Peanut Allergy or Anaphylaxis? What do you refer to it as?

[Rainey Daye]

So, I was just wondering this after seeing a comment about this somewhere online very recently.

Do you tell people your DC has a peanut allergy or has anaphylaxis to peanuts? Some parents said that they are not taken seriously enough if people just hear the word allergy...cause what that brings to mind are sneezing, sniffles, and maybe hives...but not life-threatening anything. So they say anaphylaxis and people start paying more attention.

[SweetSilver]

I think that's a good idea if your experience has lead you to find that people are not serious enough about the allergy, if your child will have that kind of reaction to peanuts or other allergen.  But then other folks might not understand what anaphylaxis is.

I have the opposite experience with my personal, mild but unpleasant allergy to peanuts.  When I decline something because it has peanuts or peanut butter (even Chinese food with peanut oil has given me a reaction) people look wide-eyed and scared that they even have the food in the same room.  I end up having to talk them down!  

But as distressing as my reaction is, it isn't anaphylaxis.  I wouldn't tell people that unless that was the case.  But if it was?  I would say whatever would make it absolutely clear what the issue is.

Before my daughter passed her in-office peanut challenge and was cleared to eat them, I had to do the same thing for my daughter.  The main trouble I had with her was people's reaction to her dairy allergy.  I'd say "dairy allergy" they'd say, oh, she's lactose intolerant.  I'd say (rather mifffed but trying to hide it) that no, it is a severe allergy that we carry an EpiPen Jr. for and I proceed to describe all the awful things she has experienced when she accidently ingested it.  Her throat gets stiff and begins to close.  Her mouth burns and her lips break out in whelps wherever it touches.  She is vomiting within 10 minutes.  No, not an intolerance!

[scsigrl]

I often say life threatening food allergies (DS has several).  I get overly wordie because of other issues he has (FPIES and Celiac) but life threatening usually sums it up pretty well.

[MariaMadly]

Originally Posted by scsigrl 

I often say life threatening food allergies (DS has several).  I get overly wordie because of other issues he has (FPIES and Celiac) but life threatening usually sums it up pretty well.

Yes, this.  It saves time compared to listing multiple allergens (my two are in that same boat). 

[Rainey Daye]

Oh, Bug has most definitely got anaphylaxis. He was vomiting within ten minutes of having peanut butter, then after vomiting a second time even more profusely he had hives that showed up in like five minutes flat. We had him in the car headed for urgent care within five minutes of noticing the hives and even with a dose of Benedryl right before we left he was having a hard time breathing and was almost in shock when we got him to Urgent Care (which is less than five minutes from our house). They raced him right back and gave him a shot of epi...but it took them almost half an hour to get him stable enough for the ambulance to take us to the hospital. So I would never exaggerate his allergy. He does have lactose intolerance and some other food sensitivities, but I would not ever call those allergies because I know it is not the same. The peanut allergy is what is life threatening...the others just cause diaper rashes and discomfort, but they won't kill him!!

I was more just curious if those who used the term anaphylaxis had people react more strongly to it or not.

[MariaMadly]

Originally Posted by Rainey Daye 

Oh, Bug has most definitely got anaphylaxis. He was vomiting within ten minutes of having peanut butter, then after vomiting a second time even more profusely he had hives that showed up in like five minutes flat. We had him in the car headed for urgent care within five minutes of noticing the hives and even with a dose of Benedryl right before we left he was having a hard time breathing and was almost in shock when we got him to Urgent Care (which is less than five minutes from our house). They raced him right back and gave him a shot of epi...but it took them almost half an hour to get him stable enough for the ambulance to take us to the hospital. So I would never exaggerate his allergy. He does have lactose intolerance and some other food sensitivities, but I would not ever call those allergies because I know it is not the same. The peanut allergy is what is life threatening...the others just cause diaper rashes and discomfort, but they won't kill him!!
I was more just curious if those who used the term anaphylaxis had people react more strongly to it or not.

When my kids were younger (they are 22 and 19 now) and I used the term, people would often look puzzled.  I think there's greater awareness now; they boys use "anaphylaxis" when they're explaining their allergies and don't seem to run into confusion from the wording.  But that used to be my main reason for not using it.