Please tell me this is a peanut allergy!

[Wugmama]

My ds is 26 months old, and although he has had some peanut butter flavored food given to him by others, he has never had peanuts. My dh's brother had the peanut allergy as a child, with a rash around his mouth, but outgrew it. My dh who is oblivious gave my ds actual peanuts to eat last night at about 8pm. He has been throwing up every 30 minutes or so all night, starting at 3:30 am and continuing.

Today, at this given moment, I can deal with a peanut allergy. I can't deal with the stomach flu. could this be from the peanuts? Would there be such a delayed and long lived reaction?

Thanks,
Tracy

[Wugmama]

I called the clinic, they said they don't think so.

[Wugmama]

Now he is up running around, drinking water, and very happy. He never did have a fever. THis isn't like any vomiting episode I've ever seen. I guess we are suspecting the peanuts.

[Wugmama]

I really do believe this was a peanut allergy. Today he had a dirty diaper that could only be described as foamy. I've never seen that before.

[fiorio]

I think you're right. The first time he had kiwi DS was up all night throwing up. We thought it was a weird stomach virus or maybe from a concussion since he had bumped his head hard that evening. But at his next allegist appt his test results showed a kiwi allergy.

I'm sure you know this, but make sure he doesn't have anything containing any nuts at this point. And make an appt with an allergist for testing.

[Lutrupemo]

I am allergic to peanuts. I get horrendous stomach cramps, pain so bad I get tunnel vision, and this starts anywhere from 10 minutes to 3 hours after I have eaten a peanut-containing food, and the attack lasts for 1 to 5 hours. It's really hard to go through. So yes, I DO think that could be a peanut allergy. People usually think hives, anaphylaxis, that sort of thing, but digestive responses are just as common.

[Mosaic]

I'd put my money on something else. Allergic reactions are pretty dang fast, and your son didn't get sick until 6.5 hours later? I doubt it. There's also a difference between an intolerance and an allergy: I can't tolerate cinnamon at all (horrible stomach cramps, vomiting, etc.), but I'm not allergic to it.

Personally, I would much rather be faced with a bout of the stomach flu than a potentially life-threatening allergy, so I'm not sure why you're hoping it's an allergy.

[Chinese Pistache]

Either way, I wouldn't take any chances. Peanut is a very serious allergy. It can go from mild reaction to anaphylactic shock without any warning. I would get him to allergist for allergy testing and get an epipen, just in case. Definitely keep him away from all nuts and seeds until you can rule this out (seeds are often cross-contaminated with nuts).

[Wugmama]

Oh crap.

I guess I was hoping peanut allergy because we are living hour to hour with the 6 year old, 2 year old and 5 month old and are barely surviving for some reason I just couldn't face the thought of the other four of us having the stomach flu, with the 2 yr old up and at 'em full force.

I'm pretty much alienated from the one allergist we've seen. I wonder if my family practice doctor could get me a test for him and an epi pen. I wonder if you can get an epi pen without a prescription.

I am definitly going to clear the house of all things peanuts right away.

I know this is important, but I'm not sure if I can handle having him held down for a blood draw. He had this done when he was one, when we all did have the stomach flu, and he was dehyrated and needed an IV (he really was, wouldn't even nurse, was so lethargic it really scared me).

I wish there was more agreement on the muscle testing. I love our chiro and she seems so good at that.

[Chinese Pistache]

Originally Posted by Wugmama

Oh crap.

I guess I was hoping peanut allergy because we are living hour to hour with the 6 year old, 2 year old and 5 month old and are barely surviving for some reason I just couldn't face the thought of the other four of us having the stomach flu, with the 2 yr old up and at 'em full force.

I'm pretty much alienated from the one allergist we've seen. I wonder if my family practice doctor could get me a test for him and an epi pen. I wonder if you can get an epi pen without a prescription.

I am definitly going to clear the house of all things peanuts right away.

I know this is important, but I'm not sure if I can handle having him held down for a blood draw. He had this done when he was one, when we all did have the stomach flu, and he was dehyrated and needed an IV (he really was, wouldn't even nurse, was so lethargic it really scared me).

I wish there was more agreement on the muscle testing. I love our chiro and she seems so good at that.

It doesn't have to be a blood draw necessarily (though, with peanut, I'm not sure how they treat it). If possible, get a skinprick test. Much easier, faster, less invasive. Are there any other allergists close by?

[Wugmama]

I just left a message on the nurse line for another allergy clinic. I want to know before hand what I can expect from their doctors. The last guy tried to bully me into giving oral antibiotics, wouldn't do the scratch test and only wanted to test for a small list of items.

[momofmine]

Can you all say more about testing when you already know your child has a peanut allergy? I have heard that the blood test is not very accurate on a young one, and the skin test is potentially dangerous for someone who has already had a significant reaction to peanuts. So I'm just looking for feedback.

[Wugmama]

I have an appt with this guy:

http://www.stpaulallergy.com/bio/ggeller.htm

on April 8th. I'm glad it is a little while away - I need time to regroup. It is actually for my dd though (see my other, psychotic thread). I can't really face this right now. They do not do the scratch test, only the blood test. The little 5 month old won't see it coming, the 26 month old would...

Momofmine, check out this study. Sounds horrible to me, they fed 145 children with suspected peanut allergy peanuts until they showed symptoms. Then once they identified the ones with true allergies, they took them and did skin or blood testing. The purpose was to figure out how accurate these other types of testing are when you don't want to do a food challenge because it could be dangerous (the feeding of the peanuts for example).

http://news.healingwell.com/index.php?p=news1&id=526201

[momofmine]

Thank you for that link. They said that the blood and skin prick tests were very accurate, but they just said they were talking about kdis under age 16, so it didn't give specifics about very young children, like I'm talking about toddlers. Plus, it also was just talking about confirming the food allergy. so I guess what I am wondering is if there is any reason to get an allergy test other than to confirm suspicion. If your child has already had a reaction, and that's how you found out, and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's peanuts, is there any reason to do the testing?

[Wugmama]

I want an epipen but found out they are by prescription only. I am wondering if I could get my family practice doc to write a script based on what happened or if I would have to get formal testing done.

Also, I tend to believe in the muscle testing. I wonder if my chiro could test him and get me a pen.

My fam prac doc already doubted it was a peanut allergy based on what I said when I called in, but when I see her in person I could probably convince her.

I really don't have answers to anything at all, only questions, concerns, fears, anxieties...

[momofmine]

My family practice doctor gave us a prescription for the epi-pen. In fact, he's the one who told me I needed one. I mean, of course, I suspected, but after explaining what happened, he said, you need to carry one of these. But because of the way it all unfolded, there was no doubt that it was a peanut allergy.

[fiorio]

In response to a PP, sometimes allergic reactions are delayed. My DS reacts to kiwi 3-4 hours after eating it, but he reacted to milk within a minute.

About testing, most of the time they will not do a skin prick test if the patient has already had a (likely) allergy to peanuts. They will do a blood test (RAST) to check the levels in the blood, and will probably do one every year to see if levels change.