Questions for doctor

One more thing, my son only had the skin test. Should I request a blood test?
Those with more than one child, after a child tested positive to something did you automatically request testing for the siblings?

Thanks~Heather

Last night when I as on the FAAN website, there was the following warning

FDA Warning: Elidel and Protopic
The Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about a possible risk of cancer in patients using Elidel and Protopic. While it is currently not clear that there is truly a risk, you may want to discuss this issue with your doctor. For more information from the FDA on Elidel, click here, or Protopic, click here.

My daughter has been using Elidel for about 2 years. I am going to talk to my doctor about it.

My son has a PA and tree nuts, we avoid all food that may contain and do not have it in the house. ( I am in Canada) He eats Multi Grain Cheerios as there is presently no warning on them.

When I go to the allergist next month, I am going to request testing for my daughter now that she is 3. I gave them both an M & M Peanut (which is how I found out he was allergic) and she was fine. But I still want the test done.

Hope I answered one of your questions.

I can give you some hope. As time goes on and you learn more you will be more comfortable. I will share my experiences with you.
First, it is my understanding that tree nuts and peanuts are not the same. We have beeen dealing with pa for about 6 years. My son has always enjoyed honey nut cheerios.
Its all about reading and understanding the labeling. The most dangerous is of course a label that states this product contains peanuts. The next one is may contain traces of peanuts. Then the terribly common, this product was manufactured with shared equipment. Sometime you may see a label that says this product was processed in a facility that uses peanuts. If there is no warning or indication of peanut products, we allow our son to eat it. He is not allergic to tree nuts so we allow products with the treenut warning. We do not allow him to eat products with any actual tree nut ingredient. We take manufactured warnings case by case. That is only for in the house, when talking to other parents, we do not give anyone the right to use discretion. This is just me. I allow him to eat cakes and cupcakes in a bakery, but not cookies or doughnuts. Cakes do not usually require peanut products while doughnuts and cookies do.
Wow I may have confused you more.
The moral of my story. Read the labels everytime you purchase food. Everytime, ingredients change. Use common sense. What works for you may not be the same for others. Learn as much as you can and make decisions that are right for you and your family and stand by them. Hope this helps some. Good Luck.

And yes I tested my younger son for PA. It was negative and I was so happy I cried. He doesnt eat any peanut products but has had some at friends houses. He never asks for it because he knows, it can kill his brother.

Canada PA, Multi-Grain Cheerios no longer have a warning on them? They used to be "may contain trace almonds". I stopped feeding them to my children 5 or 6 years ago because of that. Wow, I'm going to have to check the label at the store (as you know I'm in Ontario as well [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] ) because I thought they were the best Cheerios to buy.

As to what questions to ask the doctor, etc., I'll be back in later. I have to think about it.

Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

You will find that everyone has a different way of dealing with PA and you will find your own comfort zone as you learn more and have more experience with the allergies.

My son also ate treenuts (in cereal) before we discovered that he was PA. He did not have any problems with them either. But, we have now eliminated them completely for a few reasons - 1) A lot of treenuts are processed in the same plants and on the same lines as peanuts. I feel there is a huge risk for cross contamination. 2) As a young child, I don't want to confuse my son by giving him other nuts. It would be hard for him to distinguish a peanut from another nut, especially if they were chopped. 3) Treenuts are also highly allergenic so I would rather wait until he is older to introduce them at all. I might consider giving them to him some day as long as he continues to show no allergies and if I shelled them myself.

We also avoid trace amounts and don't eat foods with may contain statements. Based on past reactions, I believe that DS is very sensitive, even to trace amounts. Others may find that trace amounts don't bother them so they continue to eat these items. It is a personal choice.

I would ask for RAST testing. My allergist would have done it on our first visit but DS was quite young. After his second reaction, we did the test to check his levels.

Don't let your guard over your childs safety down ever! I stupidly thought that if I went around and explained to everyone in our familys the severity,what our plan was and for our sons comfort that people would stand behind us. I mean we hardly ever see family and they have all the time when they are not around us to eat peanut products.All we asked is that when in our presences don't eat anything that contains or my contain peanuts. I should've known see my S.I.L. told me she has a child at her job that is allegic to peanuts and the parent always is telling her how to clean, handle, and avoid other kids with peanuts.In her words the mother is "to obsessed and worrys to much". What gets me is she works with kids for the school district somehow.One day a year later my husband went over with our children to his parents house and my S.I.L. stopped by with they,re kids . She proceeded to make P.B& J's for her kids and sent my son outside.After a few minutes her D runs out of the house and makes a bee-line for J in which he jumped out of the way. Thank god my oldest niece grabbed her and then took her into the house to wash her hands(she had it on her hands and smeared all over her face) J was scared he knows how serious (RAST 6) he is ,my hubby brought the kids home. When they got there J was crying and shaking.I saw RED ! After my husband took my car keys away and calmed me down I called my M.I.L. and explained everything.They sat down and talked to her in which she says she forgot and it was an accident.Yeah right!Why did she send him outside? My I.L's. took all peanut products out of the house. She never called to apologize for scaring him because she didn't do it on purpose. To this day J is scared of her and has no trust. I don't trust myself around her and can't stand her. My I.L think I'm being jerk because they believe her "She would never do it on purpose". The I.L. say they stand behind us where the allergy is concerned but things they've done we can't trust them either.We don't trust anyone because you can't and he is not to take anything from anyone no matter what they say.My family included. Its sad that you have to be like that but my son and others with food allergy deserve safety.I don't want to come accross as if I hold a grudge but I wasn't received into my hubbys family. I was judged and found guilty of not being good enough and not doing things they're way. I grit my teeth,grin and bare it but I drew the line. NO IFS ANDS OR PEANUTS.Draw a line where you'll not cross and people should respect that.We now have a family motto Live, Laugh(and we love to laugh), and Love. Best Wishes! Rana4

There is no such thing as a safe (extended) family. Or safe birthday party, or safe friend's visit.
We have got used to storing Lindt and Cadbury's and all sorts of other chocolatey products that well-meaning visitors bring in order to impress us in a cupboard under the stairs, and then just give them to our neighbours... Six years on, my very good friend still brings peanut-containing chocolates. I have given up. It may sound nuts, :-), but I kind of hope that one day I can pay them back somehow... But that would be too wicked.