I’ve been a paramedic for 10 years and have treated several people of all ages for symptoms resulting from exposure to food allergens. I can think of 1 case that I would consider “critical”, but even then it wasn’t “life threatening”. Truth is, most folks know they have food allergies and avoid exposure. Children are curious and more apt to test limits, and sometimes this can lead to serious consequences. There are no studies that show that “nut-free zones” are effective, but there is no reason to throw caution to the wind when dealing with the health and well being of children either.
Yes, parents today are overprotective. I know I am. I also allow my kids the room to make mistakes, but not when doing so would risk them physical harm.
Education and supervision are key. I can give a good example.
I was called to a home one night and the patient, a 56 year old woman, was suffering a pretty severe allergic reaction. She had hives all over her face, throat and trunk, was itchy all over, and had a lot of nasal drainage. She told us that she was allergic to shrimp, and had eaten some shrimp for dinner. I asked if she knew previously about this food allergy, or if it was an accidental exposure. She responded that yes, she knew she was allergic to shrimp and had been so for many years, and that she had eaten grilled shrimp and pasta for dinner. Incredulous, I asked her why she knowingly ate the shrimp. She responded that she had purchased the shrimp from a different store than she usually shops in, and she thought that would make it ok.
I’m sorry to hear about your daughter and the many others who truly have a severe allergy to food. I know many families in this situation and I know how difficult it can be to manage your life. There are lots of kids out there where it’s really can be a life-threatening situation. However, there does seem to be an overreaction in the medical community to possible food allergies. I think the problem is that there is no way to completely test a child to see how severe the allergy could be. If they show a reaction to peanuts, for example, then it is likely that every exposure afterwards is going to be worse and so the doctor has to assume the worst and prepare the parents and child to handle a severe reaction.
My neighbor’s daughter is allergic to peanuts. It has been confirmed by an allergy test every year since she was two. However, when they test her the worst that happens is a small rash on her back. She has never had anything worse than a rash. It is possible that she could have a severe reaction at some point in the future and so they have to be prepared for that. However, is it necessary for the entire school to rid themselves of peanut products because of this possibility? I don’t think so.
What I do think is reasonable is that the school set up a peanut policy for handling this situation. They should have peanut free tables at lunch. They should educate the other children about what an allergy does and what they should do if someone is having a reaction. The teachers should be trained to use an epi-pen. But, forbidding peanuts in the whole school is an overreaction in my opinion and an unfair burden on the rest of the parents because of a “possible” reaction.
***School-“It is such a small thing for us to ask you that you not send peanut butter? Little Johnny has a peanut allergy and his mother says he can’t even smell a peanut or he might die.” ***
That crap drives me nuts.
Our daughter has a pretty severe peanut allergy, as well as some additional food allergies. It’s one thing to inform her teachers of her situation and her special needs so they can be reasonably vigilant, it’s quite another to expect that the entire school will be turned upside down and other people will be inconvenienced solely on her behalf.
I’m simply not going to tell your kid what he can or cannot eat in an effort to accomodate my kid…nor, if I can help it, will I allow anyone else to do so on our behalf.
Did you really read the article? It makes vague reference to a couple of studies, but not not state the names of the studies or what they were actually studying or what the studies conclusions were. The author puts the oneous on the reader to do research to find out how genuine the article really is, which I assume you must have done since you imply the article is full of facts. I simply figured the article was just another sensationalist, though not very, view of how society overreacts to things these days, while beating one over the head with the very mentality it is supposedly trying to ridicule.
The labels meaning nothing…to whom do they mean nothing, the vigilent folks that use them as a way to make a choice or those that have no care or worry about it in the first place? A 1 in 10 chance is a rather high risk. That is a number out of the article.
Of course with all things, we like to say how when we were kids none of these things happened with such frequency. Heck all of our friends made it through without problems. Why do we need seatbelts or helmets, we got by without…maybe we might have some other friends today, the ones that didn’t make it, the ones we don’t know because they didn’t.
I deal with these issues constantly in my profession. (Anesthesiology). Patients arrive with a long list of self described “allergies”. I would guess that fewer than 5% of the time have these allergies been tested for or treated by a board certified allergist. Some patients profess life-threatening allergies to substances that our bodies make (epinephrine, glucose). Others are “allergic to all narcotics”, except of course Percocet, Dilaudid and Oxycontin.
I take all of this with a grain of salt…if it is a legitimate allergy then I take reasonable steps to prevent reactions. True allergic reactions are absolutely life threatening, and can kill.
The peanut allergy hysteria is an interesting sociological phenomenon. (Note: I said the hysteria, NOT individuals who have a bonafide, skin reaction proven allergy). An infamous urban legend circulated on the internet about a teenager from Canada with a peanut allergy who died after getting kissed by a boyfriend who had recently eaten a peanut butter sandwich. Very dramatic indeed, except that she was also a severe, noncompliant asthmatic who had spent most of the afternoon smoking dope and refused to go to the hospital…subsequent autopsy and toxicology disclosed NO peanut allergy component.
Our society has grown extremely fearful and allergy hysteria makes a natural fit for our fears. The internet provides a wonderful medium for disseminating these fears.
If a child has a bonafide peanut allergy, then I assume responsible parents have had them seen an allergist and taught them how to use an epi-pen. One also should have fitted them with a medic alert bracelet. Expecting society to confirm to your childs’ allergy is not reasonable, IMHO.
<I do wonder why they classroom needs to be nut free, yet not soy or shellfish, then there are those damn flowers attracted bee’s never heard of a flower free zone.>
Peanuts and treenuts can potentially trigger a reaction from inhalation. The other allergens - just ingestion. Peanut exposure is also more likely to cause a more serious reaction.
<, like kids who grow up with Dogs, or Cats have less allergies ect…>
We had (and still have) a dog and a cat before and during the pregnancy.
It came across as an ass, as he was requesting medical information for a child from a school. He then proceeded to compare a food allergy to a personal dietary choice. If I, or my child, have an allergy, I do not have to present the medical records to you to prove it.
If I notify my daughter’s school that she has an allergy to dairy products that will cause her to suffer an anaphylactic reaction if she so much as sniffs any dairy product within 25 feet, do you think her school will just ban dairy products? Why not? Would I need an allergist’s certification? I mean, so what if it inconveniences others?
<However, there does seem to be an overreaction in the medical community to possible food allergies… What I do think is reasonable is that the school set up a peanut policy for handling this situation. They should have peanut free tables at lunch. They should educate the other children about what an allergy does and what they should do if someone is having a reaction. The teachers should be trained to use an epi-pen. But, forbidding peanuts in the whole school is an overreaction in my opinion and an unfair burden on the rest of the parents because of a “possible” reaction. >
I would say it is the media and overly paranoid parents more than the medical community. I know there is alot of research to try to find the cause of these allergies and to find “cures” whether that is controlled slow exposure or something else. I’ve read that the peanut industry is looking at the peanut gene itself to try to find the source of the immune response. I trust that community and our allergist when she says these are your IgE levels - they are high, here is a prescription for an epipen, carry it at all times, a reaction could be fatal.
But managing it in schools, having a peanut policy, educating fellow students and parents, etc. is the ideal. The backlash from others when a bus is evacuated or an entire school is made nutfree does my daughter no favors.
It certainly is frustrating. We have a dog and a cat. My younger daughter has no allergies (same household and lifestyle). We’re health conscious. One of my reactions upon learning of the allergy was that this can’t be happening to us. This happens to those crazy overprotective parents…
using the example you just gave, what is your answer. tough sh*t to your daughter. she just has to get epi penned and sent to the ER every time it happens. The kids around her get to traumatized that their classmate is being taken away in an ambulance. It is your scenario, what do you suggest?
BTW, I never advocated bans. I merely tried to point out some common niceties that can be extended when a situation arises. You can present your medical info to the school, they cannot release it to non medical personnel, ie I do not get to see your daughter’s records, but may have to abide by an imposed ban when the school is made aware.
The article was largely devoid of facts, just suppositions and occasional statements to make it sound like facts. What are the true facts? I have no idea. I just didn’t see them in the article.
using the example you just gave, what is your answer. tough sh*t to your daughter. she just has to get epi penned and sent to the ER every time it happens. The kids around her get to traumatized that their classmate is being taken away in an ambulance. It is your scenario, what do you suggest?
You said “If I, or my child, have an allergy, I do not have to present the medical records to you to prove it”. You have to present the records to the school. Bernie indicated that did not seem to have occurred in this case.
If a child has a life-threatening allergy to a common environmental substance, then that child, unfortunately, needs to be removed from environments that contain that substance. Allergic to chalk dust? No blackboards. Allergic to paper products? No books. There are limits to what accommodations can be made.
“to you” means to you, not to the school. The school will be aware, if only by the fact, that you have given them a prescription medication and under what circumstances it is to be used. School gets records, they do not release them to parents calling for confirmation on another child.
If Bernie wanted veggie meals, as stated in his response, then he should have done his research and presented it to the school board. Not call up about something else and then throw it out as a red herring to someone that has no control over that issue. Where I live, individual schools do not decide their own lunch plans independent of the district. Maybe it was a private school and as such they had control, I don’t know.
Haven’t seen many chalkboards in my kid’s school. Dry erase fumes might be a problem though. I understand what you are saying, but I am not sure that your example warrants having your daughter removed from the school and sent to a special school supplied by the district. The district will balance the costs and find a solution as that have the responsibility to provide an education to all students. Special Ed is an example.
Would an allergy of this nature be considered a disability?
I see the school as having an obligation to make a reasonable effort to accomodate the child. Banning all peanut products from the school is not reasonable.
I agree, I just thought the response posted above about the converasation with the school was inappropriate.
I know a few folks that talk like that in their everyday life. What they don’t realize is that a large portion of people simply let them ramble on after the first sentence or two and largely ignore what they say. The self righteousness and igdination with which they present themselves doesn’t help their cause as much as they like to think it does.
We’ve probably all been guilty of this at one time or another.
Right, because kids have never ever in the history of the world traded food items at lunch or snack time.
Most things in life are unproven, until you can nail down the exact cause and affect for all interactions. We simply decide to say which are proven, and then try and produce facts, figures and statistics to back our own claims.
I looked at the article…
Dude, if little Johnny has such a severe allergy to peanuts, then trades for a PB&J sandwich, he has a bigger problem than his allergy. Either his parents are morons because they didn’t educate him, or his is a moron for ignoring them.
Say little Jack wants to trade his chocolate cake for Johnny’s pudding. How is poor little Johnny going to know it was made with peanut oil as one of the ingredients. Ah, he pulls out his little CSI gas spectrometer and quickly analyzes it. No thanks Jack, I’ll keep the pudding.
Things that are labelled are easy to check, things that are not…
Insert pithy ingredient here…soy, milk, tree nuts, peanut, wheat, etc
My son’s friends actually tried to turn him into the lunch supervisors when they first joined him at the “elite” table. They thought soy butter was peanut butter. My kids also give me crap if they see a peanut butter jar in my house and “report” me to their mom. They then taunt me with chants of “shrimp, shrimp” and threaten to feed me some.
As a kid, my sister–who does have asthma (runs in my family)–had some allergy tests run. The ones where her back is scraped and some blood tests. Tests came back she was allergic TO. EVERY. SINGLE. THING. Grass. Mold. Cat. Dog. You name it, she was “allergic.”
My parents were flabbergasted. They did things like install gauze over the registers to her room, but we kept our dog. Because she had never had a full-blown, real, honest-to-goodness allergic reaction to anything my parents mostly took a watch and wait approach.
Well, she turns 39 today having made it through life without taking any crazy precautions with only an albuterol inhaler for her asthma and prescription allergy medication (currently flonase).
I guess what I’m saying is be a little skeptical of those tests your allergist runs. Your allergist has a vested interest ($$$) in your child having an allergy that needs to be monitored.
Say little Jack wants to trade his chocolate cake for Johnny’s pudding. How is poor little Johnny going to know it was made with peanut oil as one of the ingredients. Ah, he pulls out his little CSI gas spectrometer and quickly analyzes it. No thanks Jack, I’ll keep the pudding.
Things that are labelled are easy to check, things that are not…
Insert pithy ingredient here…soy, milk, tree nuts, peanut, wheat, etc
My son’s friends actually tried to turn him into the lunch supervisors when they first joined him at the “elite” table. They thought soy butter was peanut butter. My kids also give me crap if they see a peanut butter jar in my house and “report” me to their mom. They then taunt me with chants of “shrimp, shrimp” and threaten to feed me some.
Gee I don’t know. Maybe his parents actually teach the kid NOT TO FUCKING TRADE HIS LUNCH OR HE WILL GET SICK. Once again, instead of actually teaching the kid to not do something stupid, the parents think that everybody else in the school should modify their behavior.
As to your kids, Dude, you need to get some scene control. Seems to me the kids are supposed to answer to the parents, not the other way around. If my daughter told me to get rid of peanut butter because her friend was allergic to peanut butter, I would have to laugh. Then I would ask her if her friend was smart enough not to eat my peanut butter. If the answer to that question was no, I’d have to insist that she find some smarter friends.
You said “If I, or my child, have an allergy, I do not have to present the medical records to you to prove it”. You have to present the records to the school. Bernie indicated that did not seem to have occurred in this case.
Ken,
Thanks for actually reading what I wrote. You have cracked the case. In my case, the district was going about this busines SOLELY on what this mother was SAYING…not by any actual evidence that there was a true medical condition.
As a paramedic, I go to schools all of the time for 911 calls alleging peanut allergy reactions. In 17 years, I have never seen a case of anaphylaxsis from a peanut allergy. Most every case I see is vomitting and nausea. N/V is bad enough and we treat it like an emergency that it is, but that can be caused from hundreds of things…not necessarily peanuts.
To be clear, my position is that if a school district is going to make a policy whereby every student in the district is going to be affected, they need to do their own deligence. I never said that I required to see the medical records of the student. I did want to make sure that the district had seen them though. In this case, they had not.
Right dude, because every fucking kid, to use your words, does everything their parent tells/teaches them. That is why we have no teeange sex/drinking/drug use issues at all. Or, maybe we are telling our kids to do all those things as soon as they can.
Control issues…kids do answer to parents, however, they also have some free choice and are allowed to have some give and take fun with their mom and dad. Teaching them responsibility is not a matter of ordering them around. They know I like shrimp, unfortunately, I also developed an allergy to it a couple of years ago. When we are having silly time, all is fair, and everyone is allowed to say when enough is enough.