Monday, January 17, 2011

At the end of Round One, the score is...

Eli - 0

Peanuts - 1



Eli is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame seeds! We found out by letting him try peanut butter, which resulted in intense vomiting and facial swelling! Mama was scared to death and almost went to the ER, but Auntie Heather and Uncle Joe talked her into some Benadryl.

After further testing, it turns out Eli has a fairly severe allergy to peanuts and tree nuts. A blood test revealed some startling numbers. A result greater than 0.35 indicates a potential allergy. Eli's peanut number was 62.7, followed closely by pistachios at 56.1 and cashews at 53.9. The results literally say strongly positive.

The other nuts were fairly low numbers, but because nuts are frequently processed together and his body may react to anything it sees as close to a peanut, pistachio, or cashew, he cannot eat any nuts or even anything processed in a plant where nuts are used in other products.

Also, the first reaction is usually the mildest and subsequent reactions tend to increase in severity. Coupled with the bloodwork and his first reaction, there is every reason to believe his next reaction will be anaphylactic. Epipens are everywhere now!

It was very scary and overwhelming at first, but we are getting used to label reading and being very aware of anything he eats. And Mama has used the practice Epipen so many times now, she is a professional!

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