kids and food allergies

[streak]

My 3 year old gave my wife and I a big scare the other day when she developed this major rash all over her body. It turned out that she was having a pretty major allergic reaction. She didn't seem to mind but I am not used to seeing pancake sized welts all over her body and legs, quarter sized welts on her face and her eyes, fingers and lips bulge up to not natural proportions.

The doctor was great and had her back to normal within hours but now we get to travel with an epi pen everywhere we go kinda worry some that it got to that point another thing we absolutely cannot be with out. plus the fear that play school, day care, grand parents may go some where with her and not remember to bring it with them. Hopefully there will never be a need but relying on others is not my strong suit.

Okay rant over and question time.

Are any of you all in the same situation? Also, when going to a restaurant how do you ensure that they are protected from the trigger food? I ask because we really don't know what the trigger was yet, but most likely either shrimp or peanuts. we have agreed upon dinner dates with others for both tonight and tomorrow at Red Lobster, and a Chinese restaurant which my fear is they will cook her food in a contaminated dish that just cooked shrimp or used gloves that just touched shrimp or that they will use peanut oil in there cooking and not inform us/ understand us. or maybe I am just being an over protective crazy person

 

[n8thegr8]

Welcome to the club, brother. My son is allergic to dairy, eggs, and peanuts. When I say dairy, I don't mean lactose intolerant, I mistakenly poured the wrong milk for him one day and had to use the epipen and spent the evening in the ER. I've never felt so worthless in my life. Needless to say, we are an almond milk family now, lol.

Red lobster is a no-go for us, because literally everything contains dairy. Pretty much the only place we can eat out is Chili's, and they do a good job, just stress the severity of the situation (i.e. "Don't put butter on his chicken or he will die"). Most major restaurants are a lot more allergy-aware now, and willing to make accommodations to people with special dietary needs (they also have allergy menus available online, that's how I found out about Red Lobster).

If we're going some place we don't trust, we just pack him a special lunch and snacks to keep him happy.

No, you're not being a crazy person. I still wash my hands with soap everytime I touch something with peanuts in it. It sucks, but you get used to it. Thankfully, companies are making our lives a lot easier with allergen warnings on product labels and stuff.

 

[streak]

Man, that is scary. good to hear that restaurants seem to be on the front side of this. No dairy would be a killer in this house. But I guess you do what you have to for your kids, no matter the cost.

do you have any suggestions on an allergy specialist? Her normal doctor is supposed to be sending us a referral and I have a cousin that has given a recommendation to a Dr Chong (Chang?) at Oklahoma Allergy but we are still brand new in the process of this.

 

[inactive]

Tomatoes and strawberries gave my son a rash like like you described, with no discomfort but was scary to see. So don't rule any any fruit if you kids had tried them. He grew out of it though it was scary at the time it was happening.

The only advice I know of at this point is you have to find out what the trigger is. Without knowing that (by stumbling upon it or testing), you have no idea how to avoid it other than just not eating food at all. I don't have any doctor recommendations being as I am Tulsa, but your pediatrician should know of some if they cannot do them in their own office.

 

[castleeleven]

There is a simple venous blood test to find out what allergy you have easily now. It is 3-4 pages long reports of foods, environment, trees, etc report. Talk to your doctor and it can be done by a simple blood test.

My 3 year old gave my wife and I a big scare the other day when she developed this major rash all over her body. It turned out that she was having a pretty major allergic reaction. She didn't seem to mind but I am not used to seeing pancake sized welts all over her body and legs, quarter sized welts on her face and her eyes, fingers and lips bulge up to not natural proportions.

The doctor was great and had her back to normal within hours but now we get to travel with an epi pen everywhere we go kinda worry some that it got to that point another thing we absolutely cannot be with out. plus the fear that play school, day care, grand parents may go some where with her and not remember to bring it with them. Hopefully there will never be a need but relying on others is not my strong suit.

Okay rant over and question time.

Are any of you all in the same situation? Also, when going to a restaurant how do you ensure that they are protected from the trigger food? I ask because we really don't know what the trigger was yet, but most likely either shrimp or peanuts. we have agreed upon dinner dates with others for both tonight and tomorrow at Red Lobster, and a Chinese restaurant which my fear is they will cook her food in a contaminated dish that just cooked shrimp or used gloves that just touched shrimp or that they will use peanut oil in there cooking and not inform us/ understand us. or maybe I am just being an over protective crazy person

 

[streak]

There is a simple venous blood test to find out what allergy you have easily now. It is 3-4 pages long reports of foods, environment, trees, etc report. Talk to your doctor and it can be done by a simple blood test.

That is good info to have, I was imagining her having to sit through hours of the old scratch tests.

 

[n8thegr8]

There is a simple venous blood test to find out what allergy you have easily now. It is 3-4 pages long reports of foods, environment, trees, etc report. Talk to your doctor and it can be done by a simple blood test.

that might be age dependent though. for some reason, we had to do the scratch test with our son (he was only 1yo though, so maybe the age threshold isn't that low). We're taking him back to the Oklahoma allergy center/clinic/whatever next month (sorry, don't remember his doc's name) for his yearly check up. Fingers crossed he might have grown out of some of his allergies....

 

[kerryt1]

We had my son tested around 12 months old because we were trying to determine if something was making his eczema flare up. Turns out he's allergic to peanuts, eggs, and mildly to dogs. Now we carry an epipen also. Had it done at OK Allergy & Asthma clinic near OU Med Center. Supposed to go back after he's two-ish and retest for changes in severity.

Only real issues is idiot family members not thinking about it and trying to feed him stuff. My wife has come up with alternatives to most eqq-containing stuff that he likes...pancakes, breads, etc.

 

[30BulletHoles]

My son has a peanut allergy. Have to be real careful where we eat out and ask a lot of questions. He is 9 and very aware of his allergy. He won't eat food from places he isn't familiar with or take food from people without us checking it out. We take am epipen with us everywhere and have one at his school also.

What pisses me off is how some people act so inconvenienced by his allergy.

 

[subprep]

Tomatoes and strawberries gave my son a rash like like you described, with no discomfort but was scary to see. So don't rule any any fruit if you kids had tried them. He grew out of it though it was scary at the time it was happening.

The only advice I know of at this point is you have to find out what the trigger is. Without knowing that (by stumbling upon it or testing), you have no idea how to avoid it other than just not eating food at all. I don't have any doctor recommendations being as I am Tulsa, but your pediatrician should know of some if they cannot do them in their own office.

My daughter is also very allergic to raw tomatoes, if she touches them she gets a terrible blistering rash, and she is also allergic to shellfish she cannot even touch it. So she gets a job at some fancy sushi restaurant... nice huh!