new at this and lost

Hi, I'm glad you found this forum! You will find lots of useful information and many experienced people here to lend you advice and support.

You are describing a fairly mild reaction, but with food allergies reactions can vary a lot from one exposure to another. In other words, next time your child could have a more severe reaction.

Your doctor did the right thing prescribing the epipen. Make sure you keep it with your son at all times and do get him tested.

If he is allergic to peanuts, he may have a better chance of outgrowing the allergy if you strictly avoid exposing him to peanuts.

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Mom to 6 yr old PA/TNA daughter and 2 1/2 yr old son who is allergic to eggs.

That describes my son's first reaction to a tee...only he was just over 2 years old. Although I don't post here much, you have found a great place here, with such wonderful people, who will help you navigate through everything.

Hi, my son had a similar reaction at 18 mo. I gave hima pb cracker and he had red blotches near his mouth and eye. I didn't give him Benadryl but it went away in about 15 min. I hoped it wasn't PA but when I got the results from his blood test he was a level 5! It is definitely a daily challenge- it has only been 4 months since he was diagnosed but each day gets easier. I don't post often but this site definitely helps especially with safe foods and restaurants!

Hi! You are not lost anymore, you have found us!!

What you described is just how my son reacted the first (3) times. All at day care, the first time, we had no idea what caused it. The second time she mentioned they had PB crackers. Well, when they called the third time (each about 1 month apart) we determined it was no doubt peanut butter. He was about to turn one. So, at his one year check up, I mentioned to the doctor that my son would get hives and red, swollen eyes when he ate PB, the doctor explained about peanut allergy. Uh Oh!!

That was 11 years ago, he is twelve and has had several reactions (all with very minute amounts) and each reaction has gotten worse.

Never had to use an epi-pen, however, I really should have the last reaction. That was 4 years ago. He is now allergic to peanuts and cashews and has outgrown his other multiple food allergies. None of the other allergies where "ana" allergies (that can cause an anaphylactic reaction).

Anyway, all this to say, yes, you described a very common first reaction.

You are in the right place! Read, read and then read a little more!! If you have any questions, jump in, everyone here "gets" what you are going through.

Have a blessed day!
Bridget

I consider myself new at this and he was diagnosed a year and a half ago. My question is to the person who said strict avoidence of peanuts will help child grow out of the allergy. I have not heard this before. Is this a medical fact? If so that is great. We avoid all peanuts/nuts in our house.

Also about a reaction as being mild. My son ate one M & M peanut and then he slowly over a period of two hours got a severe rash. It started out as mild and then spread quickly. I had no Benedryl so I gave him Claritan which just took about 1 1/2 hrs to work. I would consider this a mild reaction. He did not need the EPI. BUT...... after thinking over what happened at the hospital. His blood pressure was quite low when we got there. This is from what I understand a sign of anaphlyatic (sp?) which makes me nervous. This is one sympton that you can't monitor at home so if he has another reaction I would use the EPI even if it seemed mild? I don't know. It is so hard to know what the right thing is to do.

Thanks for everyones support!

Quote:Originally posted by CanadaPA:
[b]My question is to the person who said strict avoidence of peanuts will help child grow out of the allergy. I have not heard this before. Is this a medical fact? If so that is great. We avoid all peanuts/nuts in our house.[/b]

Supposedly there is a 20% chance of outgrowing peanut allergy but these kids generally aquire the allergy very early in life (i.e. during breastfeeding) and have very low positives. In addition, our allergis, Dr. Wood said that they would have to outgrow it by the time they are 4 or 5. After that, it would be highly unlikely for them to outgrow it.

If your child has a very low RAST score and is still very young (you didn't mention his age) there is a slight chance of outgrowing. But the main reason for strict avoidance is to prevent anaphylaxis which is so unpredictable. The second reason might be in hopes of outgrowing however, even strict avoidance does not mean he would likely outgrow it.

[b][quote]BUT...... after thinking over what happened at the hospital. His blood pressure was quite low when we got there. This is from what I understand a sign of anaphlyatic (sp?) which makes me nervous. This is one sympton that you can't monitor at home so if he has another reaction I would use the EPI even if it seemed mild? I don't know. It is so hard to know what the right thing is to do.[/b][quote]

When you say the he had a "low" blood pressure, it's hard to know what that mean. Some people tend to run low blood pressures. Children's blood pressures tend to be low anyway.

Low blood pressure is one symptom of anaphylaxis but a low blood pressure alone does not mean anaphylaxis. In fact, I believe that it is a "late" symptom. In other words, you would see more distressing signs first such as breathing difficulty and swelling of the throat first.

If your son is having a reaction, determine the symptoms. My son's allergist advised us that if he has only hives but NO other symptoms or a rash, you can give Benadryl and watch him [i]closely[/i] for ten minutes. If after 10 minutes, the symptoms have not improved or certainly if they have gotten worse, give Epipen. (This plan may or may not be suggested by your son's allergist. This was simply our plan.)

Use the epipen immediately if you see:

-Difficulty breathing
OR
-Any complaints about throat or tongue itching or swelling.
OR
-Any two symptoms (i.e. hives and vomitting, or wheezing and vomitting, or swelling of the lips and itchy throat, etc.)
OR
-Whenever in doubt, just use the Epipen.

Then call 911.

Check out the food allergy network for more info.
[url="http://www.foodallergy.org"]www.foodallergy.org[/url]

Good luck!

Since you were talking about blood pressure being low, remember the post awhile ago about posturing during reactions?
I have heard that people should be laying down with feet up to help avoid drop of blood pressure.

Yes, I remember reading that too. Good point to add into the emergency plan when giving to caregivers.