Please educate me on peanut/nut allergy symptoms

[Annie Mac]

This is a particular phobia of mine. I have been tested for allergies, came up with none (except grasses), but no food allergies. Still, I'm irrationally scared of nuts. In an effort to snap myself out of it, I have been eating them for the past week to show myself I would survive, and so far I have :) But I had a total panic attack this morning after eating peanut butter toast, convinced I was suffering an allergic reaction, so I would like someone who really knows nut allergies to tell me what actually happens. I've looked online for symptoms, and they're so broad, I could have any number of those symptoms at any time. This morning after the peanut butter, I was very nauseated, and sometimes I have an itchy face and eyes, but these things happen at other times with no nut exposure. So please, help me out of my phobia. If I were really allergic, it would be totally obvious, right? 

[scsigrl]

While it's possible to develop an allergy at any time, I would think if you have been eating them over the past few weeks with no issues that is isn't an allergic reaction.  Have you never had peanuts before in your life?  Why do you have such a fear of it? Do you know someone with a nut allergy? 

The reason you are having issues finding a list of symptoms is because it is not the same thing for every person. Some people get AB and C, others get only X.  It sounds like it may be more of an anxiety reaction over an actual nut reaction.

[Annie Mac]

Oh, it's definitely an anxiety reaction. I am just trying to fight my phobia with logic. I imagine that people who ARE really allergic to something aren't waffling like me, thinking, hmm, I think my face is itchy, oh I think I'm nauseated - that's bad, right? Etc. I did have a friend who went into anaphylactic shock after a bee sting, and there was no doubt whatsoever that something was horribly, immediately wrong with him! I guess I would just like descriptions of people who have actually gone through a real reaction to say how it goes down (I know there's variation, but there must be some common threads) so I can try to arm myself with real life knowledge against my phobia vs Dr. Google knowledge, which will always support my phobias!

[scsigrl]

Just as you said, there is a WIDE variety of how it can happen. For some people, the smell can cause an ana reaction. For some, they can eat some nuts and get GI upset.  I know you want concrete "This is what happens" but it isn't that way :( Sorry.

[Annie Mac]

Hmm. Well OK then. It's not the milder reactions that freak me out though, it's the ones that cause death. I find it particularly appalling that you can start with something innocuous and easy to ignore, like nausea or puffy eyes but then progress to dead within minutes. Or that you can have a mild reaction for a long, long time, then all of a sudden, have an extremely severe one. Or that you can develop allergies at any time in your life. 

Go ahead, please tell me I'm wrong on these points. 

[FAmom]

You are not wrong that a reaction can start out with something seemingly innocuous, and then can progress to death within minutes.

You are not wrong that a person can have mild reactions for a long time, and then have a extremely severe one.

You are not wrong that you can develop allergies at any time in your life.

And, many people do not understand that, or take it seriously.  

Sure, if you think what you are experiencing is a result of a phobia, then I understand the kind of process of logically going through your panic attacks and talking yourself down.  

What I will say is if you want to go through your logic, what I would do is go to an allergist, get RAST and skin tested.  Based on those results, go through a supervised oral challenge in an allergist's office.

By your rational, if indeed there lies the possibility for adult onset, then the symptoms you describe could be indicative of an allergy, and need to be treated seriously.  And, if you feel like you have an allergy, then you shouldn't eat nuts until after you've been tested.

If you aren't willing to kind of mentally address and actually take the steps it takes to diagnose a true food allergy, then that also can kind of help talk you through some of your anxiety.

Now, as the parent of 3 food allergic kids, all having been tested and diagnosed by an allergist, and conventional testing methods of RAST, skin, and oral challenges, when they have had reactions, it was obvious, and immediate.

The reactions were also horrifying in the sense that the realization of the actual visible, physical, changes were so fast...... and you realize just how important being prepared, with antihistamine and epipens on hand, is.

It also, in an odd way, shows you just how amazing the human body is.  Yes, for my children, what happens is immediate, and completely obvious..... hives and swelling around the mouth, along with discoloration and splotchiness of the skin.  My middle child's first reaction was full body hives.  

Some people do have gastrointestinal reactions though.... like vomiting.

But, again, symptoms are immediate, with the chance to return, with a biphasic reaction later.

What I will add, at the end of all of that, is that if you examine fatalities from food allergies, there are some common themes that arise.  I'll list a few:

People don't believe they, or their child, can actually die from a food allergy.

People think that you can predict reactions, believing if prior reactions are mild, they will not reach the level of fatality at any point.

People don't have an epipen, or they do not carry it with them. 

That one bite of an allergen can't be fatal.

That there isn't immediate treatment, going/calling for help

That they trusted what someone said about the safety of a food, instead of examining ingredient lists for foods themselves.

Eating foods from high risk environments (chinese restaurants with peanut allergy, bakeries, etc).

Being too young to actually verbally convey, or understand, that they were having a reaction

That list is what we keep in mind as we figure out how we manage our life, and follow through with the steps we need to take to keep our children safe and alive.

If you can formulate a logic, based on the true necessities for managing a life threatening food allergy, then maybe you can help either compel yourself to go through the formal process to diagnose a food allergy to address what you think is a phobia, or at least create what you think is the best kind of internal dialog you need to help get you through a panic attack.

[sbgrace]

Well, I've not experienced anaphylaxis myself but in my son (nuts) it was hives and throat closing and then later his entire body was swollen, pale, vomitting, diarrhea, etc. No doubt he was in trouble. My father is anaphylactic to a spice. He has throat swelling and hives and at times GI (as in vomitting) typically.

It sounds like you might have an anxiety disorder to me? If it's what I suspect you'll never feel sure you aren't having a reaction. Exposure is good. Accepting that, yep, that panic and itchy eyes could be a reaction would be part of the treatment for dealing with OCD like stuff. Trying to be sure it isn't, posting here, looking at symptoms online, asking for more allergy testing, etc. is all part of the condition and feeds it. It's the quest to be certain or sure you're not having reaction that is the crux of the matter.

[Annie Mac]

Originally Posted by sbgrace 

Well, I've not experienced anaphylaxis myself but in my son (nuts) it was hives and throat closing and then later his entire body was swollen, pale, vomitting, diarrhea, etc. No doubt he was in trouble. My father is anaphylactic to a spice. He has throat swelling and hives and at times GI (as in vomitting) typically.

It sounds like you might have an anxiety disorder to me? If it's what I suspect you'll never feel sure you aren't having a reaction. Exposure is good. Accepting that, yep, that panic and itchy eyes could be a reaction would be part of the treatment for dealing with OCD like stuff. Trying to be sure it isn't, posting here, looking at symptoms online, asking for more allergy testing, etc. is all part of the condition and feeds it. It's the quest to be certain or sure you're not having reaction that is the crux of the matter.


 

Yes, I suspect you're right. I have no doubt it's part of an anxiety disorder, but it still doesn't make dealing with it any easier. I guess trying to rationalize it all away isn't going to work; I need to work on the OCD/anxiety bit. But omg, that is a long slog!  Thanks everyone!