:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/13-year-old-dies-at-sacramento-camp-from-peanut-allergy-despite-receiving-medicine/

OP, I'm sorry my post isn't helpful to you. It seems like you are on top of things, as much as any of us can be.

OP, checking back in. No, this is all helpful. I don't think spouse or I really took the allergy that seriously or identified as "allergy parents"--again, her reactions seemed limited to brief vomiting since age 2/3, and only recently did it seem to get much worse. I initially thought the allergist was sort of being cagey and evasive when I asked him how likely it was that the reaction could become more severe, and he didn't really give me a specific answer re: odds of worsening, only saying that there's a possibility it can. Somehow I concluded it was NOT likely to become worse, and so we were totally casual about it--never mentioned it at restaurants, etc.

I just say this in case anyone else is reading and assumes that their kid's reactions are mild and will always stay that way. I haven't looked at the research to know how likely nut allergies are to worsen over time, but at least in our case, it can definitely happen. So will take precautions in the future, including France trip despite having been there before with the kid without any issues. Just ordered an allergy card from selectwisely, as a PP recommended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only people I've met with such severe allergies are Americans. I wonder why.

OP here. I have no idea. My spouse is an immigrant, and I'm 1st gen; our kid was born here. Our house is not super clean, as kid has grown up with a large dog--somehow I thought that would help protect her from developing any allergies.

Not sure why nut and other food allergies are so much more common now than when we were all growing up. I wonder if the rate is much lower in France, since they seem less experienced with dealing with nut allergies, according to some PPs.

[Anonymous]

Watch out for chocolate and Nutella and hazelnuts too. Widespread in Europe.

The translation is hard because the phrase “ tree nuts” does not exist in many languages. But I follow this with interest because my child, now 13, has severe tree but allergies and we’ve epipened and been to the ER twice, both times fro accidental ingestion from restaurant food. (Once was a “plain” brownie from a bakery that had some walnuts,and once was cashews in and Indian food sauce; I did not know cashews were common in Indian food.)

When in doubt, don’t eat it. Don’t eat anything from a bakery or restaurant that doesn’t obviously have nuts. Get your child more boring or basic foods. It stinks but it’s a life threat otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went on the OIT site and there are no allergists listed for Maryland. Who is the allergist in Gaithersburg that does OIT? Thanks.

I think the allergist in the area is Robert Wood up at Hopkins. I just talked to our allergist last week about OIT for peanuts, and am still on the fence. I know Dr. Wood does it, though the wait list is apparently long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an allergy parent, I’m kind of skeptical your child could have a “severe allergy” you are just discovering in ES.

Putting that aside, epinephrine, if given quickly, is extremely effective and not something you should be wary of using. My daughter sees Dr. Wood at Hopkins, failed a food challenge there, and I’ve seen epinephrine in action. A miracle drug. There is no downside to giving Epi even if you are unsure if the person “needs” it.

So as an “allergy parent”, you are aware that allergies can develop at any time, right? You do know that people can develop allergies at any point, yes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only people I've met with such severe allergies are Americans. I wonder why.

OP here. I have no idea. My spouse is an immigrant, and I'm 1st gen; our kid was born here. Our house is not super clean, as kid has grown up with a large dog--somehow I thought that would help protect her from developing any allergies.

Not sure why nut and other food allergies are so much more common now than when we were all growing up. I wonder if the rate is much lower in France, since they seem less experienced with dealing with nut allergies, according to some PPs.

It's weird. I am European and lived there for 30+ years before moving to the US and my kids, born here, have a ton of allergies, including nuts and peanuts. I thought they would probably not have them because nuts allergies are so rare in Europe and West Africa (where my husband is from). But I was wrong! We eat mostly unprocessed, natural foods. I wondering what is causing this. Maybe the higher amount of peanut allergens everywhere since peanut butter is a staple here...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only people I've met with such severe allergies are Americans. I wonder why.

OP here. I have no idea. My spouse is an immigrant, and I'm 1st gen; our kid was born here. Our house is not super clean, as kid has grown up with a large dog--somehow I thought that would help protect her from developing any allergies.

Not sure why nut and other food allergies are so much more common now than when we were all growing up. I wonder if the rate is much lower in France, since they seem less experienced with dealing with nut allergies, according to some PPs.

It's weird. I am European and lived there for 30+ years before moving to the US and my kids, born here, have a ton of allergies, including nuts and peanuts. I thought they would probably not have them because nuts allergies are so rare in Europe and West Africa (where my husband is from). But I was wrong! We eat mostly unprocessed, natural foods. I wondering what is causing this. Maybe the higher amount of peanut allergens everywhere since peanut butter is a staple here...

DP, but we know now that peanut allergy can be almost entirely prevented by early and frequent exposure to peanut. Americans were often told not to give it to their infants to prevent allergies and, in the words of my allergist, "we know now that was bad advice." There may well be a genetic component, too, but it's almost certainly not because Americans eat a lot of peanut butter. Adults and kids might, but historically not babies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only people I've met with such severe allergies are Americans. I wonder why.

OP here. I have no idea. My spouse is an immigrant, and I'm 1st gen; our kid was born here. Our house is not super clean, as kid has grown up with a large dog--somehow I thought that would help protect her from developing any allergies.

Not sure why nut and other food allergies are so much more common now than when we were all growing up. I wonder if the rate is much lower in France, since they seem less experienced with dealing with nut allergies, according to some PPs.

It's weird. I am European and lived there for 30+ years before moving to the US and my kids, born here, have a ton of allergies, including nuts and peanuts. I thought they would probably not have them because nuts allergies are so rare in Europe and West Africa (where my husband is from). But I was wrong! We eat mostly unprocessed, natural foods. I wondering what is causing this. Maybe the higher amount of peanut allergens everywhere since peanut butter is a staple here...

DP, but we know now that peanut allergy can be almost entirely prevented by early and frequent exposure to peanut. Americans were often told not to give it to their infants to prevent allergies and, in the words of my allergist, "we know now that was bad advice." There may well be a genetic component, too, but it's almost certainly not because Americans eat a lot of peanut butter. Adults and kids might, but historically not babies.

I have heard the same too. Our allergist said something along the lines of "they should ingest it before they come in contact with it externally" to avoid allergies. But parents in Europe don't give their babies peanuts either and nursing mothers probably eat way less peanut products than their US counterparts. So they are not exposed to it at an early age.

[Anonymous]

We are thinking of traveling to Paris with our ds who has severe tree nut allergies, the most severe being pistachio. Does anyone have any recent experiences traveling to France or even Europe in general with such an allergy? Any tips? Places to avoid?

[Anonymous]

I have travelled internationally to countries that aren’t English speaking in Europe, Asia, Central America, and my son has severe food allergies ie anaphylactic Rx to
Peanuts
Tree Nuts
Sesame
Chick peas
Lentils
Kiwi

We just learned how to say he’s allergic to..... he can’t eat..... he could die if he ate .....in different languages, writing it all down and showing it to servers. Nothing ever happened during travels. He had an anaphylactic reaction in local summer camp at age 4, ended up in ER needing IV corticosteroids. But never when travelling, you just learn to be insistent on being understood. I never brought food into restaurants, we sometimes ate somewhere else as an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have travelled internationally to countries that aren’t English speaking in Europe, Asia, Central America, and my son has severe food allergies ie anaphylactic Rx to
Peanuts
Tree Nuts
Sesame
Chick peas
Lentils
Kiwi

We just learned how to say he’s allergic to..... he can’t eat..... he could die if he ate .....in different languages, writing it all down and showing it to servers. Nothing ever happened during travels. He had an anaphylactic reaction in local summer camp at age 4, ended up in ER needing IV corticosteroids. But never when travelling, you just learn to be insistent on being understood. I never brought food into restaurants, we sometimes ate somewhere else as an option.

Addendum, we went to France twice and no issues with plain croissants. Avoided all chocolate, anything touching chocolate. Always carried 3 epipen. 2 on person, 1 in a bag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an allergy parent, I’m kind of skeptical your child could have a “severe allergy” you are just discovering in ES.

Why? Allergies can develop at any time. My kid developed a life threatening allergy to a medication he had taken safely many times before as an elementary school student. An elderly friend of mine developed a life threatening allergy to seafood in her 80's when she had eaten al her life.

Your comment is really uneducated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an allergy parent, I’m kind of skeptical your child could have a “severe allergy” you are just discovering in ES.

Putting that aside, epinephrine, if given quickly, is extremely effective and not something you should be wary of using. My daughter sees Dr. Wood at Hopkins, failed a food challenge there, and I’ve seen epinephrine in action. A miracle drug. There is no downside to giving Epi even if you are unsure if the person “needs” it.

DS had no allergies until 15 years old. Now at 17 he's allergic to all tree nuts and carries an epipen. Not all allergies exist at birth. He misses pistachios and nutella the most.

[Anonymous]

My friend lives in France and is highly allergic to nuts. She’s not afraid of pain au chocolat from her neighborhood bakery.

But she wound up in the hospital after eating at a crêperie. She told them she was allergic to nuts but figures there was some Nutella cross-contamination.

Verdict: be careful and don’t forget the epi-pen!