My New Allergy World - It's Way More Than a Sneeze

This September Junior tasted his first and last lick of peanut butter sandwich. After taking the tiniest lick of peanut butter I've ever seen, he pushed his sandwich away and wouldn't eat anymore. Five minutes later he had hives going down the back of his neck, his face was swelling, and he started having trouble breathing.

The ER pumped him full of Benadryl, steroids and epinephrine... after several hours of observation we were able to leave with the advice that we contact an allergist and pick up an Epipen as soon as possible.

We've met with the allergist and boy have our lives changed!

Junior is highly allergic to...

peanuts

and

eggs

and mildly allergic to most

tree nuts.

So, now a visit with us is going to be even more exciting than it already was. I promise I will try not to be a nag, but I will have to ask about every product used in the cooking process... right down to your butter - some use peanut oils instead of vegetable.

But, I'll start you off with the basics, so you'll know what to expect.

Peanuts:

Always read every label to see if peanuts are listed in the ingredients.

Always read the label to see if the product was made in a factory that also processes peanuts - if this is the case it's still a "no-no."

Key words in ingredient lists would be:

artificial nuts, beer nuts, cold pressed - expelled - extruded peanut oil, goobers, ground nuts, mixed nuts, monkey nuts, nutmeat, nut pieces, peanut, peanut butter and peanut flour.

Foods that the doctor suggested we avoid (unless we make it at home - completely from scratch - and know every ingredient) include:

African, Asian (esp. Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese), and Mexican dishes

(So glad Korean food isn't on the list - but I can make it from scratch and I've never used peanut oil in what I make)

baked goods (pastries, cookies, etc. - Handsome Hubby is really gonna miss his early morning donut runs for the kids)

candy (especially chocolates)

chili (who knew they used peanuts to thicken chili? I didn't until I came home and found out how deadly it could be to someone with a peanut allergy)

egg rolls

enchilada sauce

peanut flavorings - natural and artificial

nougat

And really there's more, but I think that's enough for day one.

In fact, I thought I'd share my information for each allergy today, but now I see separate posts will be much better.

So, tune in next week for everything you ever wanted to know about egg allergies - some of the info will shock you! It did me :)