Outgrew allergy two years ago but won\'t eat peanuts. What to do?

Hi AmyR,
I have also read that kids that have outgrown PA should eat peanut products....but I also read recently that they're finding that PA can return in some of these kids.

I have read here of kids who refused peanut butter, etc. long before their parents knew they were PA. Any chance that this is what has happened to your son? Could he be allergic again, and this is why he's refusing any peanut product?

Just a thought.

This is what first came to mind when I read your post, too.

Here is some info- early studies thought monthly but it may need to be more frequent ingestion than that. More info should be available pending the results of Dr. Burks oral immunotherapy study if tolerance is achieved in the study group. In the second article the study links are about halfway down. I'd be careful about introducing peanut at home after a long abstinence and consider if your allergist could do an oral challenge in a medical facility- depending on the IgE values.
[url="http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/11_09a_04.html"]http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/11_09a_04.html[/url]

[url="http://www.allerg.qc.ca/peanutallergy.htm#desnew"]http://www.allerg.qc.ca/peanutallergy.htm#desnew[/url]

If you feel better with him having peanuts, can you sneak it in other ways? May contains? Not quite the same BUT at least it's something.

Good luck and congratulations!

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Mommy to Aiden (1/26/05) PA,wheat,barley,soy,egg and others yet to be discovered and Connor (7/21/06) with possible egg allergy

Maybe have him tested and when it proves negative have the doctor talk to him about the importance of eating peanut products.

Could you tell us his story? How long he had the allergy, RAST/spt #'s. Did you supplement with anything special? Did he have other allergies or asthma?

Thanks!

Some of you may have already heard my story so I will try to be brief. At my son's 1st birthday party, I served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The day before at his check up, my pediatrician said he could have peanut butter since he was one year old. Well, he was sitting in his high chair loving the sandwich. After eating a quarter of a sandwich, he seemed to want more. When I came back with another quarter of a sandwich, I noticed that he had a few large hives on his forehead and cheeck and all down his neck. I called the pediatrician immediately, who said to give benedryl and that is all we needed. Luckily, my brother-in-law who flew in from Dallas traveled with Benedryl. The ironic part is that I was so nervous after this that I wouldn't let my son have any of his birthday cake. Come to find out that the cake was made with peanut flour!

We had a blood test (RAST) and peanut came in at 5.46. My son has no other allergies but did have exema as a baby and toddler for that matter. We were very careful with products and as far as I know he was never exposed to peanuts or may contain items. There were one or two times when I wondered if he had a reaction (rash) but don't really believe so. Over the years we did a few skin tests and when it became negative, we followed up with a blood test which was also negative. That brought us to the oral challenge at Children's Hospital when he was 6 1/2 years old.

At the beginning of the challenge he actually liked the taste of peanut butter. I think it got a bit old (and dry) by the time he was eating teaspoonsful. I recently asked my son why he wouldn't eat peanut products and he said he doesn't like the taste. I wonder though if he has some fears too that he isn't articulating. I buy this nut mix at Costco which he loves and he has me take out the peanuts. The other items he is eating came in contact with the peanuts so he must be inhaling small amounts anyways.

At this point, I don't feel comfortable sneaking peanuts into his food. He is almost 9 years old now and it wouldn't fly. I think he would also lose trust in me and after one bite, he would figure it out anyways. So here I am wondering if there is anything I can do.

The problem with all this allergy stuff is there are no hard facts yet. i.e. the reappearance of PA in people who have outgrown.

Maybe consult a Dr. or researcher who believes that PA outgrowers must eat some peanut. How much do they recommend? I don't see the betrayal of putting a little in secretly -- a little Peanut flour in the cake, if you believe he needs it. If he is reacting he won't like the cake. Moms do this with zucchini all the time.

I do think it is hard to get over the psychological aspect. My son outgrew eggs and sesame. I still cringe when he has those items.

I am not allergic to PB. I don't think I will ever see PB as anything but an enemy for the rest of my life.

...not that it's healthy...

but what about peanut containing chocolate candy like snickers or reeses?

or a teaspoonful of PB with about 5-6 chocolate chips on top?

...but I also think there is something to "not liking the taste" and fear of being allergic again.

I'd seek out an allergist who can recommend how much to have to stay desensitized. Maybe it's a pea size amount every week or something - that can certainly be hidden in some other food [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

Adrienne

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30-something survivor of severe peanut/tree nut allergy

Thanks for your input. I think I will talk to my pediatrician at my son's check up in January so see if I should be concerned. Maybe he'll want to do a blood test. I can also check with my allergist to see what he has to say. Maybe he has a good understanding of how much PB needs to be exposed. Not sure what I will do with the information though since he won't eat it anyways.

I have tried to offer candy, PB cookies, and other sweets but he refuses. In fact, I bought a cookie for him tonight while he was at baseball practice. I ended up buying a sugar cookie but really wanted to purchase the PB cookie right next to it. I knew I would end up throwing it out though so I didn't bother.

I'm starting to wonder... DS and I were in the car coming home from a birthday party today. In his goodie bag was a bag of Cracker Jacks. DS asked me what they were. I told him it was caramel popcorn. I debated whether I should tell him they had peanuts in them because I knew he would be turned off if I did. Then I got a bit nervous that I didn't tell him. So DS opened the bag and immediately said, "why does it smell like peanut butter"? He associates any peanut smell with peanut butter. I told him there were peanuts in there too but they were separate. He said he didn't want any but I suggested he try a piece of popcorn. He took one bite and said it was good and about 1 second later he decided he didn't like the taste. I'm assuming that this can't really count as being exposed to peanuts and even if it is, it is too miniscule. If something came in contact with peanuts, do you think that is an exposure? I think I need to run this by my allergist. I wonder if he will care that DS won't eat peanuts. He has call hours in the a.m. which I can't do tomorrow but I'm hoping to remember for Tuesday morning.

I'm starting to wonder... DS and I were in the car coming home from a birthday party today. In his goodie bag was a bag of Cracker Jacks. DS asked me what they were. I told him it was caramel popcorn. I debated whether I should tell him they had peanuts in them because I knew he would be turned off if I did. Then I got a bit nervous that I didn't tell him. So DS opened the bag and immediately said, "why does it smell like peanut butter"? He associates any peanut smell with peanut butter. I told him there were peanuts in there too but they were separate. He said he didn't want any but I suggested he try a piece of popcorn. He took one bite and said it was good and about 1 second later he decided he didn't like the taste. I'm assuming that this can't really count as being exposed to peanuts and even if it is, it is too miniscule. If something came in contact with peanuts, do you think that is an exposure? I think I need to run this by my allergist. I wonder if he will care that DS won't eat peanuts. He has call hours in the a.m. which I can't do tomorrow but I'm hoping to remember for Tuesday morning.

Can you try to reason with him that it was such a lucky thing that he outgrew the allergy....that eating a little pb could help him remain non pa?
Tell him about all the kids who sit at different tables, can't participate in eating whatever is out, about always carrying epi pens etc.
Tell him how fortunate he is to not have to worry about it anymore. That eating a couple things with peanut will benefit him...

That's an interesting thought. I have not told him that eating peanuts could help keep him non allergic and that not eating peanuts could actually bring back the allergy. That is a thought but I wonder if that could scare him to the point where he would then be afraid to try peanuts. I personally don't care if he avoids eating peanut products other than the fact that I don't want the allergy to come back. I guess my fear is what if he eats something with peanuts some day (either because he wants to or without knowing) and he ends up with a reaction. At that point, nobody will be prepared for it.

Yes, I definitely see your plight here. I don't know what I would do....I would feel horrible if I snuck it into his food, but I would be pretty motivated to keep his non allergic status.
The fact that he doesn't care for the smell or taste does give me some hesitiation because people often say this when they are allergic to a food.
Let us know how things work out.

Perosnally, I think you should tell him what the risks are if he doesn't and respect it. You really want your kid to trust you, whatver happens.

K9ruby - I couldn't agree with you more. Trust is the most important thing. Maybe I'll have a conversation with him. I don't want to make him nervous about being exposed to peanuts though. Since I don't know of any real exposure in over two years, how do I even know he is still non-allergic? I assume he isn't allergic but how do I really know? I know he has smelled peanuts plenty of times and probably ate may contains (of course that doesn't mean the product had peanuts). He has also had food that touched something with peanut but again that may not be even ingestion. I would kick myself forever if I explained all this to him and then had him eat something only to find out the allergy is back. I really have no idea how long it could take for someone to abstain from peanuts and re-develop the allergy.

That being said, I recognzie I am in a much better situation those all those people out there who are still living with allergies day in and day out. I don't want to minimize what others are dealing with. I just wish I had better facts concerning what happens when a child outgrows the allergy but won't expose himself to the product.

I was able to get DS to try a peanut Thanksgiving Day (although it wasn't easy). We were at my parents' house and there was a bowl of "peanut sesame crunchies" which is some sort of hard shell with a peanut inside. I told my mother that DS won't eat any peanuts. She told him to try one and offered him a fistful of skittles if he did. He was so torn. He loves skittles and really wanted them but he didn't want to try the peanut. He finally bit into the outside shell but didn't get any peanut. I was shaking during this because even though he has outgrown the allergy, I do worry that it will re-surface. He kept saying he didn't want to eat it but finally did. In the end, he didn't like it at all. I asked if he would have more peanuts again and he said, "maybe for skittles". He has since changed his mind.

Here is my question - is one peanut enough of an exposure? I know ideally I need to get him to eat peanuts frequently but I'm wondering if one peanut each time is enough. He seemed completely fine eating the one peanut. The only thing I noticed is that about an hour later, he was scratching the back of his knee. This is where he used to get exzema as a toddler and I think still may when it is warm out (although it certainly isn't warm anymore). I asked him how long he had been itchy there and he said it had just started. I do vaguely remember seeing that area slightly irritated a few days earlier but now I'm not really sure if that is true. I put hydrocortisone on it and he was fine. The next night he asked for more. I also noticed him scratching the next day because he has these little non-colored, non descript dots on his arms, chest and back. I think it is dry skin.

Anyways, I searched on skippy's website and calculated that there are apprxomimately 9 peanuts in every teaspoon of peanut butter. So do you think that one peanut is a strong enough exposure to keep his allergy from returning?

I guess I can see why you would want your child to eat peanuts if tests show he has outgrown the allergy and this would keep it from returning, but as a life-long PA, just the thought of ever eating a peanut makes me feel like gagging. The smell of a peanut or of peanut butter is so unpleasant it would be like trying to eat worms only worse. I don't think this is psychological, but maybe it is. Anyway, it's possible your son may be experiencing this same strong revulsion to peanuts, even if tests show he's no longer allergic to them.