Bit off topic - nut allergy anyone?

[Mum on a mission]

Well the hobnobs were lovely, but I did throw in a handful of chopped nuts.

Son put one in his mouth, took one bite and started screaming in pain, then had swollen lips , violently sick etc within 30 mins. Been a long evening as here on my own, but we've sorted him out for now. Lovely taxi driver took us to the pharmacy and back and was so kind. And NHS direct spoke to me immediately this time.

We've had this reaction before but put down to too much excitement/sun in Florida and ditto at nannies.

NHS direct think a peanut allergy is likely - so Monday I'll start the process to getting it confirmed.

But does anyone here have this allergy and can descibe what it feels like? DS was distraught and being not quite 5 couldn't really tell me what was happening apart from "I sick" - fairly obvious that one!

Moam

NB - Will try the plain hobnobs receipe next time, and think some plain vanilla biscs in order now for my brave soldier to eat tomorrow.

[Pink-winged]

Hi Mum on a mission,

The poor little thing! You should get more help with this on the Health board so I'll move your thread over there.

Pink

[Pink-winged]

I just had a look around for you and this website might be helpful: No Nuts (http://www.nonuts.co.uk/info.htm)

Pink

[Strangled]

My son has a nut allergy as well. It aparently feels like putting 'metal' in your mouth. You'll have to have Epipens supplied by your doctor, just in case it hapens again. Now, shopping will be fun (not) having to check ingredients of everything you buy.

[thriftlady]

My dd has an allergy to peanut, pine nuts and eggs. Fortunately she has never had a reaction as bad as your son because we have been very good and avoiding nuts and the allergy was diagnosed when she was very young (she had peanut butter on her skin, but didn't actually eat it).

You will need to carry epipens with you at all times and keep some in school. The staff at school must all have training in how to administer them. My dd's school has banned nuts which has been a big relief for me and dd. The next reaction could be much worse and can be fatal. Sorry to be alarmist. Anaphylactic shock can result in the throat swelling and closing so that the sufferer is unable to breathe. The epipen is an injection of adrenalin which counteracts the effects of anaphlaxis. For more info go to http://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/
This site has great products to help keep your child safe -we use the stickers everytime dd goes to a party. You'll need to check the food at parties and if necessary provide your own.
http://www.kidsaware.co.uk/

[Tulip]

:hello:,

I am a nut allergy sufferer and have been for many years :) I dont get things with nuts on,If I eat a chocolate from a box I check its safe to eat and if given a box of quality street I separate what I can have then the nutty ones go to my parents to eat :)

at Christmas I ate a chocolate and I found I couldnt breathe and my throat closed tight,It was horrible and I was scared,within a few minutes I was fine and I did have that metal taste as well :) I am just caucious now re nuts and I am fine :)


Katie :)

[you_wicked_gay]

I have a nut allergy, but my reaction isn't the same.

If I have something with nut in, my mouth and throat itches, my chest feels tight, i cough non stop and find it hard to get my breath. It wears off after a while but is still severely unpleasent. I avoid anything with nut content now.

I also have the same allergic reaction to fruit and most fish. I'm safe with tuna and cod, but anything else sets off an allergic reaction - especially salmon.

[vickypink]

I have a nut allergy. It was discovered when I ate a chocolate covered brazil nut when was 5. I have had patch tests to determine what nuts i'm allergic to. They put nut oils on your arms and break the skin with a needle and measure the weal that comes up. Im allergic to all nuts but not peanuts (sounds odd- i know,but they are part of the pea family and im not allergic for some reason). So all the fancy nuts I am!

I carry an epi-pen, and also have one at work and at home (just incase im not carrying it). My sypmtoms vary from sickness, itchy ears, nose and mouth, tight throat and chest, lips swelling, breathing difficulties and hyperventaltion. Although I think I hyperventerlate because I worry i'm goning to die....I also have panic attacks anyway so I think that stems from that.

I just am cafeful about what I eat, I make sure all my friends and family know. I only have to go to the doctors when I need a new epi-pen. But sometimes I go to an allergy clinic at the hospital.

But you definetly have to go to your GP and get an epi-pen. Symptoms can be very varied one occassion you can have lip swelling and then the next reaction could stop you breathing. Lots of other things influence the strength of a reaction, such as excercise.

I know how scary it must be for you son, as I was same age when I had my first reaction. My mum still worrys about me now and i'm 23!
Hope your son is feeling ok and all goes well!

pinkx

[jeaniegirl]

I just wanted to add that I have known about my nut allergy for about 10 years. I am also allergic to coconut but mast food labels do not class this as a nut. I have some Dairy Milk dream ice creams sat in my freezer that my husband is really upset about. He read the warning about nuts but missed coconut in the label. As a rule we cook from fresh at home to avoid problems. A meal out in March nearly ended in disaster when the decorative amareti biscuits were just scrapped from my desert. Fortunately I had only had one glass of wine and realised. All I can say to anyone is just be extra careful and keep aware of what you are eating.

[Toots]

I believe that any severe allergy is compounded each time it is suffered - a bit like the richter scale - each time you come into contact with whatever it is you are allergic to it is much worse than the previous time. So obviously you need to find out exactly what your son is allergic to and avoid it like the plague.

My brother unfortunately has a very severe allergy to wasp stings. He didn't when he was younger but a few years ago a wasp stung him on his arm and his whole body swelled up immediately. His tongue almost filled his mouth and he couldn't speak. He knew straight away something was very seriously wrong and drove to the GP a few moments away. Fortunately the receptionist was a friend of my mom's as he could not speak at all by then so he was rushed straight through to see the doctor who gave him adrenalin and called an ambulance. He recovered very quickly but would have been dead within minutes from anaphylactic (sp?) shock if he hadn't have been treated. He now has two epipens so that he can leave one at home and take one with him.

I suppose it is a lot easier to avoid wasp stings than products with peanuts or peanut oil in them though.

Hopefully they will diagnose the allergy quickly. It'll be a nuisance and a worry but he will get used to knowing what to avoid in time and it will get easier. Let's hope there's something else he really loves that'll make up for avoiding nuts!

Good luck!

[Titch89]

With you lot, is it traces or just nuts?

My brother unfortunately has a very severe allergy to wasp stings. He didn't when he was younger but a few years ago a wasp stung him on his arm and his whole body swelled up immediately. His tongue almost filled his mouth and he couldn't speak. He knew straight away something was very seriously wrong and drove to the GP a few moments away. Fortunately the receptionist was a friend of my mom's as he could not speak at all by then so he was rushed straight through to see the doctor who gave him adrenalin and called an ambulance. He recovered very quickly but would have been dead within minutes from anaphylactic (sp?) shock if he hadn't have been treated. He now has two epipens so that he can leave one at home and take one with him.

How awful. :( I was lucky mine were never this bad.

[Tulip]

:hello: Titch,

For me its just nuts rather than tracings of it :) I can have dessicated cocanut but have to watch what I buy from the shops and get things that are nut free :)


love and light,

Katie xxx

[moneysaving pharmacist]

Two points to remember about epipens:
1) keep an eye on the expiry date
2) make sure you know how to use it and which end the needle comes out as you don't want it going in to your thumb.

[Toots]

Two points to remember about epipens:
1) keep an eye on the expiry date
2) make sure you know how to use it and which end the needle comes out as you don't want it going in to your thumb.

I second that. My bro has to make sure he gets them replaced if he hasn't used them (which he doesn't often as thankfully wasps don't sting him that often).

[Toots]

It is interesting that you hear of so many people these days with nut allergies. I wonder whether it is just because we are more affluent these days and can afford nuts and that there are far more products available that use these in the ingredients compared to years ago or whether there is some other reason?

[Gemmzie]

A lot of people think they have nut allergies when in many it's an intolerance - huge difference. My dietician said there's so many people who think they have food allergies and they have an intolerance.
Also "allergy testing" done by anyone other than a hospital are a complete waste of time and money (learnt that the hard way, £200 lighter :mad:)

Plus, there's so much junk in food now - stabilisers, preservatives etc - that the way these things interact with each other in the food with your individual stomach simply can't be determined, so that causes a lot of these reactions too.

[3plus1]

But does anyone here have this allergy and can descibe what it feels like? DS was distraught and being not quite 5 couldn't really tell me what was happening apart from "I sick" - fairly obvious that one!

In my opinion, it feels different for every allergy sufferer. I mean, okay, if you compare the reactions of two people with allergies of a comparable severity, yes, their symptoms will be similar, but I do think it feels different.

For me, I can tell straight away I've eaten something I shouldn't have. (Unless it's a "trace", in which case it takes longer to register.) The only way I can describe it is like eating 'death', which makes little sense. I recognise the allergen, I know what's happening and my immediate reaction is to get it out.

If I've eaten something bad, I try to spit it out, cough it up, just get it out of me. I don't throw up, but I do try to cough up anything that's close to the top of my throat.

I have a compulsion to brush my teeth to get the taste of 'death' away - doesn't help massively with stopping the reaction, but it helps to take away the feeling of 'sick'.

If it's severe enough, my throat starts to swell up and I'm very calm. I have breathing difficulties and I know at that stage, I need adrenaline or I'm gone. I have to either stab myself with an epipen or go to hospital (which is much nicer, because adrenaline drips don't hurt and epipens have a bloody huge needle on them).

I'm obviously not recommending not using an epipen if you have one, but you do get caught out sometimes. I've only ever had to go to hospital as an emergency patient for an allergic reaction twice in my life - once when I was tiny and I had my first reaction and once a few years back when I was in France on a Sunday. One trip every two decades isn't bad.

It's really hard to describe, actually. I know I'm dying, just really slowly. I mean, with an epipen or an adrenaline drip, I know I'll recover in only a few hours. But without either, I know my throat will swell up to the point I'll stop breathing and I'll die. You do sort of become really blase to the possibility of death by allergy - I guess you have to, as a coping strategy.

The one thing I will say, is if your son has a peanut allergy, chances are, he'll have an allergy to every other nut. So until you get him tested, be very careful with what you feed him. Due to his age, I would suggest it's kinder removing all nuts from the house.

My reaction is not severe that I can't be in the same room as nuts, but I can smell them so strongly and they smell of 'death' to me. I really don't like it.

It's not just eating you have to worry about - eating nuts can speed up the reaction of a nut allergy sufferer, but touching them can be bad too. I once lived with an absolute cow who didn't take my allergy seriously and didn't clean up properly in the kitchen after baking a walnut cake. I touched the work surface, rubbed my eyes (I'd just got up) and then my eyes swelled shut.

When your son gets older, he'll be able to avoid nuts with ease, but until he's of that age, I really would suggest not bringing nuts into the household. There's not a scrap of difference you can make to the outside world, but you can keep his house as his 'safe place'.

Good luck with the tests. I know it must be scary seeing your son have a reaction, but now you know what to do if it happens again. I have to admit, every time I've had a severe reaction, I've felt 'fine' (well, sick, obviously, but it hasn't upset me because I've known I've been given the right drugs for me and I'll get better quickly) but really awful for the people who have been with me. I think it's much worse to watch a reaction than to have one.