So this post has nothing to do with bed rest or pregnancy, but a lot of my parent-friends have been asking about Owen's nut allergy and how the whole "challenge test" went this week. So here's a summary of what we've been through and what we've discovered...
After nearly 3 years of worry, it turns out, Owen is NOT allergic to peanuts. Here's a quick timeline of why we thought he was:
6 months old: We have Owen allergy tested because of his bad eczema and breathing issues. He shows an "inconclusive" result on the "nut" portion of the test, and the doctor tells us to avoid nuts for the next 6-12 months and bring him in for a full allergy screening at that time.
18 months old: We take Owen to Kroger to grocery shop, and it's free sample day. Without even thinking, we give him a bite of the no-bake cookie I'm snacking on. His face swells up with hives and his voice/throat get raspy. I run back to the cookies and look at the box to see that yes, they do have peanut butter in them. Crap. We head to the ER.
At the ER they treat him with some Benadryl and tell us: yep, it's an allergic reaction, probably to the peanuts in the cookie. They observe him for a few hours and let us go home.
We follow-up with Owen's pulmonary/allergist doctor who says yep, sounds like an allergic reaction to nuts, and we are prescribed Epipens for every bag/purse/room in the house. We are told to come back for a full "nut screening" at some point to see which nuts he is allergic to besides peanuts. Although at this point we are pretty much resigned to him being allergic to nuts in general.
We give lessons to friends and family members who care for Owen using a "training Epipen." I freak out leaving him anywhere for fear someone will hand him some candy or a cookie laden with nuts.
22 months old: Owen is given a bite of a banana walnut muffin at school. The teachers get it out of his mouth before he swallows it, but he immediately breaks out in hives all over his face and hands from where he touched it. Luckily I rush over and treat him with Benadryl, and there is no need for the Epipen. A call to the doctor confirms: he's probably allergic to all nuts. Avoid ALL nuts.
34 months old: We FINALLY go in to have Owen tested for about 12 different nuts individually. He shows strong, positive results for walnuts, almonds and Brazil nuts (meaning a moderate to severe allergy for those nuts). However, the little dot on his back for "peanuts," shows no reaction. No peanut allergy. Probably.
35 months old: We go in for a "Peanut Challenge Test." Basically, in 15 minute intervals, the nurses do the following:
- Put a dab of peanut butter (like right out of the Skippy jar) on his arm
- Scratch his arm and put a dab of peanut butter on it
- Put a dab of peanut butter on his lip
- Put a dab of peanut butter on his tongue
- Have him eat about 1/8 teaspoon peanut butter (we had to hide all of the peanut butter in snacks, as the picky eater refused to try something new - who refuses peanut butter??)
- Have him eat about 1/4 teaspoon peanut butter
- Have him eat about 1/2 teaspoon peanut butter
- Have him eat about 1 teaspoon peanut butter
We didn't have anything left to hide the teaspoon of peanut butter in. So they told us we could run to the store to buy him peanut butter candy (peanut butter cups, etc.). Eric ran and got Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Peanut Butter M&Ms.
He asked several times about the peanut butter cup: Can I HAVE this? Can I EAT it?
Watching Owen take a big bite out of a Peanut Butter Cup freaked me OUT. But he inhaled it like it was the best thing he'd ever eaten in his life (which, it may have actually been), complete with multiple "mmmmmms" and "yummmmmmms" (the doctor was cracking up). Then he caught a glimpse of the peanut butter M&Ms and asked for some. I gave him 3. And he got hives around his lips within seconds. Turns out the package does say: "May contain almonds." Oops. Who doesn't read the package during an allergy test? We don't, apparently.
They kept us for a half-hour to observe him and decided it was probably the almonds, and let us go home. Yesterday we gave Owen another peanut butter cup (nothing else, this time), and he had no reaction whatsoever. He is not allergic to peanuts!
However, based on the reaction to 3 small peanut butter M&Ms that "may" contain almonds, we now know that the almond, walnut and Brazil nut allergies are very real.
Now instead of scanning labels for "peanuts" - we just have to scan for "tree nuts, walnuts, almonds and Brazil nuts." Which, don't get me wrong, is still a lot to stress out about, as "tree nuts" are in a ton of stuff, even things you wouldn't even think of. But to open up the door for peanut butter and all its glory (PB&J, peanut butter cups, peanut butter cookies, Nana's peanut butter frosting, etc.) is pretty great.
Now if I could just get daycare to go totally "tree nut-free," that would be excellent. He did, however, tell his daycare friends ALL WEEK about the awesome "candy" he had at the doctors office. So. Like mother like son on the whole Reese's Peanut Butter Cup thing. The other big downer for me and Eric: no excuse to steal all the peanut butter cups out of his Halloween bucket this year.
We were also told that baby #2 has a 10% chance of having the same nut allergies as Owen. I hope not. But at least we now know how to deal with it!
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