Reply to When we were growing up did we just not realize kids had allergies?

Forum Index » Health and Medicine

Reply to "When we were growing up did we just not realize kids had allergies?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think some allergies -- peanuts, strawberries, shellfish -- are real. The rest are just sensitivities that kids would grow out of a lot faster if they were exposed to the food more.

My best friend growing up was allergic to shellfish, but LOVED shrimp. She just put up with the mild itching until it eventually went away.

Your body can only adjust to something if it has a reason to.
[/quote]

Deadly, dangerous anecdote recounted above.  No one should ever try to "get your body to adjust to something if it has a reason to" unless this "adjustment" is done in a clinical study with epinepherine at the ready.  Food challenges are done in a doctor's office over a period of months and even then, the doses of the allergenic patient are carefully measured and increased.

I speak as a mom with two nut allergic children and as a person who has a lifelong, anaphylactic reaction to fish.  Oddly, I am not allergic to shellfish, but I avoid it because I was told that the odds are against me that I could suddenly develop an allergy to shellfish.  Usually, the allergic reactions are progressive.  What begins as "just" itchy lips could progress during the next exposure/ingestion to "just" wheezing, vomiting and throat swelling...in other words, anaphylactic shock/death.

Also, if I could climb atop this soapbox for a second (uhhhhh)...we ALL need to make a distinction between "food sensitivity" and "allergic".  Not the same.  Just as a migraine is NOT a synonym for a bad headache, (food) allergy is not an all-encompassing word that means "dislike" or "sometimes gives me gas."  Seriously, I've heard my own contemporaries describe their own "allergies" this way.  Not the same thing.

Not to get into a pissing contest here, but I've also gotten the other extreme; a mom will ask "just how allergic my DC are."  As in, what happens?  And, what was the RAST test #?  Oh, not allergic to aerated peanut dust?  Not as severe as Larla's allergies, etc.

Thanks.  I feel better now.[/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