Print this out :& give to your teachers

I'm looking for a list of alternative snacks
that i can include in my sons school newsletter. Snacks that are nut free choices to take some of the guess work out for parents of non-allergic children. I
realize that ingredients change on a regular
basis and that we must always read the
ingredients, but I would like a list to give
people some ideas, as well as keeping the
topic on their minds...thanks in advance

Thanks for the link! I copied it and it goes into my ever-growing file of info for starting school. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

That's a really exceptional and thorough article...lots of info AND lots of humanity. Usually it's one or the other. This one is now atop my A-list. Thanks for sharing it.

I just read the article and I am trembling, crying, basically falling apart. I can't stand reading words like "deadly", "fatal", "kill", etc. I know pretty much everything there is to know about peanut allergy, but I still always lived in my own kind of denial, believing (or trying to believe) that only a small amount of peanut reactions would end up being deadly. That article made me realize that I could lose my daughter. I need help.

Hi Tina H - I hope you're feeling a little better today. We all have our "worst nightmare" moments, but hopefully you will realize that fatal reactions are EXTREMELY RARE. This article was written for teachers so they would take the allergy seriously, and it needs to be scary. It's not telling us anything we don't know, just trying to educate the people who spend the day with our precious children.

mkruby has her own website which provides support and compassion for people who need help dealing with their children's allergies. Please visit her website, email her and get some reassurance. [url="http://www.leighruby.com"]www.leighruby.com[/url]

Please take care - I'm sending you an electronic hug and pat on the back!

Mom,
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I don't know what I would do without your support and all the support of others on this board. I have good days and bad days. Lately, there seem to be more bad than good. Yesterday should have been a good day. Here's what happened. First, I was sent a fax about my daughter that was sent to every TV station in Chicago. It was a press release about her singing the National Anthem at Balmoral Race Track on Saturday night. It started with "9 Year Old Child Sensation From Highland Park, IL To Sing The National Anthem at "Super Night" 2000!" It went on to say that her rendition of the song will send chills up your spine. Then, a minute later, I got a phone call from an agent asking her to audition for a movie next week about Shirley Temple's life. So, instead of being excited and happy and leaving it at that, I decided to read all of the medical documents about peanut allergy. And, I fell apart. It seems as though whenever she does something to bring me tremendous joy, I worry the most about losing her. I really can't explain why. Saturday night, she will sing in front of 10,000 people at the racetrack, and possibly in front of millions on TV. And the whole time, I'll be thinking about this awful peanut allergy. I know life isn't fair. I just wish all of our precious children didn't have this allergy. I can't seem to live with this fear. I wish I were stronger. I wish I didn't obsess over it, but I do. I do everything I can not to make her crazy. I cry in private. I'm crying now. I have been dealing with her allergy for eight years, and she's had no accidental exposures. But, her reaction at one year of age was very severe. I know that if she ever had another reaction, it would be dangerous. I just can't get that thought out of my mind. How do you and everyone else who reads this deal with the fear? (By the way, before I found out about her allergy, I was really a very happy, normal person. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Well, I am living proof that that isn't so!) Anyway, sorry for rambling. I guess the only thing I can do is live one day at a time and wait and pray for the vaccine. Oh, one more thing...You mentioned that deaths are extremely rare. Why does all of the literature talk about the fatal nature of this allergy? From reading those papers, I start to think that all peanut reactions will be deadly if not treated immediately with epi. Is that true?

Tina,

Just by reading the posts on this board you can see that not all reactions are deadly - and my daughter is proof that even severe ones can resolve themselves totally on their own. Before we knew of Erin's allergy, she reacted in a way that now would have me freaking out and reaching for the epi-pen - she had hives and itching all over, threw up, had diarrhea, sneezed 30 times in a row, then got REALLY sleepy and took a nap - I know now that that was caused by a dangerous drop in blood pressure. But, guess what - an hour later she woke up and it was as if nothing had ever happened. I hadn't even given her any Benadryl. I thought she was getting scarlet fever or something - an allergy never occurred to me at the time (even though she had just eaten a Butterfinger candy - duh! - but I knew NOTHING about peanut allergy then). My point is, as it's been said before on this board, "hope for the best, prepare for the worst", but realize that this allergy, without minimizing its severity, is not predictable and that the vast majority of all reactions are not deadly.

I hope this helps and I hope your talented daughter becomes incredibly famous and can raise even more awareness about p.a.!

Jackie

Tina H - The medical reports and articles discuss fatal reactions because they are trying to prevent them from happening to someone else, much the same way we have inquests into a needless death. We learn from our mistakes, and make life safer for others.

There is a report on the "RESEARCH" thread from the United Kingdom that discusses PA and several contributing factors to fatal reactions. From what I rememeber, none of the victims used an Epipen within 30 minutes of the onset of anaphylaxis. When you feel strong enough to read this report, remember that if we don't learn anything from these deaths about keeping our kids safe, these people will have died needlessly. We have to keep obtaining knowledge about PA and hope and pray for a cure.

Try to focus on the positive aspects of your daughter's life, and don't let her become defined by her allergy. You must be bursting with pride over her accomplishments - enjoy it! If you can't seem to shake the doom and gloom PA cloud, counselling is wonderful. These boards are great for general support, but talking to someone one on one and being given tools to deal with your anxiety on a daily basis will make all the difference.

I applaud your efforts to keep your concern from your daughter. You are clearly trying to act in her best interests, even though it is very difficult for you. I am a very optomistic person (the glass is half-full!) and even I have my dark moments. I just want to reassure you that your concern is normal and fully understandable, but if you could find a way to make it manageable, you will be much more at ease.

My husband says that if I worry about something long enough, if seems to happen. I was always concerned with PA and kept peanut butter away from my daughter till she was almost 3 yrs. My husband thought I was being overcautious - and look what happened! She's very clumsy and I worry about her falling and knocking her teeth out - sure enough, at a wedding this summer she went running around the dance floor, fell and knocked 3 of her front teeth loose! So please stop worrying! I know I'm trying to think positive thoughts - I'll send some your way! Take care Tina.

Carolyn

Carolyn and Jackie,
You have made me feel so much better. I think I am going to turn off this darn computer and go out to lunch. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] I know that I'll be ok. I have to be. I promise that someday, if ever any of you are down, I will become the strong one to help you as you've helped me. Honestly, I am normally not a gloom and doom person. We all love our kids equally. If you guys can hold yourselves together, well...so can I!