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Food Allergy
jrrs
member
Introduction
jrrs
member
in Food Allergy
Hey, I've been following the posts on here and thought I would introduce myself. We just had my 5 year old DS diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy.
Why so late? That is a question that's bothering me. My son has had severe seasonal allergies since birth. I'm severely allergic and a severe asthmatic. So no surprise. Each spring his grass allergy gets worse and worse. This time it led to a full body rash with blisters that the pedi and allergist couldn't figure out. So we did the skin testing. I asked to rule out peanuts and tree nuts. DS had an ana reaction to pecans around Christmas. That we were aware of.
But he's always, always refused anything with peanuts or peanut butter. I've spent so many times trying to convince him to eat a reese's peanut butter cup, or a peanut m&m. I feel horrible about it now. Shortly after the ana reaction to pecans someone asked if he could have a cookie, which I okayed. He took one bite and starting clawing at his mouth and spitting out the cookie. It was a peanut butter cookie. Nothing was ingested. But he was coughing and wheezy within a matter of minutes. Honestly, I chalked it up to the cold air.
So now I feel so horribly guilty. All the times he's complained of a stomache. He second thanksgiving has pictures of horrible eczema on his face and swollen eyes, which we didn't think much of because he always had eczema, but I remember now that was the Thanksgiving I put pecans in everything. Poor child.
At least we know now. But it's hard to make all the adjustments because he's had so much freedom with his food until now. But I can say that eliminating all the food processed in plants with peanuts or possible cross contamination has eliminated his stomach aches too. I guess we're so lucky we didn't have something worse happen.
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Re: Introduction
I wasn't in quite the same situation (my allergies didn't become severe until I was in my teen years), but I have always had my Oral Allergy Syndrome. My parents never believed me when I complained about itchy ears and a swollen scratchy throat after I ate something. I was a very shy, quiet kid, so in hind-sight I'm sure I didn't make much of a fuss, and I also never had visible symptoms. I just got to the age where I had some control over what I did or didn't eat so I started avoiding those foods on my own esteem.
When my actual allergies started getting markedly worse I realized that my family had no idea. My Mom was devastated when I told her that for years I avoided certain foods because of my reactions, and that she didn't believe me when I told her about them. After I managed to eliminate those things on my own I never found a reason to talk about them again.
Its been about ten years since I really came clean and we started to learn about the extent of my allergies. Because I handled everything myself, and moved out shortly after that, my family rarely remembers everything I can't eat. Since my only problem is ingesting those foods, not just exposure, I never go to any kind of fuss. I'm used to it by now. Plus I could hardly deny my Dad his favorite oatmeal walnut cookies or Pecan Pie at Thanksgiving.
wow. that is scary!
don't feel guilty b/c we are all blindsided by allergies. Thankfully nothing worse happened and now you can start avoiding it.
Also, at least he's old enough to understand and he knows that he is in pain if he has this or that so he probably won't ever even attempt it. He sounds like a smart boy that he was rejecting things he didn't want.
Definitely don't feel guilty! I completely understand how you feel though. I felt a lot of guilt also. My daughter was constantly in pain and cried all of the time as an infant. After we had her tested, I cut out the top 8 and a few other things. She was still miserable and I didn't know what to do. We later found out she was highly allergic to three of my staples: oats, rice and garlic. I felt so guilty because I was eating that stuff every day. It took me a lot of time (and I am still workng on it) getting over feelings I have about her situation.
We felt horrible this weekend. I missed an ingredient on a bag of pretzels. Something so EASY to catch. She had one mini pretzel and had a reaction. Malt extract = Barley. I still feel horrible and guilty, but I can't beat myself up. I am still working on that!