Been PA for 28 years...

Hi and Welcome to the board,

Glad to hear you went all that time until 1992 without reactions. My 11 year old son has some minor contact reaction this year but before that he was fine around nuts. (always allergic)
He has multiple food allergies- peanut, all tree nuts, eggs, all shellfish, and sesame seeds. He just passed two food challenges to peaches and strawberries this month and if his RAST score is low next year we may be doing a challenge for sesame seeds.

If we fly anywhere we will request peanut, tree nut free as this is what his food allergist recommends. I hope things go smoothly with your flight. BE sure to check airlines section on this site there's lots of good information- also on FAAN.
Take care and stay safe,
Jandy

Jandy,
Thanks for your comments. I have contacted the airlines and made sure they know they have a pa person on their flight. I also looked on the airline boards for help in how to handle this situation.

DOn't get me wrong-I've had reactions before 1992, it just didn't get bad until then. Pretty much every year or so, I will accidentally ingest peanuts (by eating something I thought was safe), but now I am much more careful-I read and read and read lables before I eat anything!

So, FuzzyFurBall...I can't be sure, but let's guess you're now 20-ish. Can you say something about what your teen years were like? Did teenage rebellion include any deliberate peanut allergy carelessness? Does a teen distinguish between sneaking a cigarette and sneaking a Baby Ruth candy bar? Did you think before you let someone steal a kiss? I already worry about these things, and my PA child is 3! Any advice?

Cookie,
Actually, I am 31 now. As a teenager, I NEVER, ever rebelled on the peanut thing. I do remember a friend once gave me a Butterfinger bar and insisted it was butter in the candy! I ate it, and had a reaction, but I soon learned not to try anymore. LOL Even though I was in my early 20's when I had my first anayphylactic reaction, I always had a distinct distaste for the smell of peanuts/peanut butter. I don't know how to explain it, but it just smells strange to me.

I don't really know what made me not rebel. Perhaps it was my mother and sister who never really made a big deal out of it. It could be that I knew I was allergic for so long that I didn't even know what I was missing. Occasionally I did want to eat M&M's, just to be normal, but I never tried to eat them. If I wanted it, I would look for the alternative-some candy stores sell "Hershey's Jots", like M&m's, but without peanuts (YES, plain M&M's DO have peanuts in them!!) At that time, like I said, my allergy wasn't so severe. (Only ingestion allergic-now it's all 3). At Halloween I traded my candy with my sister and she was awesome. My dad was usually careful (we really never went anywhere where there were peanuts-except I do remember having a reaction at an Italian festival).

My mom was always a worrier whenever I got sick, so I think that deterred me too. I probably just simply knew better. We had peanut butter occasionally in the house, for my sister, but she was never a big pband j eater anyway. We also had a separate jelly for me OR made sure anyone who used the jelly used a separate knife. IF I spent the night at someone's house, I simply did NOT eat their jelly.

I got teased often b/c I ate odd things-I don't recall ever stating the reason why I couldn't eat pband jelly.

I would just say to keep your worries in check. If your child is aware and knows how it felt when the allergic reaction occurred, most likely they won't rebel.

I feel like I am rambling and if you want more info-let me know. Hope this helps some!

For me, rebellion and trying something almost guaranteed to be lethal are VERY different. I never *wanted* to try anything with peanuts anymore than I wanted to jump in the lake handcuffed with lead weights tied to my ankles. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

Rebekah