[sammymama]

Hi Mamas,

I am having a super down moment. My DD had an out-of-the-blue severe reaction (though not ana) to 2 different dogs in the past 2 weeks so on her ped's recommendation we did a RAST test. It came back with moderate levels for dogs (duh), but also high levels for egg whites, peanuts, a bunch of tree nuts and sesame seeds. (It also showed a *very* high level for cats - and we live with 2 big, hairy Siamese so this was a shock to us. She has shown tiny red marks around her mouth when a few foods were introduced in the past, and she had a small bout of eczema as an infant, but otherwise no big reactions until this dog thing.)

Anyway, the peanut/tree nut allergies in particular are feeling like a jail sentence to me right now. I keep reading these stats about only 20% of kids outgrowing these particular allergens, and future siblings having a much higher tendency towards them as well. I tore apart our fridge and pantry tonight, and am picturing my DD not being able to eat foods at bday parties, school - not to mention I feel like I will never let her out of my sight now (not that she's ever far, but this has really shaken me up). I was hoping this might've been a case where the traditional doctors were overreacting just to be safe (they gave us EpiPens instantly), but we saw a NAET practitioner today and she concurred, telling us to get all of those things away from her asap. (And yes, we are new to NAET and I am hopeful, but still trying to be realistic since we may be a case where it is not helpful.)

So if you have a toddler or older child with a peanut/tree nut allergy, would you please weigh in and share your experiences? What do you do if you want to eat at a restaurant? How do you make sure your kid doesn't poach another's unsafe snack? Can you send them to a camp? What about school lunches?

Thanks in advance.

Sammy

 

[sammymama]

Thank you - you are very right, my little brain needs to slow down! It is a lot, as you said.

My ped did the RAST. We saw the NAET practitioner today and are scheduled to see a ped allergist next week to do the skin prick test. The only 2 foods we'd seen a reaction from that showed up on the RAST list were eggs and cashews. When we first introduced her to eggs she got a few little red spots around her mouth so we backed off for several months, tried again, never saw them again and now she eats all the time, in all forms. Cashews I introduced more recently and she got hive-y looking red spots instantly so I didn't try again but noted that to the doc so that's why she tested them. It is frustrating, though, because she gets the same small red spots from tomato products (soup, sauce, etc) and sometimes cottage cheese, but no sensitivity or allergy at all was noted in her blood for either of those. Oh, and my DD will be 2 next month. We are still BF and even though she has not eaten straight peanuts (although I did discover tonight that granola bars we eat have peanut traces in them), I eat trail mix and random nut butters, so I guess I've been passing that exposure to her as well. Oh, and sesame seeds showed up in the blood work and she eats INSANE amounts of hummus with no issue.

I know about that false-positive aspect... but I am freaked out since DD had those severe and totally random doggie reactions. I don't want to walk around feeling like we have some looming ana reaction in our future should we not eliminate these foods, know what I mean?

My ped gave us the Epi pen, told us to eliminate everything from her diet that was flagged. She also said this ped allergist would almost assuredly have us continue the elim diet, as well as possibly re-homing our cats. I'm not sure what other info the skin prick test can offer at this point. And if we're alright with eliminating things for awhile, is it necessary to keep on poking my kid?

Thanks for writing.