Weekend Pick: “What Does an Allergy Attack Look Like?”

Posted on May 5, 2017 by llpitlwp

Weekend Pick:

Allergy

“What Does an Allergic Reaction Look Like?”

Read and Learn

It seems that every month marks a cause and May is no different. It is dedicated as Allergy Awareness Month. At our house we are acutely aware of food allergies because our granddaughter is peanut and tree nut allergic. She also has asthma. We found this out before she was two years old and it was all new to us.

My niece has a teenage son who has many food allergies so I looked to her first. What I found out was how difficult it was to impress upon other adults the supreme seriousness of anaphylactic reactions to foods like nuts, eggs, milk. In minutes a child can be dead from ingesting or even touching an allergen.

What I have found over the years is that stories from other parents of kids who have had anaphylactic reactions sometimes have an effect on people that statistics, and medical information just does not. Parents sharing their anguish as they recount watching their child experience cardiac arrest after eating or touching a peanut makes people listen.

Just as Jimmy Kimmel’s tearful story about his newborn son’s cardiac anomaly and emergency heart surgery affected millions of viewers, we need more stories from food allergy parents to help with awareness of this disability.

This week I read Julia Ryan’s story about her son Tagg. It left me with chills! She mentions Oakley Debbs in her story. I too think of Oakley, who died this past Thanksgiving and whose parents have founded RedSneakers.org in his memory.

Julia Ryan and Merrill Debbs have different stories but both women have shared theirs in order to prevent others from suffering as they have.

Please support Food Allergy Awareness in any way you can .

You may save a life!

“Make sure you’re sharing from your scars, not your open wounds.” I need to talk about the two times in less than two weeks my son was transferred by ambulance-a Critical Care Transfer Unit-from one emergency room to second larger hospital and admitted to the ICU. I know this could have been written better but sometimes done is better than none.

Source: Julia Ryan: What does an allergy attack look like.

Nut Allergies are NOT Funny!

Posted on December 4, 2014 by llpitlwp

Allergies

8. Those a**holes whose nut allergies have ruined peanuts on planes for everybody

via Lost Luggage, Delays, and Other Problems with Air Travel.

Came across this tongue in cheek article in my FB feed along with a response from Scratch or Sniff.

It is difficult for me to understand, why people are offended by anyone, with a severe, potentially fatal nut allergy, requesting fellow passengers on a plane to please refrain from eating nuts.

Having a grandchild with an allergy to peanuts and tree nuts has made me fully aware of how children and adults live with these types of allergies. Monitoring what our grandchild eats is a constant worry for her mom and us as grandparents. Allergic kids pose a serious concern for families.

Ingestion of nuts, skin exposure or inhaling the dust from nuts can cause anaphylaxis and end a child’s life in a matter of minutes.

Using this potentially fatal allergy dilemma as humor and adding this to a list of annoyances during air travel is, in my opinion, thoughtless. We all have snarky comments about air travel these days but if someone was in danger of dying, I would never even think to eat a handful of nuts or complain about my child not being able to eat his PB&J sandwich inflight.

Seriously, just how selfish and unfeeling have we become when traveling?

It seems that there is no longer empathy for the human condition, no matter what it is. Just a few days ago, I read where an UBER driver told a cancer patient she deserved her cancer when she cancelled her booking a few seconds after placing a reservation because she left her head scarf at her chemo treatment. WTH? Have we become that callous?

It seems a bit like “compassion fatigue ” to me. We are bombarded on a daily basis with outrageous news about horrible events occurring around the world. Even the television father that many grew up with on the Cosby Show has recently fallen from grace after accusations of being a sexual predator of women. There is so much sad news that we have become somewhat numb to serious and sad events

Empathy is something we as parents and grandparents are trying to foster in our children and grandchildren. Finding small opportunities to grow empathy in our kids is not easy, especially when we make fun of “nut allergies” which many kids and soon to be adults experience. Even if a child is not allergic, they will have friends that will be allergic. Will they avoid these kids or will they be inclusive of them and avoid nuts in their own lunches so they can sit with their friends, who are many times ostracized to a nut-free table at school.

I would hope in general, people become more aware of the seriousness of allergies and the risk of anaphylaxis thereby becoming more tolerant and empathic when they are asked to avoid nuts when traveling on a crowded airplane.

It is just a start!

Can food allergies be prevented?

Posted on March 13, 2013 by llpitlwp

This morning while watching the news, I heard a very sad story of a young adult who died from an allergic reaction to eating a cookie that was cooked in peanut oil…

Allergies can be deadly!

Children with allergies to foods especially peanuts and tree nuts are more common than ever before, so we need to be conscious of kids and adults around us who might have these allergies.

Some schools are dealing with this issue head on but others are not. Apparently, there is no standard among schools when it comes to food allergies. This is dangerous to say the least.

Anaphylactic reactions take no prisoners they take lives and they do it fast unless there is immediate action and an EPI-pen available.

Surprisingly only eight foods are responsible for most food allergies….hard to believe…right?

These foods are:

Cow’s milk
Eggs
Fish
Peanuts
Shellfish
Soy
Tree Nuts
Wheat

When you have a food allergy your immune system reacts to a certain protein that is found in that food….you can have a reaction to even a tiny amount of the food.

Of particular concern these days is food allergies in children, even very young toddlers.

Many questions about food allergies are now being answered but there are still so many more questions from parents, that do not have any answers yet.

New guidelines by The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology:

Introducing infants at around 4-6 months of age to the common allergenic foods such as wheat, dairy, eggs, peanut products, and fish could potentially prevent the development of food allergies in susceptible children. This can be done after infant is introduced to foods such as rice cereal, fruits and veggie

The longer an infant is exclusively breastfed, the less risk for development of other allergic diseases such as asthma and eczema.

No need for maternal diet restrictions while pregnant or nursing unless recommended by a doctor for known maternal medical illness/allergy or evidence of allergy in infant.

Consultation with an allergist for infants with strong family history of food allergies to determine best/safest way to introduce allergenic foods.

More interventional studies are needed (and are under way) before making these suggestions a routine recommendation for all infants.

via Can food allergies be prevented? | Confessions of a Dr. Mom.

It seems like progress is being made concerning the prevention of allergies but what about the children who are already at risk.

In my opinion, there should be a standard policy in all schools for dealing with a potentially deadly allergic reaction to food or even bee stings. Waiting for 911 responders is not enough…precious moments make be lost leading to a child’s death rather than survival!

Do you know whether your school has policies in place to protect children with allergies to foods? or bee stings?

Food Allergies | AAAAI.

Allergies and Kids

Halloween and Kids with Food Allergies