Reply to Managing peanut allergy

Forum Index » Elementary School-Aged Kids

Reply to "Managing peanut allergy"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You need to carry at least two Epi pens everywhere, in case one malfunctions or the ambulance is delayed in coming. As soon as the child is able they need to carry two themselves.  Be sure they know how to use them. Practice regularly with the trainer.

We always also have albuterol and Benadryl.

Ask the allergist when to use. One PP said use upon two symptoms. Ours said use upon confirmed exposure even if asymptomatic.

If you use epinephrine the person needs to go by ambulance to the emergency room.

Epi pens are not magic talismans. They don’t always work. They sometimes need to be repeated.

Your child needs to learn to self-advocate about allergies as soon as possible. Teach them to read every label every time. Ingredients change. No unlabeled or homemade outside snacks. Send your own treats to school.  Be very particular in restaurants. Be aware of potential language issues — we were assured that a bakery product contained no nuts. Then informed “only nut flour” when we asked a second time.

[b]They need to be aware of environmental contamination. Like the kid in class who brings a peanut butter sandwich and then uses a finger to scrape out and eat the peanut butter. Or the contaminated trash in a cafeteria trash can. Or the person one row away in an aircraft who is eating peanuts.[/b]

I believe there is a sensitivity-reducing shot and desensitization treatments. We are not there yet, so I leave it to others with knowledge to discuss them.

[/quote]

I have a 12 year old peanut allergic kid and agree with most of this with a couple caveats and can add some info about OIT.

[b]As to bolded, some kids really are not this sensitive to peanuts in their environment.  Mine isn't.  We eat peanut butter in our household.  My kid has zero sensitivity to being near peanuts.  I understand some kids do.  But this is an added level of hyper-vigilance that isn't necessary for some kids. [/b]

We did the OIT and it worked.  The part I didn't anticipate is my child HATES HATES HATES the taste of peanuts.  This makes sense.  Her body is trained to really dislike the thing that is going to make her sick.  However, when you get to the end the maintenane is eating some amount of peanut daily.  We tried all vehicles.  The peanut, some peanut butter, a peanut m&m, a reeses pieces.  She hated all of them.  She was about 10 at the time we did this.  It was a nightly battle and we just gave up.  I could not see sustaining forcing her to eat something she hated.  I think with an older kid it could be eaiser.[/quote]

As to the follow up bolded, without claiming any scientific/literature based special knowledge, I suggest it is extremely dangerous to be casual about any level of potential exposure. I don’t think it is “hyper vigilance.”[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics