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North Carolina Babies
Back from pediatric allergist
DD and I just got back from the Pediatric Allergist at Duke Hospital.
As you can imagine it was not a fun filled morning. I think partly
because dd had to get vaccines yesterday at her 15 month appointment and thought the same thing
was going to happen again today. For the first time we had to have her
blood pressure taken... you would have thought they were trying to
squeeze her arm off she was screaming so hard.
We first met with a
nurse practitioner who was shocked that we got in so fast... she told
me there is a 9 month waiting list to be seen there.
After taking a
bunch of notes about Katie's past exposure to peanut butter she did a
skin test on her back. Here is what her back looked like a few minutes
after they did the test... the P is for peanut. They also tested her
for eggs and sesame (because of her reaction to hummus) but she had no
reaction to those.
After seeing this they took blood to determine a more specific allergy
level. It will also be how they know if she outgrows it (that number
will go down if she does outgrow it). The bad news is that 80% of
people with nut allergies never out grow them. We will have to go back
in a year to have the tests again to see if the allergy level goes down.
One
of the things that scares me the most about all of this is they told me
I should carry Benadryl with me at all times along with an Epi Pen. I
am not so worried about food at home because I can control that... I am
more worried about eating out and not having any control.
I have a
lot of reading and learning to do... I met with a nutritionist who gave
me her card and email address if I have any questions. She was so
helpful.
This is where I am going to be spending a lot of time... The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Back from pediatric allergist
well the good thing (if there is one), is that duke is definitely the place to go for peanut allergies. did you see wesley burks? he's by far the best peanut guy in the state, and one of the premier peanut docs in the country. they're running an awesome peanut allergy trial to desensitize kids to peanuts and are having fantastic results. he's really a great guy and has a state of the art lab.
definitely sorry katie has to go through that. it must be tough. that's one of my big fears! did she have a really bad reaction to make you suspect? i may have missed that, but it sure is a good thing that she didn't have enough to be really really bad. good luck!!
I've had allergies to nuts and peanuts my whole life--still do! I carry an EpiPen and benedryl with me everywhere I go. If she does have a reaction, I will tell you, don't be afraid to use the EpiPen. The sooner you use it, the less severe the reaction gets. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them: laceymc14 at yahoo dot com.
Allergies can be scary--when I was young, people didn't really believe me that I was allergic--they just thought I didn't like them. But, allergies--especially nut allergies--are so common these days that people are much more aware.
The most important thing to do if Katie is eating somewhere else is to notify the parents, teachers, etc. Or, pack food with you. Remember, it's more than just the nuts, you'll want to ask at restaurants what oils they use/fry in, whether they make their bread onsite, what they use on their grill,etc.
I know it sounds like a lot, but really, once you get the hang of asking everywhere you go, it's not a hard thing to avoid--oh, and you'll always want her to stay away from desserts at restaurants. As she grows up and sees you being cautious, she will do the same.
I'm glad you had a good experience at the appt. I nannied a toddler with a peanut allergy-I think it's hard b/c peanut and peanut oil are inso many things. But you learn what they can & can't have & it gets easier. The mother had already gone thru the "trial & error" phase before I came along, so a lot of it was already figured out. He had more respiratory symptoms with the allergy, so I always had to have benadryl, epi pen, & a nebulizer machine with me. Never had to use the epi pen though, thank goodness.
I know it's overwhelming, but it's doable. I'll be thinking about you & DD.
oh & in case you didn't already know-CFA uses peanut oil in cooking. The child I nannied couldn't eat anything there.
Yes, we saw Dr Burks... he was sooooo nice. Told me to call with any questions. I think he realizes how overwhelming it is to parents.
Oh yes, that's another thing. You'll learn what types of foods hardly use nuts--and what types use them often.
Like previous poster said CFA uses peanut oil to fry in--so does Five Guys. And, you'll probably want to avoid chinese restaurants (except PF Chang's and Pei Wei) as they often cook with peanut oil. Thai food cooks with lots of peanuts as does Indian food.
Most places who cook in peanut oil are proud of that fact, so it'll be on all the labels. You'll get good at reading ingredients lists!
Safe food you usually don't have to worry about: mexican (except mole sauces), italian, french and german--there are a few others, but I'm blanking at the moment!
My Sweet Girls
Aw Suzi- sorry Katie has a peanut allergy. It has taken me a while but I have gotten used to Craig's allergies and label reading is second nature now. I can't really add to many more things to what everyone else has posted on avoiding. Let me know if I can answer anything for you.