peanut allergy

Ok this is the last post today i promise. I just needed to share some important information about Kyleigh, especially to family and anyone likely to be around her. We have been increasingly concerned that Kyleigh could have a peanut allergy. Over the last couple of years we have begun to link peanut foods to some upset stomachs and vomitting that Kyleigh has had but we weren't really sure. The pediatrician told us just to keep on eye on it and so basically kyleigh didn't want anything to do with peanut butter or anything containing it because she didn't like it so it was hard for us to tell if she just really didn't like it because it upset her stomach or if it was a reaction she was having. Well after two instances in June of horrible vomitting, once after having one bite of a reeces pb cup and once after eating ONE peanut at Texas Roadhouse that my mom gave her not knowing that we were watching her with peanuts, I decided to take her to see an asthma allergy specialist. Especially since the last time she broke out into hives with her vomitting.

Well, when we went in to see the specialist i truly already had how the conversation was going to go set in my head. I just knew he was going to tell me that gastrointestinal upset/vommitting was a mild allergic reaction and that it shouldn't get worse. I mean after all she has asthma and the peanuts didn't seem to affect her breathing except maybe a mild cough, so that was a good sign right? well, i left the office that day pretty much in shock. I was informed that vomitting was considered an anaphylactic reaction and that pretty much the only thing worse that could happen would be for her to "crash." The doctor told me that he would rather me tell him that her entire body swells up (except for her air way of course) than for me to tell him that one peanut makes her vomit. He said it was extrememly serious because it meant it was affecting her internal organs. So based on our conversation he could pretty much tell me 100% that she was allergic to peanuts but we had to of course draw lab because he didn't want to do a skin test and expose her. He predicted to his nurse that her lab level would be somewhere around 25-30. I of course didn't realize what that meant until i read more about it and basically anything over 15 (it is an antibody) means the person has a 95% chance of having an allergic reaction if they ingest a peanut. So we left the office with epi pen prescription and orders to have lab drawn and i was basically told to become a "nazi mom" and know exactly what she was eating everywhere she went and that she needed to where a medic allergy alert bracelet.

Well, we had blood drawn and it was send out so we just got the results this week. The doctor told me he would be out of town and that someone else would call me the results. Well, they called and said her lab was positive and instructed us on strict avoidance of peanuts. Being the Nurse/ mom that i am, after hanging up the phone decided I wanted to know EXACTLY what her level was, so i called them back and asked them to fax me the lab work. Remember that i said the doctor predicted her number to be around 25-30? Well, it was 81.6................i was shocked. the level ranges are classified I- VI and her level fell in the classification VI range. Basically, from what i read, that means she is at a much higher risk to have a reaction with exposure/ingesting, and unfortunately you never know what kind of reaction it will be. It may be vomitting one time and her airway could close the next or something else. the scary thing is you just don't know so you have to be prepared for worst case scenario. Luckily at this point Kyleigh knows how much it upsets her stomach so she always asks if somethign new has peanuts in it but she is only 3 i have to remember and there are things that could have PB in it that she doesn't know, so we are just trying to educate everyone that she is around. Peanut allergies tend to be a lifelong allergy, seldomly do people outgrow it. Fortunately at this point she doesn't seem affected by us eating PB around her, it only seems to be when she ingests it but the dr recommends getting all PB and peanuts out of the house.

So, there it is...........out in blog world that my daughter is allergic to peanuts. if anyone has ever had any experience with this i would love any advice!! thanks for listening! and i promise....no more posts today.:)