looking for documented cases

Quote:Originally posted by Chris PeanutAllergy Com:
[b]We are looking for documented cases
If you have had a reaction and there is paper work on it (ambulance, hospital ...), please contact us and send copies etc. and a detailed account (by email or regular mail, fax) of what happened, what you believe (or can prove) caused the reaction, medical attention received etc.

If you do not have documentation (we know many people do not end up at the hospital for every reaction) we would like to hear about the reaction and situation also.

Example: documented cases of peanut allergic children having reactions to
peanut butter in the lunch room without direct contact with the peanut
butter, reactions on planes etc.

Please do not decide that someone else probably has a documented case that is similar to yours and then not let us know what you have. The more we know about the better. This information is very important!
[/b]

This post was looking lonely so I thought I'd let you have a couple of instances from BJ's experience.......

Firstly, at age 4 we visited a city farm in Bristol, UK - very eco-conscious place they were into whole-foods in a big way. We checked out the stock in the restaurant and found an organic chocolate bar which had no warnings...

Ben's reaction had a fairly rapid onset - he complained that his teeth didn't feel right after he'd taken 2-3 mouthfuls. Then he slowly developed rhinitis, hives and angioedema. The pattern was slow and we were fairly new to this game so we took him home gave him some salbutanol en route and then some Piriton (Chlorpheniramine). He didn't improve so I rang the local kids hospital warned them and then drove him in (at speed.....). Having been an anaesthetic nurse I had some eqpt with me, a mobile and the drugs I needed - it was far faster than calling an ambulance out...

At the hospital he didn't improve much so they cannulated him and gave him adrenaline (epinephrine). Unfortunately they overdosed him (new interns!!!) and I had to take charge of his care for a while to prevent the drugs succeeding where the allergen had (so far) failed. [Straight on to Oxygen, monitoring EKG and Oxymeter - glucose ready to push to counter some of the epinephrine]

They let us out that evening and we spent a sleepless night monitoring him at home.....

The second story is in one of the other threads when it seems he reacted to the environmental pollution from a breakfast cereal plant.... they process the Honey Nut derivative. This was following a Peanut challenge at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London. This was part of a research study at Bristol University where they have longitudanal research ongoing in a scheme called Children of the 90's. This looks at a large number of factors including social, physical, environmental, parental to name but a few.

The scheme is run by Prof Jean Golding - you should be able to find a fwe papers - I haven't got any to hand but they are very, very keen on Peanut allergy... our clinician at St Mary's is Dr Gideon Lack - also worth chasing down....

hope this is of interest

cheers

Steve

Here is my story. My son Alex is 4. On Feb.10. We went to his valentines day party at school. Ibrought his treat for him and we thought there were no other peanut products at the party. When we left school he said he did not feel well and threw up. He also said he was a little itchy, so I gave him benedryl and we went home. Everything seemed fine. Then about an hour later he asked to go through his valentines box, and we found candy that had peanut butter,we got rid of it right away. About 15 mins. later Alex got very hyper and out of control and started turning red and we also noticed about 4 or 5 hives on and around his lips. I went and got the epi pen ready and within the next 5 mins. His eyes were swelling and he started to complain his throat was itching. His voice also sounded like it had a frog in it. I gave the epi and called 911. He seemed fine when the paramedics got there, but still went to the hospital. It took us 15 mins. to get there when the epi wore off and his reaction was ten times worse. He was having blood pressure problems and oxygen problems. To make a long story a little shorter we went home 3 hours later, but the reaction lasted a week even on prelone and attarax. Then two weeks later I gave him a piece of cantalope and within 5 mins. had about thirty very small hives around his mouth. I then gave him attarax and when the reaction got worse I gave him Epi again. We then went through the whole thing again, but not quite as bad as the last. Alex had had only one other paramedic ride when he was 18 months and that was for actually tasting peanut. Alex is allergic to peanuts, treenuts, eggs, all fish, coconut, and seasme. I hope this helps.

I'm an adult who has been allergic to tree nuts all my life. Usually I can either avoid the questionable food or immediately take Benadryl and wait until the throat swelling goes away. However, a couple of years ago, I had a very frightening and completely surprising reaction that you may be interested in.

I was at my company's holiday party and ate the desert after first checking for nuts. The desert was nut free but apparently the curl of chocolate on top had hazelnuts which I'm extremely allergic to. So I popped some Benadryl right away and the symptoms vanished so quickly that I forgot about the incident after a while.

Later that evening after dancing, I was thirsty so I got a glass of plain orange juice at the bar. Immediately, with the first sip, I could feel my throat swelling, my blood pressure dropping, my vision going, etc. I also ended up with hives, which I hadn't had since I was a child. Also, most embarassingly, I was producing an astonishing amount of saliva so I went into the bathroom so I could spit it out and wait for the reaction to go away -- unfortunately most people thought I was drunk! I did ask a colleague who also worked in an emergency room if I should go to the hospital and he said that if I wasn't dead yet, I probably had passed the worst so I ended up just going home (so sorry, I ended up with no documentation!) It took over a day for the swelling to go completely away from my throat and for the hives to disappear.

I did some research later (I'm a medical librarian by profession) and did run across an article from a medical journal saying that reactions can be additive, and that things that people aren't normally particularly reactive to can trigger a large reaction. The article specifically mentioned citrus as one such trigger. Also, I know from getting allergy shots for pollen allergies that exercise is not recommended for several hours after allergy shots because it can trigger reactions. I'm sorry, I don't have a reference for the article but it was probably written in the late 80s or early 90s. I now make a point of avoiding exercise and allergenic foods for about 24 hours after I've eaten nuts.

And no, I didn't have an EpiPen although I did get one after this episode. Even though I was well aware that it can be fatal, it just seems to be a fact of life and nothing to get worked up over. Mostly, with a few exceptions, it's simply unpleasant. Anyway, I hope others out there will take heart that even a very bad reaction is survivable. And it doesn't have to ruin your life -- I've just learned to ask lots of questions, avoid foods I'm uncertain about and when I do run into trouble (about every 6 months or so, mainly at restaurants), just monitor my reaction. I usually quietly alert someone to keep an eye on me, take my Benadryl and carry on. As long as it's just swollen lips, slightly swollen throat, and once in a while some hives, it's not too bad. So there is some hope for your kids!

Chris... I'm going to call the two hospitals we've been to for anaphylatic reactions... wouldn't mind having a copy of those reports myself!