PA ... HALP!

Bat_Ish_Crazy

I gave DD some peanut butter the day before an appt w/ an allergist (suspected allergy to WCM) ... It was one of those, What-Are-The-Odds kind of scenarios, but I thought it would be a good idea to try the peanuts JUST IN CASE since we were seeing an allergist anyway.

Within minutes she had awful red patches anywhere the peanut butter touched and she was rubbing all over her face because it itched.

Blood work came back today, confirmed the PA ... allergist already gave us epinephrine, but I feel so uninformed.  

Other than vigilantly reading  ingredient labels, what do I need to know? What are some good resources online?  Are you members of any PA specific forums you're members of?

Twirple

I am by no means an expert.  We haven't even seen an allergist, as we know it was the peanut butter that caused the reaction.  You do want to limit exposure as much as possible because PA is one of the nasty ones where the reaction can get worse every time they are exposed.  We do read labels, and I won't give DS baked goods if there is any possibility of peanut exposure (ex:  We were at a picnic the other day and someone had packaged 3 different types of cookies into little baggies.  I could't be sure there was no peanut butter, so he didn't get cookies).

We don't have anything peanut in our house anymore and I have stopped eating it since i am still BFing a couple of times a day.

The Epi-pen goes with us anytime we go out and we have gotten extras to leave at the grandparents homes.

That said, we still go out to eat a lot, and the only food we won't go out for, is Thai.  I'm fairly certain he's had food that is made with peanut oil, and we've never had a reaction. 

Bat_Ish_Crazy

Thanks ... we are pretty much doing the same thing.  It will be another couple of weeks before her f/u appt, so I haven't had a chance to talk it all over with the allergist.  It's got me a little freaked out ... I know she has eaten tons of stuff before that was produced on shared equipment, and I eat peanut butter Every.Single.Day, so I'm sure my grubby PB hands have exposed her frequently.  But after she had that one reaction, I cut all traces of anything peanut related out of our home.  I guess I'm trying to find the balance between protecting my DD & being over cautious.