Monday, October 15, 2007

Huevos, Leche, y Cacahuetes

That's Spanish for eggs, milk, and peanuts all of which Jamie is officially allergic to. Today we saw an allergist who did a skin test to confirm the blood test results. (I am not sure why they needed to do a skin test in addition to the blood-but they did) While the results of the blood test showed that James has very low levels of allergy, the skin test indicated that he actually has a severe allergy to peanuts.

Most children outgrow milk allergies by the age of 3-the same can be true for egg. Only about 15-20% of kids get over peanut allergies. The doctor gave us a prescription for cortisone cream because he said sometimes children with allergies get eczma in the winter. He also gave us one for two epi pens. Since James is at home he said that we don't need to fill it since we are able to effectively monitor what he is eating. However he said, if for some reason we changed our minds and James was in daycare-he recommended we fill it.

I'm totally not worried about the whole allergy thing at home-but I feel scared to death about him eating anywhere else. What's great is that this day and age people are more aware of allergies and it is very common to find several kids in a classroom with a nut allergy. What's not so great is that some people don't understand how fatal allergies can be. Take for example a trip to an ice cream shop. Your child is allergic to nuts so you order him bubblegum flavor. Safe? Not when the attendant grabs the scoop from the communal cup of water. The same scoop that was just used to serve peanut butter cup ice cream to the little girl before. This is why I am scared.

In other news-speaking of cooking and eating, over at An Island Review, Kailani is giving away not one, but two copies of the fabulous new book, Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. Enter by October 19th! This book is flying off of shelves everywhere! Go and leave a comment for a chance to win. (I did!)

3 comments:

Jessica said...

I'm so confused. Didn't you say before that you've given Jamie peanut butter on multiple occasions? If he has a severe allergy to peanuts, wouldn't you have discovered this tidbit of info via an emergency room visit? Have the doctors been able to shed more light on this for you?

Anonymous said...

i'm confused about that too. how did your doctor explain james' grand enjoyment of pb?

and, since i work on the topic of asthma for my job, i often come across issues of allergies. one of my favorite organizations that works on this is called the Allergy and Asthma Network/Mothers of Asthmatics (they do more than just asthma): http://www.aanma.org/

and then there's the similarly-named Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America: http://www.aafa.org/

good luck, joannie. :)

theresa said...

I don't mean to scare you but I would get those epipen prescriptions filled--just in case. Better to be prepared than not. Accidents happen--cross contamination occurs at the manufacturing plant--the epipen is your only line of defense. I know this because when I got my first prescription for an epipen, I thought it was not for us. That was for someone with a severe allergy and that wasn't my kid. I was wrong. You never know when his reaction is going to change from manageable to severe.
Better to be safe than sorry.