Anaphylaxis any advice/support?

[fireheart]

So my cousin's son (4) has been diagnosed with a nut allergy to the point of anaphylaxis. I don't know if it's peanuts or tree nuts or both, but what I do know is that my cousin is afraid of socialising on Christmas Day or of him having an anaphylactic attack elsewhere.

She currently lives alone (with her son) interstate so we only see them occasionally. She's afraid of any of us cross-contaminating or being slack or similar. I have my anaphylaxis management certificate and so does (presumably) my sister-we're both first aid trained anyway (her for Scouts and me for my job).

What I'm asking for is threefold:

-What are the things my family needs to be aware of beyond the usual hand-washing and all that?

-Are there any support groups in Australia that might be able to help my cousin out?

-How can we (as a family) provide her with the best support? We're all sort of semi-scattered at the moment: her mother (my aunt) is in Brisbane (but will be flying down for Christmas) and her sisters live in different parts of my hometown. She lives in Perth.

[42_42_42]

Does he have an epipen? If he has that severe an allergy, he should have one on him at all times.

Three of my sister's kids have peanut and tree nut allergies and sis doesn't have a dishwasher and they've never had a cross-contamination problem. They just make sure to wash everything very thoroughly. Unless the aerosol of someone eating nuts in the same room causes a reaction, he should be fine as all long as all foods containing nuts are kept separate.

I do a lot of holiday baking and about half the stuff I make has nuts in it. I just make sure to bake all the non-nut stuff first and store everything separate. When we make platters one is the nuts platter and one is the no-nuts platter. We make sure the kids know which one is the one they can eat from. The kids are all very good about asking if something has nuts in it if they've not had it before.

[fireheart]

Does he have an epipen? If he has that severe an allergy, he should have one on him at all times.

I do believe he does.

One of my goals for next year is to talk to work about having someone from St John's or Red Cross come in and do some first aid training with the kids, particularly in anaphylaxis management. We were going to consider having the police and fire department in as well.

[wolfie]

Also, be sure anyone providing treats (homemade or store-bought) knows what ingredients are present. For example, some people might not know that marzipan (traditional icing for fruitcakes) is basically sweetened almond paste.

[fireheart]

Also, be sure anyone providing treats (homemade or store-bought) knows what ingredients are present. For example, some people might not know that marzipan (traditional icing for fruitcakes) is basically sweetened almond paste.

Wait...the bricks have icing?

We don't do fruitcake...the most we do for dessert is Christmas pudding for the adults and icecream for the kiddies and anyone who won't eat icecream.

[wolfie]

Wait...the bricks have icing?

It's not icing - it's mortar.

We don't do fruitcake...the most we do for dessert is Christmas pudding for the adults and icecream for the kiddies and anyone who won't eat icecream.

Ice cream for people who won't eat ice cream?

[dalesys]

Ice cream for people who won't eat ice cream?

Now and zen.

[crazylegs]

I do believe he does.

One of my goals for next year is to talk to work about having someone from St John's or Red Cross come in and do some first aid training with the kids, particularly in anaphylaxis management.

See if the Doc will allow the prescribing of some more - one may not be anywhere near enough to keep him going should he have a reaction and you can guarantee if it's needed if there's only the one then it'll always be in the most difficult place to find.

St John Ambulance would be more than happy to come in to assist with your training & they should be able to tailor the training to your needs

[mathnerd]

I have a severe allergy to tomatoes. Ask Jester how bad it can get. He's seen it. Last night, in fact. My best advice is to read the labels on everything and stay hyper aware of what's going on in your kitchen if he's going to be eating food prepared there. Don't be afraid to be a little obnoxious if you're eating out. That's how I got in trouble last night. I didn't go through my whole speal.

There's a learning curve here. Soon enough the precautions you need to take will become routine.

[kaherbert]

Your cousin needs to talk to the doctor and get help for herself and her axiety YESTERDAY. Her current attitude will cripple this child.

I have the most deadly version of peanut allergy, my parents made sure I could handle living in the real world. I can have a deadly reaction from touching a surface that someone eating peanuts touched a few minutes before.

She needs to ...
Teach the child to read labels. My kinder teacher taught me to scan for the word peanut on labels and then double checked. I can't tell you how powerful that made me feel.

Teach the child to give a full medical history - by 6 I could do this. My cousin and sister were also taught to give my info to medical personnel.

Call restaurants early ask for the manager or chef explain that she is dealing with a potentially deadly reaction and ask if the allergin is used in the food. NEVER eat in Chick Fil A - Their delusional owners believe their peanut oil is pure enough to not cause reactions so they give out misinformation.

As a kid I had a kind of standard uniform for places like airplanes, football games, rodeo, baseball games were lots of peanuts are eaten. Solid closed toed shoes, long pants, short sleeved shirt but with an oversized light weight windbreaker. I could pull my hand up the sleeve for doing things like holding the hand rail or opening a door.

I am going to be honest. I have had people intentionally try to expose me to prove my allergy wasn't real, including New age nut cases who say "It is all in your mind" / "If you just exposed your self you would develop an immunity." BUT I can count those people on my fingers.

Much more common are the people that go out of their way to make sure I'm safe. The restaurant that flags my order and gives me a salad because the fries are fried in Peanut oil, the people on the plane that went out of their way to complain about a flight attendant who yelled at me, when I asked if they had a peanut free snack. The entire section of spectators at a football game that told off the teenaged punks throwing peanuts at me.

[Seshat]

YES, ABSOLUTELY there are support groups in Australia. I can't think of them offhand, unfortunately: I'd have to google.

But I've spoken to representatives of the groups, to do things like find doctors who understand stuff like allergies and senstivities. Bast's digestive problems have almost entirely cleared up; and if she never ever exposed herself to lactose they'd probably clear up completely. How did we find out? Allergy support groups and our doctor taking us seriously when we asked 'hey, might it be this?'.


I don't know the anaphylactic allergies well enough to be able to tell you how much care you need to take. You could do worse than to plan family events with nothing nut-based or nut-related; and to thoroughly clean all surfaces and kitchenware before prepping things for the event. No nuts stored in the same place where anything prepped in advance is stored, either.


An annual family feast (nut-free!) with a first aid training components (for adults as well as children); maintaining certification for the whole family, wouldn't be a bad thing. Ignorance kills, as a bumper sticker St John's has out reminds us.
Invite the trainers to the feast as well.


Edit to add: if you're having it in queensland, my brother is a qualified first aid trainer .. and enjoys feasts.

Edit again to add: PLEASE take the advice of allergy experts over what I said above, regarding preparing family parties. If Bast or I have things we're not supposed to have, we have digestive problems, or I break out in hives. We don't get anaphylaxis, we don't have anything more serious than being sick(er) for a few days.
So please get expert advice.

[Cia]

I have the most deadly version of peanut allergy, my parents made sure I could handle living in the real world. I can have a deadly reaction from touching a surface that someone eating peanuts touched a few minutes before.

Call restaurants early ask for the manager or chef explain that she is dealing with a potentially deadly reaction and ask if the allergin is used in the food. NEVER eat in Chick Fil A - Their delusional owners believe their peanut oil is pure enough to not cause reactions so they give out misinformation.

What in the hell does purity have to do with anything when the oil is made from peanuts and one has a peanut allergy?

[Gizmo]

A friend had Peanut allergy so bad that they couldn't have nuts within a room of her. In hospital they'd take everything away and when she'd partially recovered from the then unknown allergy reaction would replace stuff like the flowers and the bowl of fruit and nuts. Even being in that room and not actually touching the nuts themselves would cause the reactions to come back.

She did once walk into a party venue and then walk back out and call the organiser to tell them to check for nuts... she could already feel a slight reaction from the corridor. Yep, someone had put out nuts without thinking about it even though the core crew were told of the issue. All nuts were removed, all surfaces cleaned down etc and then my friend came in and was ok.

Hopefully the childs allergy isn't that bad....

[Gilhelmi]

I know of an option, but it is expensive.

Specially trained dogs, that are trained to seek nuts on surfaces. They count as service animals. You can take them into a restaurant (or other location) and have them "seek" out nuts.

It might be a bit extreme though, but the option does exist.

[dalesys]

Specially trained dogs, that are trained to seek nuts on surfaces...

That's a new excuse for crotch-sniffing.