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.

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

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.

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.

I'm the French PP, and OP's experience with her child was ours as well. My son started to vomit spectacularly as a preschooler, and symptoms got progressively worse, and with a wider variety of nuts, to which he did not initially test positive. We need to retest frequently. Recently he had his first weekend away with his school club, and I was a basket of nerves the entire weekend, not knowing how he would deal with bringing his epipen everywhere and asking the right person for ingredients. There were no problems, thank goodness, but it's so stressful raising a child with an anaphylactic allergy.

We are considering doing OIT, oral immuno therapy. Still have some research to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm French and just had to deal with this several times this past year when we traveled back and forth to various places in France.

Europe is not allergy-friendly, despite huge progress recently when they made it the law that each restaurant, bakery, chocolaterie, etc, have a binder with a table of allergies for each of their product. When we asked, the binder was produced rapidly, was easy to read, and we could look up the possible contaminations. Well and good.

BUT!

At Parc Asterix, a theme park near Paris, the Ile Flottante dessert, which the binder said was nut-free because it's made with beaten egg whites floating on cream, actually had ALMOND SLIVERS all over it. It was lucky the contaminant was highly visible and we avoided that dessert, otherwise my son would have eaten it and had an anaphylactic reaction.

The problem is that this is so new to most people in France, that some don't even know what kinds of foods are included in the nut category. They actually had to create a category, because the translation of nut in French is walnut, a specific type of nut. So they call the nut category "fruits a coque" (literal translation: fruits with shell), which I am sure most French people had never heard about prior to this new law. Just before the law was passed, two years ago, we visited a patisserie and wanted an assortment of little tarts, and asked the owner which ones were nut-free. She did not know what we were talking about, and directed us to something with pistachios, the food to which my son is most highly allergic.

So ask for the binder, tell them which foods he is specifically allergic to, and never separate your child from his Epipen, even if you think you're not eating any time soon. Visually inspect and taste the food, and always be vigilant.

OP here, thanks so much to all PPs, very helpful. I should have mentioned, we will be in the south of France, near Antibes and later in Nice. Would you have any additional suggestions/advice given this location?

Also, would the term "fruits a coque" be familiar in the south of France? Not sure how long the term has been around. I just checked an email from the school nurse (kid attends the French school), and I see that she used the word "noix." Would this be adequate to describe her tree nut allergy? We speak a little French, but neither of us are fluent. Actually, I just realized that maybe we should speak to the school nurse re: any suggestions too.

I'm a little bummed that she won't be able to eat a lot of delicious things while there if it has nuts or may be exposed to nuts in the kitchen, but want to keep her safe.

PP you replied to. The law is the same for the entire European Union, but some people will not be familiar with the "fruits a coque" term. "Noix" is the go-to translation of nut, but it actually means walnut, hence the confusion. I say: "Mon fils est allergique aux fruits a coque, c'est-a-dire les arachides, les pistaches, les amandes, les noisettes et les noix de cajou, et les pignons de pin." Ironically, one of the only nuts he's not allergic to is the walnut, the "noix"! "Arachide" and "cacahouete" are used interchangeably for peanut.

Bread products and pastries are the most dangerous, but be aware of ice cream, and also mortadella, that sliced ham with pistachios. Since my son is allergic to pine nuts and cashews, and pesto can be made with this, we also have to avoid pesto.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm French and just had to deal with this several times this past year when we traveled back and forth to various places in France.

Europe is not allergy-friendly, despite huge progress recently when they made it the law that each restaurant, bakery, chocolaterie, etc, have a binder with a table of allergies for each of their product. When we asked, the binder was produced rapidly, was easy to read, and we could look up the possible contaminations. Well and good.

BUT!

At Parc Asterix, a theme park near Paris, the Ile Flottante dessert, which the binder said was nut-free because it's made with beaten egg whites floating on cream, actually had ALMOND SLIVERS all over it. It was lucky the contaminant was highly visible and we avoided that dessert, otherwise my son would have eaten it and had an anaphylactic reaction.

The problem is that this is so new to most people in France, that some don't even know what kinds of foods are included in the nut category. They actually had to create a category, because the translation of nut in French is walnut, a specific type of nut. So they call the nut category "fruits a coque" (literal translation: fruits with shell), which I am sure most French people had never heard about prior to this new law. Just before the law was passed, two years ago, we visited a patisserie and wanted an assortment of little tarts, and asked the owner which ones were nut-free. She did not know what we were talking about, and directed us to something with pistachios, the food to which my son is most highly allergic.

So ask for the binder, tell them which foods he is specifically allergic to, and never separate your child from his Epipen, even if you think you're not eating any time soon. Visually inspect and taste the food, and always be vigilant.

OP here, thanks so much to all PPs, very helpful. I should have mentioned, we will be in the south of France, near Antibes and later in Nice. Would you have any additional suggestions/advice given this location?

Also, would the term "fruits a coque" be familiar in the south of France? Not sure how long the term has been around. I just checked an email from the school nurse (kid attends the French school), and I see that she used the word "noix." Would this be adequate to describe her tree nut allergy? We speak a little French, but neither of us are fluent. Actually, I just realized that maybe we should speak to the school nurse re: any suggestions too.

I'm a little bummed that she won't be able to eat a lot of delicious things while there if it has nuts or may be exposed to nuts in the kitchen, but want to keep her safe.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm French and just had to deal with this several times this past year when we traveled back and forth to various places in France.

Europe is not allergy-friendly, despite huge progress recently when they made it the law that each restaurant, bakery, chocolaterie, etc, have a binder with a table of allergies for each of their product. When we asked, the binder was produced rapidly, was easy to read, and we could look up the possible contaminations. Well and good.

BUT!

At Parc Asterix, a theme park near Paris, the Ile Flottante dessert, which the binder said was nut-free because it's made with beaten egg whites floating on cream, actually had ALMOND SLIVERS all over it. It was lucky the contaminant was highly visible and we avoided that dessert, otherwise my son would have eaten it and had an anaphylactic reaction.

The problem is that this is so new to most people in France, that some don't even know what kinds of foods are included in the nut category. They actually had to create a category, because the translation of nut in French is walnut, a specific type of nut. So they call the nut category "fruits a coque" (literal translation: fruits with shell), which I am sure most French people had never heard about prior to this new law. Just before the law was passed, two years ago, we visited a patisserie and wanted an assortment of little tarts, and asked the owner which ones were nut-free. She did not know what we were talking about, and directed us to something with pistachios, the food to which my son is most highly allergic.

So ask for the binder, tell them which foods he is specifically allergic to, and never separate your child from his Epipen, even if you think you're not eating any time soon. Visually inspect and taste the food, and always be vigilant.

As a French person, what do you think of OP's idea to pack their own food for their child when they go to restaurants. Do you think most restaurants would be ok with that?

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm French and just had to deal with this several times this past year when we traveled back and forth to various places in France.

Europe is not allergy-friendly, despite huge progress recently when they made it the law that each restaurant, bakery, chocolaterie, etc, have a binder with a table of allergies for each of their product. When we asked, the binder was produced rapidly, was easy to read, and we could look up the possible contaminations. Well and good.

BUT!

At Parc Asterix, a theme park near Paris, the Ile Flottante dessert, which the binder said was nut-free because it's made with beaten egg whites floating on cream, actually had ALMOND SLIVERS all over it. It was lucky the contaminant was highly visible and we avoided that dessert, otherwise my son would have eaten it and had an anaphylactic reaction.

The problem is that this is so new to most people in France, that some don't even know what kinds of foods are included in the nut category. They actually had to create a category, because the translation of nut in French is walnut, a specific type of nut. So they call the nut category "fruits a coque" (literal translation: fruits with shell), which I am sure most French people had never heard about prior to this new law. Just before the law was passed, two years ago, we visited a patisserie and wanted an assortment of little tarts, and asked the owner which ones were nut-free. She did not know what we were talking about, and directed us to something with pistachios, the food to which my son is most highly allergic.

So ask for the binder, tell them which foods he is specifically allergic to, and never separate your child from his Epipen, even if you think you're not eating any time soon. Visually inspect and taste the food, and always be vigilant.

OP here, thanks so much to all PPs, very helpful. I should have mentioned, we will be in the south of France, near Antibes and later in Nice. Would you have any additional suggestions/advice given this location?

Also, would the term "fruits a coque" be familiar in the south of France? Not sure how long the term has been around. I just checked an email from the school nurse (kid attends the French school), and I see that she used the word "noix." Would this be adequate to describe her tree nut allergy? We speak a little French, but neither of us are fluent. Actually, I just realized that maybe we should speak to the school nurse re: any suggestions too.

I'm a little bummed that she won't be able to eat a lot of delicious things while there if it has nuts or may be exposed to nuts in the kitchen, but want to keep her safe.

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.

OP here, at age 3 we noticed that she vomited a couple times after ingesting nuts. She'd vomit immediately, and then be totally fine. We took her to an allergist at age 4 to confirm the allergy, and he mentioned that there's always a possibility it could get worse later. We didn't really take this seriously, but she had a pretty severe reaction recently that required an Epipen for the first time. My spouse is a peds ER doc so we're lucky in that regard, but want to avoid any reactions that require it if we can help it.

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.