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Because Aidyn turns 2 in one month I thought it would be ok for him to have a smidgen of the crust of my peanut butter toast this afternoon.
Well within 5 minutes of having it he has developed a little bit of a blotchy rash around his mouth.
What do I do??? Do I just keep an eye on him? Or so I rush him off to the Drs... all their offices are closed now (its just gone 5.30)
It is likely that he will develop a more severe reaction in the next few hours??? Does anyone know???
ambah i would take him to a doctor somewhere.
you are better off being safe than sorry
even the er would be apprropriate
its something i would never take the chance on
good luck!
Is there any swelling at all of his mouth or face? Is he having trouble breathing?
I would probably take him to a doctor or the hospital just to be sure though, it's something you simply can't risk.
ETA-I'm pretty sure though if he were to have a sever reaction it would have been immediate, that's why kids with severe reactions have to have injections on them at all times.
Definately, if the Dr's office is closed go to the closest ER. If anything to make sure that it doesn't get worse.
Usually the rash happens around the mouth and then swelling can set in, so not to scare you too much but if DP isn't around, phone the hospital to get their advice. I have often phoned the mater childrens to find out what I can do.
Ambah, it sounds odd but perhaps try calling Poisons' Infoline? If they don't know, they might be able to direct you to someone who can help?
Ambah, all I really know is allergic reactions in animals, and when dogs have allergic reactions usually the first one is mild, the second a bit worse, and the more it happens the worse the reaction.
If this is an allergy to peanuts its best to have it defined straight away. If he doesn't have reactions to things that have "traces of nuts" he may have a mild allergy. But IMO its worth defining for you to know your boundaries.
There is an children's form of clarentyne which is an antihistamine which can help with mild allergic reactions, or any antihistamine. Maybe phone the hospital and then if they suggest an antihistamine go to a chemist?
I hope he settles quickly & its only really really mild.
Ambah, it sounds like good advice to go to the casualty section of the hospital. It can't hurt. I would hate for anything to sneak up on you in the middle of the night.
I hope everything is okay for you and Aidyn.
What a scary thing to happen Ambah. How is he now? Have you taken him to a doctor yet?
How did you go Ambah? Is Aidyn ok?
Seems like she may be still there with him... hope Aidyn is ok!
I agree, hope Aidyn is Ok, and its a really good idea to take him into medical help somewhere, as my sister has a severe nut allergy, it starts with the rash, then an itchy mouth, then her tongue starts to swell, then her throat closes up.
I've just SMS'd and they are still waiting at the hospital but he seems fine.
Hey everyone,
Thanks for your responses...
Well... after ringing the hospital and being told that they legally werent allowed to give me any advice over the phone ( :fuming: WTF is with that???)
we went off to the late hours medical centre.
Firstly the Dr was just going to send us home with some antihistamines, as his rash/hives were beginning to clear up, but he then rang the hospital to double check, and they told him to advise us to come into hospital.
So thats what we did (with DP kicking up a stink the whole time that it wasnt necessary...)
So DP left me there to wait with Aidyn, and it took 2 hours until anyone saw us anyway.
Anyway the Dr just confirmed that due to that reaction then Aidyn definately has a peanut allergy, and its hard to say how severe the next reaction will be, so I have been given a script for an Epi-Pen to use in case of anaphalaxis...
While we were there she gave him some Phenergen and another antihistamine which I cant remember the name of atm...
So far he has been fine eating any foods with trace amounts of peanuts in them.... it was just the peanut butter that seemed to push it over the edge.
However because the allergy can develop from accumulating amounts of peanut exposure, then whos to say that next time he has something with even trace amounts in it, that he wont have a reaction.
The Dr gave me an action plan to follow... and now I just have to be extra vigilant.
Anyway, I am so exhausted now... am going to go to bed!
awww Ambah I'm glad you went to get help, how exhausting. *hugs*
Ambah how frightening for you. I'm so glad to read he's ok.
{{{{{{{hugs to Ambah & Aidyn}}}}}} Glad to hear he's ok and hope we can catch up sometime today!
So glad to hear that everything is ok with Aidyn. Does anyone in your family have a peanut allergy? Or allergies to any foods? If not boy will I be careful with peanut butter and other highly allegic things. Huge :hug: for you and Aidyn.
Ambah, I'm so relieved everything was fine. At least now you know about the allergy so it will be easier to deal with. Those Epi Pens are a godsend.
Hope you can get some much needed rest today - you and Aidyn. =)
I'm glad he is Ok Ambah. I suppose one good thing to come of this is now you know he has an allergy and you can be vigilant and get other family members to be careful too.
ambah glad to hear the aidyen is okay.
my 6yr old ds also has a peanut allergy (as well as quite a few other nuts), i first noticed a problem when he was around 7mths old when my dd gave him a suck of her peanut butter toast and he came up with a rash but no swelling (at the time i didn't take him to the doc as he seemed fine and was fine) at around the age of 9mths i took him to an peadeatrician (sp?) who specialises in allergies, for another problem, this is when we found out via a skin analysis test that my ds was highly allergic to nuts. from that time on we have been very careful about what we have given our son, however it makes it hard these days when everything seems to have the disclaimer regarding traces of nuts.
from personal experience i can offer only the following: get aiyden seen by a specialist in childrens allergies, get the skin analysis test done (there may be other things he is allergic to) we see jay's allergy specialist every year which is great, jay knows him and jay also knows how serious his condition can be, now jay is at school we have a management plan written by the doc and jay is well aware of his allergy and if he is offered a food he is not sure about he asks if it has nuts in it, quite often he will not take food if he has not eaten it before (his kinder teacher said he was so good at recognising his allergies) basically we have made him aware from day 1 that he could get very sick. i am lucky that he will eat lots of fresh fruit and he is pretty basic when it comes to what he eats, but for us we have not had peanut butter or satay sauce or any peanut product in our house for 6yrs now, better to be on the safe side.
scary thing tho is as they get older they get more and more independant, he has gone to sleepovers at friends and has regular playdates but i always make sure that the parent knows of the allergy and that it needs to be taken seriously.
good luck
Thanks for your replies everyone...
Michelle - I was informed last night that there are only TWO Allergists that work in Brisbane and it will take us 18 months through the public system to get an appt... But the Dr advised me to definately have him seen by the time he starts school (prep in 2009)
With Jay.... do you avoid all of the foods that have the disclaimer on them about possible containing traces of nuts?
I'm not sure what to do at this stage.. Aidyn has been eating crackers and bikkies with *possible* traces of nuts for ages, and has been perfectly fine, and he even had one today and was completely fine.
I guess the thing is most of these products probably dont even have any nut in them, but there is a very small chance that they could have trace amounts.
I just dont want to be doing Aidyn any more damage by accidently exposing him through these products. But then on the other hand... to avoid them all will be like avoiding 3/4 of the supermarket!
I just realised what the other Meds the Dr gave Aidyn was lastnight. It was a steroid. She has also given me a script to pick up for him in case of another reaction like the one he had last night, with the hives etc...
Bec - in answer to your question, there is no one in my family (or DP's) that have any food allergies. Although 2 of my sisters are highly allergic to insect bites, and one of my sisters is allergic to certain types of medication. However DP and I dont have any allergies at all.
ambah
to be quite honest most of the things jay eats from a packet does contain the words of warning re traces of nuts and i only just spoke about this recently with the allergy doc. golly gosh even his nutri grain he eats for breakfast has the disclaimer.
firstly i mentioned to my gp that he does have things that say warning may contain traces of nuts or warning manufactured on equipment that processes nut etc etc, she told me to avoid them altogether HOOLEY BLOODY DOOLEY he would have nothing to eat the way things are going these days.
so i brought it up at our last allergy appt and the specialist said to use my "discretion" basically jay eats stuff like his cereal (provided it is not nut based or musli based) he eats only one brand of bar (ktime twists) i avoid muslie bars or anything that looks nutty iykwim. he eats normal chocolate chip biscuits, cheese and cracker spreads, the usual kiddies biscuits like tic tocs, teddy bears etc and if you look at the back of these products they all contain the warning - i guess with jay if i am giving him anything new that he hasn't eaten before i am very dubious. you also have to be very careful with eating out especially with asian cooking as they do sometimes use peanut oil - so if we go out to dinner and it is asian food then we always ring and ask if we can bring our kids own dinner (and it is usually a mcdonalds treat 8-[ ) you do learn to live with the allergies but it can be frightening and i know myself it is always on the back of my mind and i make sure i tell everyone who happens to care for him whether it be an hour or all day or sleepovers etc.
re the specialist, there is a huge waiting list for the public system here to around 18mths, we decided on this doc as he was highly recommended to us and he is only in the next suburb, he is not public but private but really not that expensive - of course i need to get a referral from my gp but generally the very first appt is around $180 of which we got around $110 back, the skin analysis testing is bulk billed and the normal visit to him is around $80 of which i get around $55 back. i totally believe in getting a specialist as when i went to my gp around 2yrs ago for a referral (i need to get a new one every 12mths) she talked me in to not wasting my time and getting his skin analysis done at the gp's so i did that and in the end they couldn't give me any information on how serious it was or not and the nurse or the gp couldn't agree on the different way they measure, so i decided to just keep paying to go back to the pvt doc. look around, try and get recommendations (you would be amazed at how many children have nut allergies) you may be able to get into a pvt one without tooooo much expense.
good luck
I am allergic to peanuts too. I don't get the hive like reaction, but whenever I come in contact with peanut oil I wind up vomitting and have stomach cramps. When skin tested, I tested positive for nut allergies with most nuts. Not all though I can have pistacio nuts for some odd reason.
I still check my labels. I know if I use a facial product with almonds my face will explode in a rash. So I avoid most of that stuff, but I do eat things with traces of nuts. I guess its the same thing, a matter of being able to have options or not....
I was also told at the hospital that the wait list to see an Allergist privately was still 12 months :rolleyes: ...
I think at this stage I am going to let Aidyn eat the stuff he has been eating for at least the past year - such as Homebrand arrowroot bikkies, and Homebrand oven baked fruit bars, and a few different brands of crackers. I will be very wary about introducing new stuff to his diet though.
Apparently things like spaghetti sauce, nearly ALL cereals, ice cream, and of course all chocolate contain the warnings too...
Looks like I'm going to have to learn to cook a whole lot more from scratch me thinks...
My sister ( 24yr old) has had a few anaphylactic shocks from nuts, but never from the food with the disclaimers on them, she eats those without too much thought, everytime she has ended up in hospital, it has been at a special event where despite asking waitresses etc, they dont know and a lot of them must BS, weddings, debs, out at restaurants these are the places she ends up in trouble. She has also learnt to just try something new,with a tiny bit on the tip of her tongue, she recognizes the "sensation" of nut IYKWIM. and doesnt eat anymore, whether its supposed to be nut free or not.
I will say it is scary when she has a reaction ( she very rarely caries her epi pen) but getting her to hospital asap always conteracts it.
Glad he is OK Ambah!!!
With all the sate we eat at our house & nuts we have when drinking beers... I worry if my kids will have a nut allergy....
Hope you get more answers soon...
At work we have the nut disclaimer on everything, due to the fact nuts are within our factories & it's more to protect ourselves legally, if someone has a reaction etc...
But lines are always changed & cleaned thoroughly before running a different product!
Say we run Picnic which has nuts & then Crunchie, the lines are changed & cleaned thoroughly before running Crunchie, but the disclaimer will still be on the Crunchie bar!!!
Good Luck!
Allergies are such a terrible thing for kids. I have anaphalaxis to stone fruits and my allegry started the same way Aidyn's did Ambah. I started with slight rash around the mouth, then I started with the hives and skin sensitivity and now when I have an allergic reaction I have to immediately call the ambulance as mine get progressively worse. The epi-pens are literally a life saver. I stupidly didnt bring mine when we went overseas last year (because I kept telling myself, I had not has an allergy attack for 6 years what are the chances of it happening on a 5 week holiday?) and would you know it I have the worst allergy attack ever and collapse in the hotel lobby and they call 911 and the fire brigade and ambulance turn up and have to give me the stuff they give people who overdose to get my heart rate pumping normally!!!
I hope poor little Aidyn doesnt get progressively worse with his allergies.
Tracey - thats good to know about how they clean the production lines... it gives me a bit less to worry about!
Princess - how absolutely terrifying for you... I too hope that Aidyn doesnt get progressively worse.
Although we just found out about a week ago that he is allergic to fish now too. He came out with the same reaction that he did with the peanuts - hives all over his face.
He has eaten heaps of fish over the past year, but I guess it took this long for the allergy to build up.... definately need to see that Allergist to find out if he is allergic to anything else... :(