Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Information – Online TV and Podcast Blog

Another of our newsletter subscribers Renee from Brisbane has asked a fantastic set of questions.

Basically Renee has just found out that one of her twin boys has anaphylaxis to nuts, and she is having greif with her child care centre that the boys go to, and adjusting to the new lifestyle that we find ourselves in. I won’t post the email, because it was quite personal, but….

Here is what Melanie had to say about it.

Keep in mind that Melanie hasn’t blogged for a very long time, since she gets so emotional when writing about allergies. Which is one of the main reasons why her book has taken so long.

Hi Renee,

Our thoughts are with you during this very stressful and overwhelming phase of life with anaphylaxis. I hope you were able to enjoy Christmas. It is a very challenging time!!

I’m glad you have been able to get an appointment with Jane so quickly, her waiting list is usually over 18 months.

Unfortunatley there is no way of telling how sensitive they will be to the trigger, other than by experiencing different scenarios. Tests only reveal the severity of a potential reaction, not how they can be triggered. Fortunatley, contact reactions are mostly kept to localised skin irritation (eg hives, dermatitis) and don’t usually progress further to an anaphylactic reaction….EXCEPT if the allergen is in contact with the mouth or eyes. This could potentially progress very rapidly. The incidence of anaphylactic reactions through smell is very, very small (yet possible). My son is anaphylactic to dairy products, and has had a major reaction from touching a small droplet of milk and unwittingly rubbing his eye, yet does not react from milk boiling on the stove (not ours….at the shops) nor being surrounded by the endless sources of dairy all around him on a daily basis…….thankfully!!!! An old preschool friend reacts moderately to her allergen just by being near it. It is unfortunately just by trial and error, and being equipped at all times to deal with it if it happens.

Be very wary of “nut free zones”, or any “free zones” for that matter. There is no such thing. For many reasons they are incredibly dangerous. To name a few:
- You can’t rely on other people’s ability to read labels correctly (staff or parents);
- it breeds apathy from the teachers as they can assume that all lunches are friendly, and not check who they are sitting next to, or be looking out for reaction symptoms;
- some people couldn’t really care about other kid’s issues and will simply defy the “ban”.
“free zones” are not usually advocated by anaphylaxis groups. “Awareness zones” is a more realistic option.

We tried to change preschools when we moved 2 years ago. Both were a c&K center. At our first place there where were no bans in place (could you imagine banning dairy products and eggs from a kindy?) and we never had any reactions as there were procedures in place. Nearly every child had milk at lunch, not to mention the butter on their sandwhiches, yoghurt and cheese……aaaaagh! But, the teachers had all the kids wash their hands after every meal, and there were no problems. At the second place they already had a child with anaphylaxis there, so we thought it would be an easy transition. Wrong. It was a “nut free zone”. The kids lunches were never checked, the other allergic child was given a cake brought in for a birthday, which they later realised he wasn’t meant to eat, the teachers snacked on peanut cluster biscuits after home time which they kept in the fridge with the kids lunches! Upon seeing all of this, we had no faith in their ability to look out for our son with a product that wasn’t “banned”. It isn’t taken seriously by all people. You really have to trust your gut feeling. After 2 weeks of spending every lunchtime at the center and crying myself to sleep at night, we changed him back to his old center and spent a fortune on petrol to keep him safe. Sometimes you can’t change the system, as people are just people. “free zones” really only offer a false sense of security for the parent of the allergic child, and the staff.

All staff needs to be informed of your son’s anaphylaxis, relief or otherwise, by the director or teacher in charge. AND the medicine must follow him, without a doubt. These are two fundamental things that ensure the safety of your child. It sounds like very bad management. The fact that they hadn’t even put the action plans up would really concern me, making me think that the safety of my child was not a priority of theirs.

Craft boxes are notorious for containing things our kids wouldn’t be able to use. We got around that by having his own craft box with things we brought in, or had been checked by us before going in his box.

You definately need to research schools thoroughly. The potential for problems is so much greater than in a confined room where the kids are closely monitored all day. I have written about our experience with our school search as a blog entry. Again trust that gut feeling. You can usually tell from the interview how it will be handled. We found the state system did not offer anything that we felt comfortable with……they tuned out when they realised it was dairy they would be dealing with, along with peanuts, eggs…….. We have found a private school within 10 mins from home that have been awesome. Not one anaphylactic reaction all year (touch wood). We never thought we would be able to send him to school. He completed grade 1 last year, grade 2 in 2007! However, the jitters are starting at the thought of having to deal with a different teacher this year.

I hope I have helped….. even if only a little.

Take care,
Melanie

Hi Rachael,

Thankyou for your response.

Actually, my son does not have to consume dairy
products for a reaction to occur.

One drop from a drink onto his skin or a chair
or swing that he touches is enough. Hands that
have held a sausage roll, or a sandwich with
butter…… these are no less lethal than traces
of peanut butter on a slide, yet that is all we
ever hear about.

If you are anaphylactic, you are anaphylactic.

We always have trouble trying to convince parents
with peanut anaphylactic children that we have
exactly the same life-style concerns as themselves,
just because the allergen of concern is dairy.
It is definately an uphill battle for all
the other allergens.

Sincerely,
Melanie

Hi Melanie

I thankyou for your comments, but would like to say that my son also has
allergies to eggs/white fish and other products, all of which are life
threatening if eaten.

Unfortunatley I cannot have them banned – but I have done much research,
allergies to nuts and nut products are at a higher rate than other
products and most deadly to children.

If many schools in the ACT and NSW have a proven successful track record
with the banning of nuts, then we can do the same – then many innocent
little lives may be spared by banning them from schools.

I too am a member of the Anaphylactic Society – but to me if you say
lets not bother with a total ban, then this still encourages parents to
put peanut butter on their childs sandwhiches and include nut products
in their lunch boxes.

I believe the push for a ban ongoing training and awareness will aid in
the prevention of further deaths.

I have also spoken with many parents because of this article, many
children with a nut allergy only need to sit next to a child eating a
peanut butter sandwhich to induce an attack, I would ask of you? Does
an anaphylatic reaction occur in your child, when sitting next to
another eating a cake containing eggs?

Regards
Rachael