Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Melissa from TX — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:31:38 GMT

We live in a rural lower to middle income area, and my son was diagnosed with a peanut allergy at a very young age. He was about 6 months old and I was eating P.B. on toast for breakfast while I was feeding him his cereal and I wiped a little glop of cereal off of his face and it formed a huge red line that was raised up about 1/4 of an inch, exactly where I had touched him. I have him scratch tested and every year his test site makes the Dr. cringe. I am so worried about him in school and have been fighting a war with myself and the school- Should there be a peanut ban? He is not the only one in the school with the allergy.????????????

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Megan — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:02:03 GMT

Oh...SO not funny. Yes, I sound like a yuppie when I say it that way, but I'm very much NOT a yuppie. We live in a tiny one bedroom apartment and I'm a waitress. Nut allergies aren't some yuppie attention-grabber. It affects us po' folks too and should be addressed with due caution in schools. And Amen to that, Shannon: Please respect what we want our children ingesting, whether it be a strict vegetarian diet(Religious observance? Hello?) or perhaps an all organic one.

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Shannon LC Cate — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:32:36 GMT

I totally agree, J. My kids don't have any serious allergies either, but give my older daughter sugar and it's like she's on Meth. I can't tell you how many times people have given her sugary treats, counter to my instructions, because they think I'm denying her something "every child deserves." (Ask my daughter if she'd rather have a cookie or a bowl of fruit--go ahead-see how deprived she feels about her treat being frozen blueberries).

Anyway, these same people then act shocked by her crazy and out-of-character bad behavior. Well, I told you so.

It's really annoying that people don't just respect what parents want or don't want going into or onto their children's bodies.

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:21:15 GMT

I don't understand why some people feel compelled to decide if someone else's allergy is real or feigned. Is it worth the risk (especially to a child) to make an uninformed call like that?

I realize that this is WAY more minor than a life-threatening allergy, but my son has extremely sensitive skin. A (well-meaning) lady in the church nursery a few months back decided to ignore the sticker on my son's back that said not to put anything on his skin during diaper changes and she also figured that the reason for his (extremely minor) diaper rash was the cloth diapers I had sent with him. She lathered him up with Desitin and slapped a disposable diaper on him. His reaction was hardly life-threatening, but she didn't have to hear him scream for the next week every time I wiped his little bottom that had raised blisters on it as a result of her good intentions. It wasn't any of her business to decide whether or not I was crazy for putting the sticker on his back with special instructions! Does she not realize I've learned from experience what causes issues for him?

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Dad — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:14:13 GMT

that doesn't surprise me. that's why allergists test for allergies, so you don't have to wait for your kid to necessarily have a life threatening reaction.

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

km — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:29:15 GMT

Just an anecdotal story:

My step-mom teaches at a very expensive (predominately white) elementary school. A new student entered the school, and her mother insisted special accommodations be made in the cafeteria, due to her daughter's "severe peanut allergy."

So, the school set up a "peanut-free zone" for the girl to eat in. After a few weeks, my step-mom approached the girl in the cafeteria (who was often not able to sit with her friends, depending on what they were eating for lunch), and said to the girl, "You know, I've never known anyone with such a severe peanut allergy. I am just curious, what happens if you have a reaction?"

The girl's reply? "I don't know. I've never had one."

I am not denying the existence of food allergies, but I am also not denying that some people will do anything for attention.

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Shannon LC Cate — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:33:35 GMT

Thanks for the link, Treespeed. He should have linked that story, or something accessible to the public on that study.

And I for one am not disputing those numbers, but 4% is still very high for life-threatening allergies. I also don't happen to know anyone like the hypochondriacs that supposedly claim their kids are allergic when they are not, so I find that part of the argument to be questionable and would like to see more than one study about it.

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Dad — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:27:26 GMT

Isn't Joel Stein a comedic writer?

Not saying this article was funny, but I thought most of his stuff was meant to be humorous...

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Treespeed — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:35:48 GMT

It's funny that everyone's taking Stein to task for not doing any research, and yet I don't see anyone here posting any solid numbers.

Here's the article the Times should have run next to Stein's sensationalism:

www.boston.com/.../peanut_allergy_epidemic_may_be_overstated

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Kate — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:46:18 GMT

I'm a rich white person with food allergies, but I guarantee I didn't make it up to feel special.

It's not exactly special to sit in an emergency room spitting into a bowl because your throat is swollen so much that you can't swallow.

That said, I've met WAY too many people who have a "peanut allergy", but they have to eat one peanut a week to keep it from getting worse. Or if they eat a peanut butter sandwich they have a stomach ache. Or they've always eaten peanuts, but then tested allergic so now they "can't" (allergy tests have a ridiculously high % of false positives). Those people certainly may be the ones this guy is talking about...

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

BettyWu — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:57:16 GMT

This reminds me of Ronald Reagan's "welfare queen" crusade. Lets take the exception to the rule and base policy on it! Just because there are a handful of people who abuse Public Assistance, we should do away with a program that is a lifeline for millions?

In the same way, I'm sure all of us has that friend. You know, the one whose kids are *deathly* allergic to milk...until they throw a tantrum for an ice cream cone and well, a little treat won't hurt them! Because these people are deluded or riding a 'trend' or whatever, we should dismiss the hordes with truly life threatening allergies? Absurd.

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Lexie — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 04:44:54 GMT

I've read (sorry, no cite that I can remember) that allergies such as peanut are increasing due to genetically engineered food. Apparently, we were made to tolerate a local or at least regional diet. GE food gets DNA from such a variety of far off sources and places (i.e. tomatoes with South American Scorpion DNA in it or some such) that our bodies can't handle it.

So, I'm wondering if more affluent white people might be buying different foods? Like, when you are poor, you are more likely to buy basic pantry staples and perhaps less out of season produce and thus less processed or imported food might be less likely to have the offending allergens in them.

Just a thought.And I certainly don't claim to be an expert. Like, if I were to write anything about this for the L.A. times, I would for sure do vast amounts of research and quote actual experts and scientific studies. What an ass. I've seen kids with peanut allergies, it can be very scary.

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Lori — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 03:59:24 GMT

I think the only difference is that rich, white people can afford proper medical care for their allergy.

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Shannon LC Cate — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:04:17 GMT

Not a bad rule of thumb gpgirl. I have always felt that given how bad newspapers are at reporting the things I am expert in, they must be just as bad at reporting the things other people are expert in, too. So I not only don't trust their medical reporting. I don't trust 99% of any of it!

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

gpgirl — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:51:39 GMT

Most medical reporting in newspapers is extremely poor. Instead of basing stories on actual data, it is more often just the person's opinion. (To be fair to the LA Times, this actually was listed in the Opinion section. I have read stories in the NY Times that were in the Health section that were just as poorly based.)

Most newspapers and other news sources don't have actual scientists/statisticians/medical experts helping to write or edit these stories. My general rule is to trust nothing about science/medicine that I read. (I know that sounds extreme, but with so many bad stories, I feel there is no other solution.) One general exception is US News & World Report. They are not perfect, but I find their medical stories to be much more based in fact. The NY Times is the worst, and the other papers fall somewhere in between.

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Sabrina — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:00:41 GMT

I agree with Andrea...and also want to add that writing those kinds of things in a nationally recognized and reputable paper is HARMFUL to children with real pfood allergies of all types. Someone may read that and go about with the notion that my son's dairy allergy isn't real...just something I made up to sound special. Then they might just decide to "test" my child by feeding him something unsafe, or by not being vigilant about the things they should be. And my child would *not on the 13th round, but on the first* be near death or dead within minutes. All because of someone's stupid opinion article.

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Andrea Gall Schmitt — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:05:11 GMT

Joel Stein is an idiot. His employment by a reputable paper such as the LA Times is an embarrassment. His columns are inventions designed to invite 'controversy' and get more people to read the paper. It's disgraceful.

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Shannon LC Cate — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:11:18 GMT

The link is working for me, but here's an ugly version:

www.latimes.com/.../la-oe-stein9-2009jan09,0,3149168.column

He cites a couple of things that don't back up his argument per se, but say things like "kids who are told they are allergic to peanuts are more anxious." Well, duh.

He also claims that 25% of parents believe their kids have peanut allergies while only 4% really do. Which statistic he seems to just invent. I think in fact 4% is pretty darn high--that's 12 kids in a school of 300. I think his experience of 4% is expanding in his mind to 25%.

And sure, maybe the parents he knows with peanut-allergic kids are loud enough about it that their perspective becomes over-represented in his thinking. If he went to a birthday party with 25 kids and the mom with the peanut allergic kid was hyper-vigilant and really noticeable, he goes home thinking "geez, why does everybody have a peanut allergy all of a sudden?"

So I can see how he'd get this impression, but it is irresponsible and rude to write up his vague notions as if they were facts.

re: Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Alice — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:48:41 GMT

What a dope. He bases a piece about a life threatening condition on anecdotes and uneducated opinion. He is going to get flamed by families who have lost loved ones to peanut allergies. Did he cite any studies to support this? I could not get the link to come up.