[wtvanhest]

My son has multiple severe nut allergies so I’ve gone from having zero awareness to having too much.

Allergies are fascinating bc they are a continuum and random.

Continuum from…

zero symptoms if you eat the protein in the nut and just a positive blood test…

all the way to…

cannot be in same room as nuts if they will have a reaction that constricts their ability to breath.

They are also random in that your outcome can be wildly different each time.

The result imo is that drs who detect any food allergy, let’s say the child has a slightly swollen lip after eating sesame will run labs on blood and skin and get some real positives and some false positives.

Next they say not to eat anything the person is allergic to in order to prevent a life threatening allergy.

If no blood or skin tests existed this person may go through life mainly avoiding the food bc it’s uncomfortable, but never think of themselves as allergic to X.

Net result is that people with allergies are safer now, but the % of people we know have allergies has increased.

As a side note, if you are reading this as a parent with a kid with a recently discovered food allergy, please note… it totally sucks, but… you will adjust over time to the higher workload and constant label reading, hang in there.

[ClumsyPilot]

> Net result is that people with allergies are safer now, but the % of people we know have allergies has increased

Percentage of kods who are left handed has increased after we stopped beating them at school into being right handed.

[mynegation]

Thank you for your reply and best wishes to your family! I know it can be a bit of an intrusive question, but how do people discover that children have a particular allergy? Do you get an epipen the same moment you have a newborn, just in case? Do you try some small amount or potentially cross contaminated food just to test? Do you discover it randomly and hope there is going to be enough time to get to ER? I have been lucky not to have it for myself, or a child, but how did you know?

[viraptor]

Depends on the country, but some have a recommended list of foods to expose your kid to when they start eating solids. For example https://www.allergy.org.au/patients/allergy-prevention/ascia...

Epipen? No. But if I didn't live around the corner from the hospital, I'd probably test peanuts and shellfish while parked next to one : - )

That wasn't common when/where I was born, but then again, the cuisine there/then was more limited so I'd be exposed to most allergens naturally within the first year. (And face "I've never seen a prawn and I'm 20 - am I allergic to them?" later)

[wtvanhest]

Our son had skin issues (eczema) before he was old enough to eat solid foods. Eczema and food allergies are correlated so we fed him small amounts of peanuts and he had a crazy reaction. We were lucky he didn’t end up in er first time, but swollen lips, changed “voice” for weeks etc.