Peanut Allergy Epidemic May Be Overstated

[binny]

Planning around a Latex allergy is scary.

I cant use the hand rails on escalators like I said, I also have a hard time with handles on things, latex in seats, its everywhere.

It isnt something I can just easily "avoid" or "not eat"


Obviously if I cant avoid it in my own home I cant avoid it outside of my own home.

 

[Aidensmom]

Unless my family just has unusually good doctors, I think there is a lot of effort being made these days to obtain an accurate diagnosis for things. I do believe allergies have increased, to all kinds of things. I don't really buy the overcleanliness theory - I think it is more a factor of all the artificial and chemical crap people eat in their food, and our exposure to a lot more environmental poisons. We probably also have good health care to claim for food allergy increases - not as many people die from them as 100 years ago and live to pass on their genes.

My son had a lot of allergic symptoms. Though I am allergic to everything under the sun (all confirmed with tests and/or by severe allergic reactions), no assumptions were made that he actually had allergies. His pediatrician would not prescribe anything until that diagnosis was confirmed by testing. He is currently having some unusual abdominal problems, and though there ideas of what could be causing them, we are still undergoing many tests to determine the actual cause. The doctor could have easily blown it off as being his wheat allergy - found in his blood test but levels were low to mid range, so we were told we did not need to drastically change his diet at this time - and we could have just been told not to give him wheat anymore. But that didn't happen, even though that is a possible cause.

And the people who said allergies can suddenly appear, and also suddenly disappear are 100% right. There are things I was allergic to as a child I am no longer allergic to, and new allergies I have developed as an adult.

 

[GEM]

To claim that about the same number of Americans die from lightning strikes as from peanut allergies completely undermines the severity of this issue and all the attempts at educating others of its importance.

VIRGINIA RIBEIRO
Canton

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that anyone who's had a family member killed by lightning would disagree with that. It's all relative, isn't it? Just because it's a crisis for you, doesn't make it a crisis for everyone.

 

[Sleepy]

My dad can eat peanuts by the jar, but don't give him a macadamia nut.

 

[Christine]

Here is a response from the author of this article to a parent who wrote him:

Dear Mr. :

Thank you for your thoughful email.

In retrospect, I did not adequately express how frustrated parents of
truly allergic children must be when trying to convince the lay public
of the severity of their child's condition. Many people are very
insensitive to the needs of these children, and my article did not
address this problem well. I didn't mean to imply that all allergies
are not "real"--I wrote in the article about the dangers of some
severe allergies--but apologize if my article suggested that.

My goal in writing this article was to explore the data about whether
allergies are really on the rise, and the complexity of diagnosis
since I have seen several children mis-labelled as peanut allergic
without proper testing, which is problematic. I hoped to provide
parents with godo information, so that they could ask their doctors
hard questions when their child was given a diagnosis of peanut
allergy.

Please let me know if you hear of any instances where my article is
misused to justify policies that may harm any children.

Warm regards, Darshak Sanghavi

 

[KAMLEM]

My DD's school has 2 kids with life threatening allergies to nuts. It is a nut free school - no nut or nut products, it is tough sometimes to pack her lunch - so many things can have traces. We are also implored not to give our kids peanut butter & toast at breakfast incase they come in with it on their hands/face or breath.

I am certainly not unsympathetic to children with peanut allergies but if my kids' schools did this I would not be happy. When my youngest DD packs her lunch the only sandwich she will eat is peanut butter. My kids often have toast with peanut butter before school, too. I struggle to get her to eat enough protein so I would not want to discourage her from eating peanut butter. In their schools they have a separate section in the cafeteria for kids with peanut butter allergies.

 

[Spinning]

I find these threads to be very interesting, from very informative and educations to just silly.....
WE have a child in DD class who could die if she ingests peanuts. Her mom is fantastic about helping the school in regards to this. She educates the class and the parents. She anwers all the stupid questions, and believe me I have asked some...But she also takes responsiblity for her child and her child also does. She realizes how hard it is for families of children who love PB. So she helps the class, will come in when parties are being held to make sure her kid is safe. She will make treats that are safe and yummy for the kids. She doesn't become arguementative or freaks out. She is always calm and pleasant. I think that is why we don't have any problems being peanut free in that class room. She doesn't throw guilt onto us. Which from reading many threads on here parents many times of the peanut allergy kid throw the guilt back on parents who don't have a problem. Does that make sense?
Then we have a child in DS room. He is a handful, mom writes that he is allergic to peanuts. Doesn't give any other info. I am home room mom. I call her just to find out if it is sever, air born, smells or just eating will make him ill...she says oh it isn't a problem if he eats it he'll just get hyper!??!!? What is that all about...so my son's class is jumping through hoops to be peanut free and mom says it makes him hyper? I have asked several friends who have sever peanut allergies if they had heard about this...and they all said no. So see, things to get blown out of proportion....Is this kid really allergic? No idea. Do I plan to test the theory? nope, we have no peanut products in his class....

 

[DawnCt1]

Then we have a child in DS room. He is a handful, mom writes that he is allergic to peanuts. Doesn't give any other info. I am home room mom. I call her just to find out if it is sever, air born, smells or just eating will make him ill...she says oh it isn't a problem if he eats it he'll just get hyper!??!!? What is that all about...so my son's class is jumping through hoops to be peanut free and mom says it makes him hyper? I have asked several friends who have sever peanut allergies if they had heard about this...and they all said no. So see, things to get blown out of proportion....Is this kid really allergic? No idea. Do I plan to test the theory? nope, we have no peanut products in his class....

Obviously a mom looking to excuse her son's behavior by latching onto what she sees is a convenient, popular excuse. How very selfish of her to condemn the entire class to "peanut free", particularly when there is no need. The school should ask for appropriate documentation and not let her get away with this charade.

 

[Disney_1derland]

And thanks for the squeaky wheel remark, it's nice when people take personal pot shots. So grown up.

Actually the squeaky wheel remark was not aimed at you specifically, but at the situation overall. I'm sorry if it felt like a personal remark. But truly, looking at your other posts on this thread this seems to be a real 'hot button' for you. This is not a personal attack on you, it is an adult discussion of the pros and cons of the way situations like these are handled. I think we can all discuss things of this nature without getting personal.

 

[cardaway]

It so is a squeaky wheel situation when we're talking having entire classes or schools change for your child. When there is no 100% solution, don't expect others to trip over themselves to create a false sense of security to grease your wheel. And that's all location specific bans are, false security.

 

[disykat]

Which from reading many threads on here parents many times of the peanut allergy kid throw the guilt back on parents who don't have a problem.

I think the reality is that when you read these threads you are reading people's assumption of how parents of kids with peanut allergies would act based on hearsay and speculation. Your reality is my experience IRL when I've run into other parents of PA kids and hopefully other parent's reality when dealing with me.

As I've said before, we deal with peanut allergies daily and although it takes some dilligence on our part - there is so much more trauma on the DIS over this issue that we experience in real life. I think it's funny that people here keep talking about how few kids are affected by this and it's not their problem - yet they talk about it ad nauseum. I would never let my child DIS for this reason, he is blissfully unaware that his health problem is so controversial - he thinks he's just a normal kid that happens to have an allergy!

 

[Disneyrsh]

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