Nut Allergy Support

nibs

Tulip wrote: »

:hello:,

I do symphise with you as I am also a Nut Allergy sufferer and always will be for the rest of my life,Its so strange though as I am allergic to nuts I can eat dessicated Cocanut without any reaction at all which surprised me a great deal Katie

Coconut is not classed as a nut, its apparently a seed though some think its a fruit !
Thats not to say you can't be allergic to it as a seperate issue to a nut allergy.
Confusing I know

morg_monster

Just a wee ray of light ... my cousin was allergic to nuts from a very young age, now is 15 and has just had tests that show she isn't allergic any more ... she now eats them as much as anyone else, how strange! On the other hand I have a friend who only became allergic (to hazelnuts primarily) when we were doing our GCSEs...

The only useful tip I really have is when you go abroad to a non-english speaking country, get a translation of what you are allergic to written down if possible so you can show it to your waiters...

rnc

Hi,

My wife has an allergy so am quite familiar with this

A very useful group you may want to join is http://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/
- they e.g. send out food alerts etc. Another one is http://www.medicalert.org.uk/ which your daughter may wish to join to get a identifying bracelet.

In terms of supermarkets, in our personal opinion Tesco is by far the worst as they have a tendency to put 'may contain' on everything e.g. even on packets of raw salmon containing one thing - raw fish - which does not help anyone make an informed choice.
The best we have found so far is Sainsburys who do appear to make a sensible effort with labelling and are quite helpful when asked.
Note that you can also ask the manufactures and they should send you a list containing what foods you can and cannot eat.

Couple of random links - Kinnerton chocolates which, while appearing to be just for children, do make adult choclate as well - and are nut free: http://www.kinnerton.com/nutsafety/ Another one is http://www.itsnutfree.com/about/default.php

Hope that helps,

Nick

full-time-mum

morg_monster wrote: »

Just a wee ray of light ... my cousin was allergic to nuts from a very young age, now is 15 and has just had tests that show she isn't allergic any more ... she now eats them as much as anyone else, how strange! On the other hand I have a friend who only became allergic (to hazelnuts primarily) when we were doing our GCSEs...

The only useful tip I really have is when you go abroad to a non-english speaking country, get a translation of what you are allergic to written down if possible so you can show it to your waiters...

DD is 12 and I know someone only just suffering at 40!

prettyinblack

OK

1) *all* the supermarkets produce booklet lists of their nut-free products :-)

2) for things like biscuits etc. its far better to make your own. Just is. The 'guarenteed' nut free things are all hideously expensive, or contain ingredients that you can barely pronounce let alone anything else, because they are also being sold as 'free' of other common allergens.

3) lots of things are just fine when you investigate further.

4) chocolate - nice chocolate to try is plamil. They are 100% nut and animal free (premises totally and utterly)


It isn't the end of everything. Can I ask how your child was diagnosed? There are very few specialist allergy centres for children in the UK, but you are entitled to a referal to them. My DD is 'with' the clinic at Addenbrooks, but there are also ones in Leeds (Jimmys), at the Evalina and GOSH in London, one of the hospitals in Glasgow (sorry, I don't know which one) If you are in the South East then you are likely to have a visiting consultant from one of the london based clinics or one of their 'students' (still consultant level, but working with them) within you local Major hospital :-) The major clinics all test for individual nuts in the RAST and skin !!!!! testing, many of the 'local' ones just set in Paed outpatients only have a 'nut mix' and 'peanut' alone to use for general testing :-(

Allergies, even severe ones, can be grown out of. DDs nut allergies are now all gone :-) but her egg one remains, and is likely to do so for some years or forever, such is the strength of her reaction :-(

Finally - please remember that it is not just food that you must check. Peanut oil is used widely in skin creams (zinc and castor oil cream usually contains it -arachis oil, is its cosmetic name) as are others. You need to check the products that you use on yourselves as well :-(

pink_princess

Hi my ds has a nut allergy ,(have to carry epi-pens always ) its a nightmare to be honest .It takes alot to do one shop cause as you said advice changes day to day .You can t trust them to be able to eat a friends house or restaurant .It takes it out of you knowing everything you feed them could harm them .My little un is only 9 he was 2 when diagnosed ,i bake and cook from scratch so i know that he wont come to harm .
I will gladly post the brands i use if you would like ,i don t buy expensive (see my sig lol) it s now cheaper for us because i bake myself and its 99% safe .
I wish you and your child luck and i ll check in with you (it can make you s feel weird going through it alone).
TTFN
Hes never had a re-action since two years old ,but been retested when 5 1/2 years and is more re-active. Tested and diagnosed at the rvi newcastle (they are currently running a study to cure this ,fingers crossed.)

MINMOUSE

My daughter was diagnosed at 13 months and is now 5. We overnight changed from a house that loved nut products to a nut free house. She had a reaction from touching peanut butter and has carried around epipens and pyraton since then.
The brands we have found are Kineraton, Bakin Boys and State Street Pretzels. All nut free. Cereals are the bain of my life as they so often have the factory warning on them.
How old is your child! We had a battle making her school understand the severerity of her allergy but through persistance they have all now had resus training and know the early warning signs also how to use epi -pens. Had they not had this I would have not let her start school till they had.
www.kidsaware.com are good for clothing, lunch boxes etc.

3plus1

full-time-mum wrote: »

My DD has just been diagnosed with a nut allergy and I have discovered that I can no longer use my regular brands of food. My shopping bill has gone up because I can't necessarily buy the value or shop brand products any more.

I understand where you are coming from, but you cannot live like this.

All food "may contain traces of nuts". Avoiding all food leads to death - not through anaphylaxis but starvation.

The trick is to read the label to see if there are any nuts contained. If there aren't any nuts, but there's a big warning sticker saying there might be, then ignore the warning sticker. It's probably lying.

In terms of chocolate, Cadbury's has never let me down. I had a reaction to one particular batch of Mars Delight once, but only the once. Mistakes do happen. If they happen once or twice, it's not enough to make me stop buying the product. My OH has an ethical disagreement with Nestle, but I've never had a reaction to their chocolates. Kinder Eggs are also good.

For a cheaper alternative, I like Tesco's white chocolate - the kind that costs about 44p for a big bar and comes in blue paper packaging and silver foil.

I have lived happily off store brand products from Tesco, Waitrose, Marks and Spencers (except chocolate), Sainsbury's, Asda, Somerfield and Morrison's without any problems. (Normal store brand, not value. I don't buy a lot of value products so can't vouch for those.)

I avoid Lindt, Marks and Spencer own brand chocolate and John Lewis own brand chocolate. Lindt is particularly terrible, which is a shame because I adore the look of their chocolate bunnies. I started boycotting M&S chocolate before they came out with their "no nut" labelling, so it may be okay now, but I had too many bad experiences before this to ever try it again.

You may think I'm being very blase about your DD's allergy, but living with nut allergies pretty much boils down to trying out new foods/brands and seeing if they provoke a reaction or not. If your DD has a serious nut allergy, make sure she always carries an epipen (for life threatening reactions) and strong prescription antihistames (for less serious reactions). If she's too young for this, make sure the adult looking after her carries this on her behalf and knows how to administer them.

Please don't let your DD grow up scared of food. I'm 23 and only had my first curry last year... I've always known which nuts I'm allergic to (all of them) and how badly (it varies - walnuts are the worst), but one consultant unhelpfully diagnosed me as being allergic to curry mix. It wasn't until I met my OH (a real foodie) that I went back to another doctor, challenged this, and asked to be tested on a wide variety of spices so I could find out which ones I was allergic to and how badly. I can now make informed decisions about which curry dishes I can and can't eat. The range of food I can eat has expanded dramatically!

Anyway, in short, take calculated risks and enjoy food (and life!). Allergies can sound terrifying, but they can be managed and quite easily. All the best to you and your family.

3plus1 x x x x

PS If you find that the antihistamines your DD has been prescribed do not work quickly in controlling a non life threatening reaction, ask for a different brand. Generally speaking, if you can buy it over the counter (e.g. piraton, loradatine, clarityn, etc), you've got the weak stuff. There are other brands available which are stronger (hence why they're prescription only) and may be more suitable.

jamgirl

yep, i'll second everything 3plus 1 said!

my daughter (13) was diagnosed at 2 and is allergic to most nuts and also coconut, which is apparantly a rare one to be allergic to.

although we are now a nut free house and never ever buy nuts, unless nuts are in the ingredient list we buy it. if it is a new product to us then she eats it at home first incase of reaction.

it has never stopped us eating out and even now she is older and going more places without us, she is confident to ask whoever she needs to if offered foods.

it is important for all your sakes that food doesn't become too much of a big issue.

elle_gee

I don't have a nut allergy myself - just don't like them - but I noticed the other day Bakin' Boys flapjacks are labelled as nut free / made in a nut free environment. More info: http://www.bakinboys.co.uk/nut_policy.php