When Ethan and Grayson were about 18 months old I was eating a cracker with PB on it. I gave them both the tiniest little bit, and within minutes the skin around Ethan’s mouth began to develop hives. I slightly panicked, but just kept a very close eye on him. The hives subsided after about 30 minutes and I never fed them peanut butter again.
I finally brought them in to an allergist yesterday to finally get to the bottom of this once and for all. Were they or were they not allergic? I truly thought the answer would be no. I am certain they have been in some contact with peanuts over the past few years, even if they were not ingested. The doctor did a skin test on the boys
With a pen he drew a – , a + , and a P for peanut butter (although as you can see above – instead of a P, Grayson wanted a square!)
He then injected some histamine by the + sign and some peanut allergen at the P (or square 
). At the – sign he injected some sort of negative liquid that should not have a response in a typical person. In the boys there was no reaction at all at the – spot, but the + spot and the peanut spot both had quite a severe reaction. I was shocked!
After the injection the doctor said we would wait ten minutes and check the results. I checked the boys arms after just a minute or two and already it was quite raised and bumpy.
After ten minutes the doctor examined their arm and declared that both boys are indeed allergic to peanuts.
A blood test was given to see how allergic they are. We should get the results of that blood test sometime today or early next week.
We will now have to have Epi Pens on hand just in case.
It is all just so new and a lot to take in, but at the same time it could be so many other things, so we are truly just thankful. Thankful also that it didn’t take a reaction for us to discover that they were allergic.
They will go back in yearly to have blood drawn. Our hope is that their numbers will go down and eventually they may outgrow this reaction.
When I explained it to the boys Grayson said, “It’s no big deal Mommy. I don’t like peanut butter anyhow.”
oh wow. glad you had it checked out! And I can imagine you were surprised! A friend of mine has a daughter who was allergic to peanuts as a toddler but has now grown out of it.
ReplyDeleteCarrying Epi-pens. Another little responsibility, but I bet you'll get used to it and it will come without thinking.
It's a good thing they don't like peanut butter, huh? I am also glad that you didn't have to find out about their allergies because of a severe reaction. That would have been very scary! It probably won't be a big deal until they're in school. You'll just have to make sure the teacher has extra snacks on hand in case someone brings in a peanut butter birthday snack. . . But you're a teacher so you know that!
ReplyDeleteLet's hope you never have to use the Epi-pen!
You are such a great parents taking care of the children with such love and never leaving anything pertaining to their health to chance!!!!! Pop and I are praying for low blood levels and eventually NO PEANUT ALLERGY:)
ReplyDeleteThese kids are so precious. I cannot wait to see them, hold them, play with them, listen to them laugh and watch their awesome expressions...Pop and I prayed for the boys and their new allergy today...Pop also prayed for Adie...asking God to let her have a great day just walking around smiling:) Don't be scared of the Epi-pen!
Love to all:)
Alice was VERY allergic from at least age one until age two. She had two severe reactions during that time. Recently we decided to have her tested again to see whether things had changed, and now she has a very, very mild allergy. Her allergist said she could stay at this level for the rest of her life, but she is optimistic that Alice might have grown out of it before she starts kindergarten next year. She still has an epi pen at school, but the allergist told us she would have to consume excessive quantities of peanut products to have a severe reaction. It was a huge relief to us to see how much she's progressed since we first had her tested at age one. I hope your boys are just as lucky. I remember being very discouraged when the allergy was confirmed... I thought about her sitting at the peanut-free lunch table, being assigned to the peanut-free classroom... but the years we lived with the severe allergy weren't nearly as bad as I imagined they would be. Good luck, and message me if you have any questions.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments everyone!
ReplyDeleteChristy - I thought of you and what you guys have gone through. I have hope that theirs will be a mild one as well. SO thankful that it has changed for Alice since she was young.