Peanuts and Medication

The other day I had a close call. I was prescribed a medication that had peanut oil in it. Luckily, I have a habit of double checking EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth, including medication. While I was waiting for the pharmacist to check his book of medications, I googled the medication, and to my surprise there was in fact peanut oil in it.

This situation reminded me that I can never be too careful. It is my responsibility to double check everything including medication. So for all you allergic people, double check!

:)

J.

The Boy who ate Nutella

Since the test results came back negative a couple months ago we have been talking about introducing nuts. I have had almond milk and nutella in my grocery cart at least six times, and each time I get to the cashier I freak out and give the product back. Something about having these products under my roof seems wrong to me.

Today was a beautiful fall day, and we were heading to the market to buy some pumpkins. Since it was early, we had no plans, and the market is down the street from the Children's Hospital, I decided today was going to be the day! I called my neighbor and she made a nutella sandwich for the boy in her house, double bagged it, and off we went. When we arrived at the market, I insisted we take a parking spot that had quick access to the road in case we had to drive up the hill to the Emergency room. Armed with the Epipen Jr, we gave him his nutella sandwich on the corner about 25 feet from the car (I didn't want any to get on the car seat).

This stuff must taste good because the boy loooved it! He devoured his sandwich. We were checking his body for hives and making sure he was breathing every 10 seconds. He chose 3 little pumpkins, and we went back to the car. On our way home, he fell asleep which is not uncommon for him, but of course we kept checking if he was breathing. He was 100% fine.

Next week...Almond Milk.

:)

J.

Trick or Treat!

As a kid Halloween is one of the most exciting days of the year. Dressing up and eating candy freely! I remember the minute we walked through the door my siblings and I had to empty our bags so my mother can filter out the peanut snacks. At the time, it was not uncommon for people to give peanuts as treats. I walked away from those houses! Nowadays, Reeces Pieces, Peanut M & M’s, along with countless other treats are still very popular choices and parents need to be on top of their children with allergies before they dig into their stash. Every year there seems to be a new company declaring themselves peanut free, meaning more to choose from for those allergic. My personal favorites are the mini-chips ahoy, mini mars bars, and the mini Hershey’s variety pack (with the cookies and cream, milk chocolate and caramel chocolate bars).

What is your personal favorite Halloween treat?

Have a safe Halloween!

:)

J.

School Board Bans Peanut Butter Substitute

http://www.canada.com/health/peanut+butter+substitutes+sticks+parents+craw/5549994/story.html

In my opinion, this is going too far. Parents of allergic children should be happy the school board is peanut free to begin with. I could understand if it was banned because it is not considered a well-balanced meal (this is a topic for another post altogether!). I understand that the two products may smell similar, and cause cnfusion, however tf the parents are writing 'peanut free', then it should be acceptable.

Thoughts?

:)

J.

A Reminder

As ridiculous as it may sound, people who are not allergic to nuts or peanuts may not realize that nuts can be found in foods even with the word ‘nut’ in it. Everyone knows peanut butter has peanuts in it, however, someone very close to me once had Honey Nut Cheerios in their home, and when I noticed it and commented, they honestly said they didn’t realize there were nuts in it. Another time, a mother sent her child to the daycare with bread and nutella for breakfast and I smelled it from across the room at drop off, and she too explained she didn’t realize there were nuts in nutella. And again yesterday the same story with Almond Breeze. So… this post is just a reminder to not take anything for granted and always make sure to check, double check and triple check everything.

:)

J.

Being Bullied

Bullying is said to be the number-one non-academic issue that educators face. As a parent, I have not had to deal with this topic, and I hope I won’t ever have to, but in my younger years I was a victim of bullying twice in my life and both were related to my allergy. Bullying happens in many forms; Verbal, Phyical, Social (leaving someone out of a game or group on purpose), Extortion (stealing someone's money or toys), or Cyberbullying. It can happen at daycare, camp, school, work or just about anywhere. This is definitely a topic that can draw different opinions, and one that can create tension amongst parents especially when the bully and the victim’s parents are friends. In my opinion there are many different parenting styles, and usually several ways to handle the same situation effectively. Ultimately, the victim’s safety needs to be he priority.

I am writing about this topic for two reasons. First, to share my experience and second, to raise awareness that bullying does happen.

Both my experiences happened at sleep away camp (two separate summers). The first incident was when a bunk-mate threatened to put peanut butter in my mouth while I was asleep, and the second was when another bunk-mate told me she was going to eat peanut-butter M&M’s on my bed. If either of these situations happened today, I have no doubt they would have been handled differently than they were in the 1992 and 1994 respectively. To this day, I maintain that the girl who threatened to put PB in my mouth while I was asleep should have been sent home. She was forced to apologize, but that was about it. As the victim, I was frightened enough to bring it to the attention of the head staff who at the time failed by not sending her home.

Parents don’t know what goes on in the school yard or at the lunch table. Parents of kids with food allergies need to consider that their child’s food allergy may be something others poke fun or use against them. I believe it is a good idea for parents to always have an open dialogue with their kids and ask them daily how things are at school. Obviously if there are issues with bullying, it would be wise to address it with the school asap.

So good luck with the back to school week, and have a safe year!

:)

J.

Travel-Part 2

A while age I posted about travelling with a peanut allergy and everything that comes with it (calling the airlines, exploring restaurants, proximity to the hospital etc…). A few weeks ago we went to Maine with my sister in law, brother in law and their baby. It was a wonderful week away, especially because it gave me the opportunity to have a full week with the boy. We rented a house, and it was the best decision we could have made. My husband grew up going to Maine every summer, and most of the accommodations are motels or B and B’s. Given we were with a baby and our toddler we wanted a fridge, a yard and enough room for the kids to move around inside. We found a great house that was adorable, updated, and walking distance to the beach.

When renting a house, it is important to anyone with an allergy to consider the fact that the homes utensils, pots and so on may pose a risk of cross contamination. When we arrived, I wiped the counters down, and in an effort to not use anything from the house, I brought all sorts of stuff with me, down to the coffee maker! We travelled by car, so it was easy to bring this stuff. I took cutlery for myself and the boy (we didn’t have the test results at the time), 1 large pot, 1 small pan, a disposable baking dish, 1 small mixing bowl (I used this the most), paper plates, and my own coffee mug. I’m not a breakfast person, so that was not a big deal for me, and the boy was happy with cereal. Given my restrictions of only eating in restaurants that have absolutely no peanuts on the menu altogether it was a challenge to find somewhere to go 7 nights in a row. Ultimately we ate at 3 places, two of which we doubled up on. Myself and the boy even had lunch at one of those three restaurants 3 times! The other nights we stayed home. There were definitely places I would have loved to try out, but given my reality I was better off without it. I’m looking forward to going back next year, and at least the boy can enjoy the bakeries and countless ice cream shops.

Travelling with an allergy can be a difficult task, but this happened to be one of the easier trips for me. I was relieved to know that we were only about 7 minutes from a hospital (the fire chief told me when we were at the station visiting the trucks!).

: )

J.