What's the deal with peanut allergies?

[momof2inPA]

1. millions of children eat at schools that aren't peanut free, millions eat at restaurants that aren't peanut free, everyday isn't that in society? and you still hear of a minuscule amount of deaths.

No I'm not a psychiatrist just have an opinion like you but I guess only your opinion is the right one?

Well, you must have some expertise on which to base your opinion. What was your job at the school?

Something like 200 or 250 people die every year in the U.S. from food allergies, but this figure is probably under-reported as many emergency rooms will contribute anaphylaxis deaths to other causes, such as asthma or cardiac arrest. It's a high enough figure for concern, especially for a parent who's seen their one year old son swell up like a balloon and have difficulty breathing and swallowing.

I'm sure your opinions on both allergies and ADD/ADHD count for something to someone, but most parents with allergic kids have studied the issue extensively (I'm sure the same can be said for ADD/ADHD). What makes you think that your experience or knowledge on either subject even approaches theirs?

 

[basas]

The allergists in the group I go to would totally disagree with you. They are against peanut free schools. Their position is that making an entire school peanut free does more harm than good to the allergic child. Isolating the allergic child stigmatizes them, banning the allergen makes it that child's "fault" that the other kids can't have what they want. That's just the emotional angle.

The world your DD and others like us live in contains our allergen and it always will. We have to learn how to adapt to that environment, not expect that environment to adapt to us.

There are reasonable adaptations that can be made to protect allergic children without going overboard. If a child is that severely allergic that a peanut butter sandwich eaten anywhere in the school by another child could kill them instantly-then perhaps public education is just too inherently dangerous for them. If that child is that allergic, how could they safely go anywhere? The mall, WDW, the park-none of those places is "safe". Even a MD's office could cause a problem-what if a child before them had eaten nuts or a sandwich? It would have to be like The Boy in the Bubble.

Exactly. A kid with a peanut allergy is going to go to Disney and touch hundreds of handrails, restraints, lapbars, counters and countless other things people who have consumed peanuts have touched. Same goes with the mall, the ballpark, the movie theater and the park.

 

[Crankyshank]

The allergists in the group I go to would totally disagree with you. They are against peanut free schools. Their position is that making an entire school peanut free does more harm than good to the allergic child. Isolating the allergic child stigmatizes them, banning the allergen makes it that child's "fault" that the other kids can't have what they want. That's just the emotional angle.

My allergist is one of the top ranked in my state, so he's definitely someone well respected. He thinks that peanut free schools are among the worst things you can do for a kid with a nut allergy not just because of the emotional angle mentioned above, but also because it creates a false sense of safety which keeps kids from developing coping skills for the real world where you can encounter peanut dust essentially anywhere.

 

[Christine]

Many of these ‘deathly allergic to peanuts’ people really are not deathly allergic to peanuts. Some are, but many DO exaggerate their allergy. The same goes with ADD, ADHD, asthma and the million other issues 99% of kids have these days.

And you know this how? Most peanut allergies are considered potentially deadly. You never know when it will cause death. Every child with a peanut/shellfish allergy has the potential to drop dead from one of the accidental ingestions. Does it always happen? Of course not. But you cannot be the judge on that because you CANNOT know that.

My reference to the parents is due to the statement of the allergy being exaggerated. Face it, most kids don't do the talking, it's the parents. So, a lot of people think the parents are making a big deal about it when it is often the schools making the bigger deal.

 

[ducklite]

Okay, devil's advocate here. Hannathy, you may be correct about those kids. But, really, how did YOU know what the child needed and, for that matter, how did the school know? You had a snapshot into that child's life, as does the teacher and the school.

I will agree that many parents rush to medicate. As a country we rush to medicate everything and everybody. But until you are the parent of the child and live with that child and accompany that child to the psychiatrist's eval then you really have NO CLUE if that child needs medication or not. On top of that, the school has no business commenting on it to you, who I assume are just a parent at the school? Not sure, maybe you are a teacher?

Also, ADHD comes in many forms and "behavioral" problems are only a small portion of it. Some kids are beautifully behaved yet have ADHD and need medication. People need to stop stereotyping everyone they see and making their own diagnoses after working with a child for a few hours here and there. Then coming out and assuming that most children don't need to be on medication because of the one or two kids you happened to disagree with.

I think you are missing the point. A lot of kids are NEVER SEEING A PSYCHIATRIST. The parents are taking the kids to their pediatrician, saying "the school (meaning a teacher) says s/he is ADD and needs medication" and the pediatricians are writing out the prescriptioin for Ritalin or Adderal or whatever today's drug of choice is.

I know at least three children that have NEVER been evaluated by any psychiatrist--or even a psycologist--and have been prescribed Ritalin because the parents told the family doctor that the teacher said they can be easily distracted or have ADD. THREE KIDS.

I know these families well enough to have been around their children since they were very young and know that they are not ADD. In two cases they are siblings who have lousy parents (yes, my friends are lousy parents--far too self-absorbed in thier own worlds to deal with their kids and the kids are acting out with negative attention getting as a result) and in the third case they have parents who will believe anything the teacher says and unfortunately have a pediatrician who is script happy. (She takes the kid in because she sneezes and walks away with a script for an antibiotic.) In all three cases the meds are doing nothing for the kids, even at the high doses they are now taking--at some point you'd think they'd figure out that maybe the meds aren't working because there's nothing wrong with the kids that some behaviour modification or better parenting wouldn't take care of... Those parents don't need meds for their kids, they need SuperNanny.

My son was ADHD, and now has adult ADD. We tried everything from therapy and biofeedback to special diets and behaviour modification programs and went through a psychologist and two psychiatrists during a two year period before we agreed to try medication. The difference was noticable overnight. We didn't take a shortcut route, and we certainly didn't buy into any of the crap that the school tried to throw at us just because they were supposed "experts."

Anne

 

[poohandwendy]

My allergist is one of the top ranked in my state, so he's definitely someone well respected. He thinks that peanut free schools are among the worst things you can do for a kid with a nut allergy not just because of the emotional angle mentioned above, but also because it creates a false sense of safety which keeps kids from developing coping skills for the real world where you can encounter peanut dust essentially anywhere.

I totally agree with that. Especially if the allergies are severe, the very best thing that can be done is the child learning to be proactive, instead of expecting the people around him/her to be responsible for his/her health.

 

[disykat]

I am sick and tired of any food change in a school or on an airplane being blamed on people with peanut allergies.

I don't know of any airlines that have banned peanuts. Most still serve nuts to first class passengers. Peanuts aren't regularly served by many because they COST MORE, period.

Our school district recently put out a memo that they are requiring things brought to school to be store bought - and they blamed it on peanut allergies. I am FURIOUS about this. The district I taught in 20 years ago (long before peanut allergies were a big thing) required the same thing - due to food bourne illnesses. Now MY CHILD will be blamed for an unpopular decision that was probably made for many reasons. Goody.

 

[becka]

My cousins son who is 9 was just diagnosed with an allergy to high fructose corn syrup. Try finding foods for him to eat!!

I sympathize with you on this one. My DS is allergic to milk and corn and corn syrup is in everything. Tell you cousin to make sure to visit the organic section of her grocery store and/or a health food store. It is a good place to start. We have had some luck finding items for DS to eat there. Other than that we try to focus on whole foods (lean meats, veggies and fruit, etc.). The more processed something is the less likely he can eat it. To stay somewhat on topic Skippy creamy peanut butter does not contain HFCS.

 

[momof2inPA]

Exactly. A kid with a peanut allergy is going to go to Disney and touch hundreds of handrails, restraints, lapbars, counters and countless other things people who have consumed peanuts have touched. Same goes with the mall, the ballpark, the movie theater and the park.

And my kids are constantly washing their hands, using anti-bacterial, and wearing sunglasses. Plus, most Disney restaurants don't serve peanut butter, and we avoid the ones that do.

Schools aren't real society. Kids are trapped there and can't get away from the allergen like they could in the real world-- and most schools are filthy, sticky, and gross. I disagree with Fitswimmer's allergists. Note: my kids are not at a peanut free school but have peanut free classrooms. This works for us, but there are other kids more sensitive to peanuts than my own. I would never assume that others' personal experiences with allergies are exactly the same as my own kids.'

 

[Fitswimmer]

My allergist is one of the top ranked in my state, so he's definitely someone well respected. He thinks that peanut free schools are among the worst things you can do for a kid with a nut allergy not just because of the emotional angle mentioned above, but also because it creates a false sense of safety which keeps kids from developing coping skills for the real world where you can encounter peanut dust essentially anywhere.

Exactly, I had to learn how to live with the allergy. I never traded lunches, always ate out of my lunchbox, Mom packed everything in containers. Nothing EVER touched the table-including my hands. Remember Wash n' Drys? They were the Clorox wipes of my youth and I had a couple in my lunch box every day to wipe the table and my hands. I learned at 2 to say "No thank you" to offers of snacks unless they came from Mom or Dad's hand. I learned to switch seats in the lunchroom if I had to. The other kids knew why and would always switch with me. My life depended on it and I knew it so I was VERY careful.
Of course, back in the Dark ages I could keep my medicine with me all the time. I don't know if that's the case these days and if it's not I can understand more restrictive environments around the allergic child. Seconds count with a reaction, and there's no time to run to the Nurse's office in many cases.

 

[basas]

And you know this how? Most peanut allergies are considered potentially deadly. You never know when it will cause death. Every child with a peanut/shellfish allergy has the potential to drop dead from one of the accidental ingestions. Does it always happen? Of course not. But you cannot be the judge on that because you CANNOT know that.

My reference to the parents is due to the statement of the allergy being exaggerated. Face it, most kids don't do the talking, it's the parents. So, a lot of people think the parents are making a big deal about it when it is often the schools making the bigger deal.

I guess I don't know for sure. I simply am going on the experiences I’ve had. We have dairy allergies in our house, not peanut. However I have known kids who have been too-quickly diagnosed, grown out of their allergies (but didn’t know it), and had very mild cases of allergy though they believed it was severe(one ‘deathly allergic’ kid actually, accidentally consumed a snack with peanuts and only had a very mild reaction- very lucky, I know…the situation could have been very bad if the allergy really was severe).

 

[basas]

And my kids are constantly washing their hands, using anti-bacterial, and wearing sunglasses. Plus, most Disney restaurants don't serve peanut butter, and we avoid the ones that do.

Schools aren't real society. Kids are trapped there and can't get away from the allergen like they could in the real world-- and most schools are filthy, sticky, and gross. I disagree with Fitswimmer's allergists. Note: my kids are not at a peanut free school but have peanut free classrooms. This works for us, but there are other kids more sensitive to peanuts than my own. I would never assume that others' personal experiences with allergies are exactly the same as my own kids.'

The other side of your story is that your kids know that they have a serious allergy and know to keep alert and cautious. They know to wash their hands and how to keep safe. You're going to come in contact with peanuts in the real-world so it's best to prepare allergic kids for that instead of giving them a false sense of security.

 

[Tiggernut_jadie]

I think a hell of a lot more people have breast fed in the past 30 years than did from 1955-75.

Soy allergies are definitely on the rise -- my sister is a school cafeteria manager and soy allergies are second only to peanut allergies. Soy is in EVERYTHING now -- it's the next high-fructose corn syrup in terms of being put into every conceivable foodstuff.

As for asthma and other respiratory "allergies" -- it's sick building syndrome. Old fashioned buildings breathed -- now windows are sealed so tightly (and in most offices and schools don't open, PERIOD) that kids in school and adults at work are trapped in constantly recirculating air. How often do we really think those air ducts are cleaned? Ever?

Even the new windows people have in their homes, so good for fuel savings and keeping outside noise at a minimum contribute in the wintertime to respiratory problems.

Ding Ding Ding...Ladies and Gentleman we have a winner! This post sums it up for me! Add in the 'over-sanitising' bit and that just about sums up the reasons for most allergies straight away. I do think there is also a link between Peanut consumption when pregnant/breastfeeding and the peanut allergy thing. There seems to be a much higher incidence of this particular allergy in the USA, where PB&J is a fairly common snack food, than in the UK and Eurpoe.....there must be a reason for this?!!!!

 

[Cindy's Mom]

The allergists in the group I go to would totally disagree with you. They are against peanut free schools. Their position is that making an entire school peanut free does more harm than good to the allergic child. Isolating the allergic child stigmatizes them, banning the allergen makes it that child's "fault" that the other kids can't have what they want. That's just the emotional angle.

The world your DD and others like us live in contains our allergen and it always will. We have to learn how to adapt to that environment, not expect that environment to adapt to us.

There are reasonable adaptations that can be made to protect allergic children without going overboard. If a child is that severely allergic that a peanut butter sandwich eaten anywhere in the school by another child could kill them instantly-then perhaps public education is just too inherently dangerous for them. If that child is that allergic, how could they safely go anywhere? The mall, WDW, the park-none of those places is "safe". Even a MD's office could cause a problem-what if a child before them had eaten nuts or a sandwich? It would have to be like The Boy in the Bubble.

My daughters school is NOT peanut free and I'm completely fine with that. I just prefer that it not be around her if it can be reasonably controlled.

As you can see by my pix in my signature, she is eating a Mickey Bar. The ingredients in Mickey Bars say it may contain traces of peanuts. She is in no way The Girl in the Bubble.

Kids in her class bring PB&J to lunch even kids in her immediate "lunch bunch" do. BUT when they do, she goes and sits at the peanut free table. She carries her own EPI-Jr. (as do I, for her) and knows how to deal with her allergies.

We live about 2 blocks from the M&M Mars candy factory that manufacture Snicker and M&M Peanuts, when they get certain s lines moving, we can totally smell the nuts in the air, they usually make those early in the morning (at least that's the pattern I've noticed, I just shut the windows) - so DD is adjusted to the world around her.

 

[disykat]

Exactly, I had to learn how to live with the allergy. I never traded lunches, always ate out of my lunchbox, Mom packed everything in containers. Nothing EVER touched the table-including my hands. Remember Wash n' Drys? They were the Clorox wipes of my youth and I had a couple in my lunch box every day to wipe the table and my hands. I learned at 2 to say "No thank you" to offers of snacks unless they came from Mom or Dad's hand. I learned to switch seats in the lunchroom if I had to. The other kids knew why and would always switch with me. My life depended on it and I knew it so I was VERY careful.
Of course, back in the Dark ages I could keep my medicine with me all the time. I don't know if that's the case these days and if it's not I can understand more restrictive environments around the allergic child. Seconds count with a reaction, and there's no time to run to the Nurse's office in many cases.

Another difference between your experience and the experience of kid's currently in the schools is that in many classrooms, food is now a CONSTANT presence. Seriously, visit most classrooms today and you'll be shocked at the amount of eating that goes on. (I'm a substitute teacher so I see a lot of classrooms.) My child has never had trouble negotiating the lunchroom and has no restrictions. I've never asked for any in the classroom either, but is does bother me that he has to constantly be on the alert because kids are eating at their desks, kids are eating at story time on the carpet, etc. etc. And, no, he wasn't allowed to have his medication with him.

However, just watch the outcry if teachers try to limit snacks and keep their classroom a place where food isn't an issue. (and just watch it be blamed on the peanut allergic kids when there are many reasons to limit food in a classroom)

 

[Fitswimmer]

My daughters school is NOT peanut free and I'm completely fine with that. I just prefer that it not be around her if it can be reasonably controlled.

As you can see by my pix in my signature, she is eating a Mickey Bar. The ingredients in Mickey Bars say it may contain traces of peanuts. She is in no way The Girl in the Bubble.

Kids in her class bring PB&J to lunch even kids in her immediate "lunch bunch" do. BUT when they do, she goes and sits at the peanut free table. She carries her own EPI-Jr. (as do I, for her) and knows how to deal with her allergies.

We live about 2 blocks from the M&M Mars candy factory that manufacture Snicker and M&M Peanuts, when they get certain s lines moving, we can totally smell the nuts in the air, they usually make those early in the morning (at least that's the pattern I've noticed, I just shut the windows) - so DD is adjusted to the world around her.

FYI-you know that regular M&M's can have nuts in them too, right? I found out the hard way...epi-pen and a trip to the ER. UGH. That may have changed though now with all the focus on safer foods. I've just been afraid to try them again after that experience.

They make something up here in NJ too, one of the women I swim with works in the NJ factory. She said it was M&M's so maybe they make the plain ones in different factories now, I'll have to ask her.

 

[momof2inPA]

The other side of your story is that your kids know that they have a serious allergy and know to keep alert and cautious. They know to wash their hands and how to keep safe. You're going to come in contact with peanuts in the real-world so it's best to prepare allergic kids for that instead of giving them a false sense of security.

If a kid is very sensitive to peanuts, I don't have a problem with giving him a sense of security at school, so he can learn instead of worrying all the time. My kids worry enough about their allergies as it is. At least they don't have to do it in the classroom.

 

[ducklite]

Another difference between your experience and the experience of kid's currently in the schools is that in many classrooms, food is now a CONSTANT presence. Seriously, visit most classrooms today and you'll be shocked at the amount of eating that goes on. (I'm a substitute teacher so I see a lot of classrooms.) My child has never had trouble negotiating the lunchroom and has no restrictions. I've never asked for any in the classroom either, but is does bother me that he has to constantly be on the alert because kids are eating at their desks, kids are eating at story time on the carpet, etc. etc. And, no, he wasn't allowed to have his medication with him.

However, just watch the outcry if teachers try to limit snacks and keep their classroom a place where food isn't an issue. (and just watch it be blamed on the peanut allergic kids when there are many reasons to limit food in a classroom)

Why on earth are schools aloowing this type of snacking and constant eating? It's no wonder obesity rates are sky high! When I was a kid we had breakfast at home, lunch at lunchtime, and dinner at home. Only in kindergarden did we have snack time, and even then I think it was more to emphasize various social skills than because we were hungry.

Anne

 

[Camicar]

My dd does not have a peanut allergy, but she does have a very serious asthma condition that generally appears when she gets a cold. We have spent more than one night in ICU watching her chest go up and down because she got a cold. A simple cold. So...talk about nightmare. I cannot ask that every kid who has a sniffle keeps their sniffle at home. I cannot ask that every kid with a runny nose constantly washes their hands. I cannot ask that teacher who's coughing up a lung to take one of her own freakin' sick days and stay home and stop coughing all over my dd. Although I wish I could demand that. But life does not work like that.

Except if you have a peanut allergy.

Listen, I'm not saying that kids with life-threatening peanut allergies should be hung out to dry. I'm saying what I find personally ironic is that 'life threatening' only becomes a school problem for all those attending that school when the problem is easy to solve (by banning peanuts). My dd's medical condition is no less life threatening and we are completely on our own in handling it.

 

[LadyShiva]

With response to breastfeeding rates, here's an excerpt from the American Journal of Public Health:

"...Indeed, breastfeeding habits in the last 30 years have differed according to class and race in a much starker way than they did a century ago. Only one group of women have embraced breastfeeding in large numbers since the early 1970s—White, college-educated women. Not only have Black women initiated breastfeeding at roughly half the rate of White women, but the majority of Black women who do breastfeed introduce formula to their infants while still in the hospital. The race gap in breastfeeding initiation, exclusivity, and duration rates is, in fact, so cavernous that one group of researchers argues that convincing more Black women to breastfeed and to breastfeed longer would narrow the race gap in infant mortality—currently 1.3 times higher for Blacks than Whites—as significantly as preventing low birthweight, once thought to be the primary, if not sole, reason for the high Black infant death rate."

Here's the link to read the history of cow's milk replacing human milk in the US (only!): http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1448139

Long article, but I think it is worth the time.

Brandie