Food Allergy: What You Need to Know

This is going to be a longer post than normal, but it is important enough to read the whole thing through. It is something that everybody should be aware of, and taking the time to read this could save somebody's life.

Giving a peanut product to my daughter would be like offering her strychnine. She has multiple severe food allergies, which effect every aspect of our day to day lives. Her most severe and worrisome allergy is to peanuts, it would only take a tiny shard of a nut to cause a life threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis.

Every mother knows the feeling of seeing potential danger everywhere you go, and taking precautions to keep your child protected. Imagine knowing that absolute danger exists everywhere. In every food, on every shopping cart and playground, on every unwashed hand, in every airplane and restaurant...the chance of coming in contact with peanuts or their residue is unavoidable.

My job as her mother is to make the impossible possible and shield her from every dangerous situation. The most I can do is to keep my eye on her and others at all times, carry an ephedrine pen on me at all times (I have two at home, one in the car, and one on me physically always), and educate others about food allergy...since the general population is shockingly ignorant to the seriousness of the condition.


Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) FAQ:

What is a food allergy?
A food allergy is an immune system response to a food that the body mistakenly believes is harmful. Scientists estimate that approximately 12 million Americans suffer from true food allergies.

What is the best treatment for food allergy?
Strict avoidance of the allergy-causing food is the only way to avoid a reaction. There is no cure for food allergies.

What is Anaphylaxis?
Anaphylaxis is a sudden, severe, potentially fatal, systemic allergic reaction that can involve various areas of the body (such as the skin, respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, and cardiovascular system). Symptoms occur within minutes to two hours after contact with the allergy-causing substance but, in rare instances, may occur up to four hours later. Anaphylactic reactions can be mild to life threatening. The annual incidence of anaphylactic reactions is about 30 per 100,000 persons, and individuals with asthma, eczema, or hay fever are at greater relative risk of experiencing anaphylaxis.

What Are the Most Common Food Allergens?
Milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy, and wheat.
(italicized words are my daughter's allergens. In addition, she's also allergic to oranges and pork.)


My Personal FAQ

What steps do you take to decrease your daughter's risk of a reaction?
I talk to everybody we come into contact with about her allergy, carry an EpiPen everywhere, read food labels for absolutely everything that comes near her, refuse to let her play with a child eating a "bad food" (if this is somehow unavoidable I talk to the parent and explain her allergies and ask that they remove the offensive food and wash their child's hands and mouth), inform all airline staff of her allergy (they are not to serve nuts on any flight we're on). The most exreme precaution I am taking is I will be homeschooling my daughter until she's old enough to understand exactly which foods, situations, and people to avoid, and how to use her EpiPen and get help.

Why do you need to be cautious about playgrounds and other children?
This is because my daughter is SO allergic that even coming in contact with residue of offending products has the potential to put her into anaphylaxis. For example, if another child eats a peanut butter sandwich and does not wash their hands and face thoroughly afterward, everything that child touches afterwards leaves a residue. This is extremely dangerous in public settings: the shopping cart at the grocery store, the playground, toys in a waiting room, and even the child himself if he and my daughter play together.

How did you first discover your daughter had a food allergy?
My mother was watching her when she was a baby and unknowingly gave her a taste of peanut butter. She had a reaction from it.

Does your daughter have any other medical problems?
She has severe eczema, which often goes right along with food allergies in children. She often flares up over her entire body, a lot of the time it becomes infected since it's extremely itchy and she scratches. We have to treat it with topical (and sometimes ingested) steroids.

It's quite possible that she is also developing asthma, which I am looking into soon.

Is your son also allergic?
No, as of this writing he has no known food allergies.

Now that I'm aware, what can I do to help other allergic children?
You can greatly decrease the risk of contributing to another child's reaction by taking the following precautions:

- Understand that many food allergies are potentially lethal. Many people just don't get it and brush it off as a person/mother being overprecautious or an attention seeker. Take anybody who says they have or their child has a food allergy seriously.

- Accommodate food allergic people. If you know that an allergic person will be at a get together, try to take steps to ensure the environment will be as safe as possible...do not bring offending foods, bring product labels for all foods that the allergic person can read over, ask every other guest to do the same.

- Do not send your children to school, daycare, playgrounds, or other places where many people gather with products that may affect the allergic child. Since peanut allergy is probably the most common allergy in children, avoid sending peanut products anywhere with your child. If your child has eaten a common allergen before going out in public, please be sure to thoroughly wash his hands and face.

- ALWAYS ask another parent before offering a child any kind of food or treat.

- If you find a child who has been separated from their parents, always check for a medical ID bracelet or necklace. This is not only a smart idea to check for food allergies, but any other serious health problem as well.


Further Reading:

Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network
Food Allergy Initiative
Peanut Allergy
Allergic Child
Kids With Food Allergies