New here and question about outgrowing PA

I'd recommend "The Parent's Guide to Food Allergies" by Marianne S. Barber. I was able to order it through my library, and it helped me SO much. It covers PA very well because the author's son has it. She discusses food allergies and reactions generally, then devotes a chapter to each major allergen, teaching you what to avoid.

Does avoidance actually HELP the 'outgrowing'? No one knows.

It helps you avoid reactions though [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

Do you need to avoid may contains 100%? YOUR choice.

Some do, some don't.

To start, you could... and you grow into, what is called 'A comfort zone'. You find what works for YOUR situation.

Lastly, the term 'severe' is meaningless IMO, to US... who GET it.

Peanut allergy is peanut allergy and it's life threatening... to all of us. We know the gist of things, kwim?

Meaning: A score on a RAST of .40 could be life threatening... so could a score of >100.

We here have kids with both.

Welcome!!!

Jason

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[b]* Beyond Obsessed * [/b]

i think avoidence of peanuts is essential. that is a very scary allergy. it gets to the best of us. thats why i saought out this message board.

as far as out growing the peanut allergy our allergist told me that there is about a 20% chance of out growing it.

I agree with Jason, know one knows. It's all based on the severity, your child(other health issues, like asthma eczema etc....). I have heard, once it reaches anaphylaxic levels of reactions, the possibility of outgrowing becomes almost zero.

I could be wrong....(as usual, lol!!)

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Chanda(mother of 4)
Sidney-8 (beef and chocolate, grasses, molds, weeds, guinea pig & asthma)
Jake-6 (peanut, all tree nuts, eggs, trees, grasses, weeds, molds, cats, dogs, guinea pig & eczema & asthma)
Carson-3 1/2 (milk, soy, egg, beef and pork, cats, dog, guinea pig)
Savannah-1 (milk and egg)

Honestly, what's it matter what % outgrows vs what doesn't...

Who's to say YOUR child ('your' as in 'ANY of us...') is the X%...

Why live life like that.

Just accept the allergy, and move on. This IS how it IS (at least for now...)

Hope is nice, but don't LIVE that way...

Quote:Originally posted by jtolpin:
[b]Honestly, what's it matter what % outgrows vs what doesn't...

Who's to say YOUR child ('your' as in 'ANY of us...') is the X%...

Why live life like that.

Just accept the allergy, and move on. This IS how it IS (at least for now...)

Hope is nice, but don't LIVE that way...

[/b]

I agree. It's natural for people though to want to get past this someday. I think the best way to focus is for a cure or treatment for everyone.

mfharris - I am sorry about your daughters reaction. It is so scary. Did you know she was allergic to nuts prior to the reaction?

A book, actually it's fairly new(2006), by Dr. Scott Sicherer is "Understanding and Managing your child's Food Allergies".

I do not allow my son to eat any "may contains" and actually feel best when the label actually reads peanut-free! And I only trust what I read, even if it's my mom or my mil, I still double check everything myself. At school he is only allowed to eat HIS food, and no food/treats brought in by classmates, even though his school is "nut sensitive". I cook from scratch as much as I can and we rarely eat out.
We always have 2 epipens and he wears a medical alert bracelet.
You will find your own comfort level, as others have mentioned. A few years ago I would stare at him with every bite, even though I knew I was the one who cooked it!

Even though his RAST may seem low (8/100) that is still considered high, and the number really means nothing. We treat it as if he was 100. I have read under 10 or 15 the chance is better to outgrow it, but I don't hold my breath. We pray and we hope but we don't hold our breath. It's been 4 years this month since we discovered his allergy, and while at the time we felt it was a death sentence and I "mourned" this allergy we have kept healthy and happy.
Chrissy
ds#1 - PA TNA EA
ds#2 - NKA, testing this spring

Thank you everyone for the info - this board is such a great resource!

I will get the books that were recommended -thanks for the suggestions.

This was not her first exposure to peanuts - about two years ago we noticed changes in her skin after eating PB & J, and I didn't think anything of it at first. No allergies in the family, although she did have eczema as an infant. Each exposure (3 since then) has gotten worse. This last time there was congestion in her lungs within an hour, vomitting, diarhea, coughing, complaining that her tongue "really hurts like needles in it."

Anyway, glad I found you guys - I look forward to learning more about this allergy!

I really like the book by Linda Coss- How to manage your child's life threatening food allergies. She has one son with multiple food allergies and another who outgrew some. I really found it useful especially in thinking about dealing with day to day things from a parents perspective who has an allergic child.

Quote:Originally posted by jtolpin:
[b]
Hope is nice, but don't LIVE that way...

[/b]

And from a Rabbi! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/wink.gif[/img]