Like a circus elephant, who DOESN'T love PEANUTS?...or peanut butter? Reese's? or Pay Days?
What about TREE NUTS - such as pecans, walnuts, cashews & pistachios?
Well, people who are allergic, that's who, -and we have TWO of them living under our BIG TOP.
I know. It stinks.
I feel compelled to share our story because there are so many children out there who struggle daily with food allergies. Maybe, just maybe, a parent out there will read this and know they are not alone.
I also hope to share with you some tips and links that I've discovered over the years that have made our struggle with FOOD ALLERGIES a little more bearable.
December 2000
It has been 12 years since the dreadful day....
If not for a friend mentioning that such a thing as a PEANUT ALLERGY existed just weeks beforehand, we may not have known to take IMMEDIATE action to treat our 1st born when she had her 1st encounter with peanut butter.
Peanut butter on an English muffin. Yummy & harmless, right? Not the case! After just one bite, an innocent 13 month old knew that something was NOT right. A tingling tongue? An itchy throat? Who knows, since she didn't have the vocabulary to explain. All we knew is that she did not want to take another bite. Then......
Peanut butter on an English muffin. Yummy & harmless, right? Not the case! After just one bite, an innocent 13 month old knew that something was NOT right. A tingling tongue? An itchy throat? Who knows, since she didn't have the vocabulary to explain. All we knew is that she did not want to take another bite. Then......
These photos were taken at the onset of the hives. The reaction got much, MUCH worse, but I was not thinking about taking photos at that point. I just wanted to get help for my baby girl!
After dialing the on-call doctor (because it was a holiday weekend), we were told to give our baby a dose of Benadryl when the first hives appeared. We were new parents, so we didn't have Children's Benadryl on hand. My husband headed to the closest store, which at that time was miles away. By the time he returned, the hives were beginning to show up on our baby's stomach & she was extremely uncomfortable - itching & swelling by the moment. After seeing no improvement once the Benadryl was administered, we decided to drive our baby across town to the ER.
Good thing! When we arrived at the emergency room her little body was covered in hives and her face was swollen beyond recognition. Even though the ER was full of patients that day, our baby was admitted immediately!!! She was treated with Epinephrine, which saved her life,
and then, our lives totally changed.....forever.
On that day, the doctor told us that we would need to always carry an EpiPen and that our daughter should STAY AWAY from peanuts and "tree nuts"until we could have her tested for specific food allergies. (Peanuts are legumes that grow on bushes, other nuts grow on trees. They are different, but some kids are allergic to both.) He said that if she was exposed to peanuts a 2nd time, the reaction would most likely be stronger and progress more quickly. (sigh)
Years later, at age 4, our daughter saw an allergist and was poked, prodded and tested to see if she was still allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. We hoped that she had outgrown the allergy (like some children do), but we were startled to find that on a scale of 0-100 (low to very high), the severity of our little girl's peanut allergy was 100+, off the charts (double sigh)! The good news was that she did not have an allergy to "tree nuts", so pecans, walnuts and cashews were still on the menu and ok to have around....for now.
Years later, at age 4, our daughter saw an allergist and was poked, prodded and tested to see if she was still allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. We hoped that she had outgrown the allergy (like some children do), but we were startled to find that on a scale of 0-100 (low to very high), the severity of our little girl's peanut allergy was 100+, off the charts (double sigh)! The good news was that she did not have an allergy to "tree nuts", so pecans, walnuts and cashews were still on the menu and ok to have around....for now.
Fast forward a few years.....
By accident, we discovered that our 2nd child (thankfully) has NO food allergies (when a friend's son unknowingly shared a peanut butter cracker with our son). What a relief! I always say that if our son had food allergies, we would be in the ER at least once a week! He wasn't always the "rule follower" of the family, and so monitoring everything he ate in the preschool years was (thank goodness) not necessary. Whew!
Fast forward to 2006...
On an unrelated doctor visit, our pediatric nurse practician noticed a rash on our 3rd child's newborn cheeks. The nurse said that our baby girl may have food allergies, and I (the mom) was instructed to eliminate all dairy from my diet (since I was breastfeeding). *Are you kidding? No milk, yogurt, cheese or ice cream? HOW COULD THIS BE???* Like any loving mother, I made the sacrifice for my baby, and it worked! In just a couple of days, my sweet baby's rash was all cleared up. She officially had a DAIRY ALLERGY. It wasn't until I drank a milkshake (oops - I blame the ditziness on my lack of sleep), then nursed my baby, that I realized how quickly the dairy passed from me, through the breast milk, to the baby and caused a full-body rash.
After her 1st birthday, I let our dairy-allergic 3rd child taste some pecans that were fresh from my grandpa's pecan trees. There was no immediate allergic reaction, so I thought we were in the clear. However, in the middle of the night our little girl began crying and was particularly annoyed. Thinking she may be hot, I changed her out of her footed-fleece PJs into something cooler (In the least amount of light possible, so she wouldn't think it was morning.) She seemed more comfortable, so back to bed she went. When morning came, I went in to love on my baby and change her diaper in her sun-lit room. In an instant I realized why she had been so upset during the night. She was covered in a red, bumpy rash on her whole body. It must have been the PECANS! The allergy doctor soon confirmed my suspicions and concluded that our baby #3 was not only allergic to milk, but also to TREE NUTS (pecans, cashews, hazelnuts, pistachios, Brazil nuts, walnuts, etc.)
Just like with any food allergy, any future exposure to the allergen can be much quicker and more intense. So, we have another child who requires an EpiPen. Ironically, she is NOT allergic to peanuts. THANK GOODNESS because when she found a lone Reese's Pieces candy in the candy machine dispenser at Chuy's and popped that thing right into her mouth, I prayed that we would not need an ambulance to take us to the ER. Whew!
*Baby #4 - No known allergies (has already been exposed to dairy, peanuts, almonds). Yea!
Coping with PEANUT/TREE NUT ALLERGIES:
Food allergies are serious!
There are no ALLERGY CURES, although research is being done to find a solution to this terrible problem. Oral desensitization and the development allergen-free peanut are two areas of research that give us hope for a cure.
is a GREAT resource for education on this topic! I have learned a lot about how to read food labels & how to make our children's teachers & friends aware of how to protect the allergic when my husband and I aren't there.
There are lists of NUT-FREE SNACKS online
that I share with parents who are providing food for school parties and can't seem to find
ANYTHING that doesn't have an allergy warning label on the box.
Finally,
Please share this link if you know someone who needs support or education on food/nut allergies.
Also, join us in praying for a cure.
