You Ant Be Serious!?

I bought ant traps today after I found 20 little ants enjoying a slice of watermelon on our kitchen counter last night. I figured that the warning to keep them away from the kids was due to boric acid. Turns out that these traps 'may' contain peanuts so the boric acid is the least of our concerns. I learned today that many pest control traps use peanut butter as bait ... who knew that people with a peanut allergy needed to be wary of ant traps?

I am not super alarmed from the research I have done but I think it might be best to use boric acid in my beloved Sunbutter instead of the peanut butter ant traps.

My target is the ants ... not my daughter.

Don't Pass The Mustard

I read a piece this morning on mustard allergy. Even after the countless hours of research I have done, I was surprised to learn that a 2003 study found mustard allergy to be the fourth most prevalent allergy in children behind egg, peanut, and milk.

The article also presented an example of how overwhelming food allergy can be for parents. Here is a quote from the mother of a young girl who has anaphylaxis to peanuts and mustard:

[Emily would typically start preschool in the fall, but she will be held back a year. "I'm really considering looking into possibly home schooling unless there's something that I can really be assured she can be safe -- maybe a special place where the school is free of peanuts," Evans said. "Free of mustard is a stretch, a little bit.]

I remember having the same initial reaction. Over time you realize that despite your best efforts it is just not possible to completely avoid an allergen. It is important to practice avoidance but it is also important to be prepared in the event of an emergency.

Home schooling is a matter of personal preference. Though our peanut allergic daughter will go through the school system, I do have to admit that I am already very nervous for her first day of preschool this fall. I also hold out hope that BC passes anaphylaxis legislation prior to her first day of kindergarten in 2010.

Peanut Poetry

I received an email from Allergic Living magazine this week. They are having a poetry contest that is taking entries up until next Thursday. I find blogging to be a great outlet for me and I suspect that others might enjoy poetry. Feel free to post a verse or two as a comment on NoPeanutsPlease as well. Good luck!

Boston Baked Beans

This one is ironic. I was at a gathering of my extended family in Boston this past weekend. It was interesting to meet another branch of the family. We won a door prize as the people who traveled the greatest distance to be there. The prize was Salt Water Taffy and Boston Baked Beans. The irony is that unbeknownst to me Boston Baked Beans are chocolate covered peanuts. Sometimes you just have to chuckle. I'm glad that my wife noticed or I would have brought them home.

Peanut Parfait

This week we were out to dinner. While eating a delicious strawberry parfait I crunched into something that has become foreign to me … a peanut! Ironically, I had just finished saying how much our daughter would enjoy the parfait. I found it interesting to experience first-hand the shock that an allergic person would feel when finding a surprise peanut. My first reaction was one of fear. It was as if I was allergic myself. I felt very strange and I could no longer eat the parfait.

I have not had a peanut in about six months. The taste is now unsettling and for obvious reasons no longer welcome. While I can still enjoy an omelet while traveling on business (despite our daughter's egg allergy), I no longer have a desire to eat peanuts. I was surprised that I had such a strong reaction. It is funny how the mind works.

Villager of the Month - June 2007

This spring I started a new series called Villager of the Month. The intent is to recognize people who do special or interesting things to help those with food allergies.

For June 2007 I wanted to recognize the efforts of a group of concerned parents in British Columbia. Under the name Protecting Allergic Children Today (PACT), Caroline Posynick and other members of her organization spearheaded a letter writing campaign to MLAs and government officials in support of David Cubberly’s proposed anaphylaxis legislation.

Though Bill M210 failed to advance after its second reading, the government is certainly aware of the issue of allergic children in schools and that is largely due to the efforts of PACT and its supporters.

You can learn more about PACT or Bill M210 on the organization's website.

Six Months In

So here we are ... six months into our daughter's severe food allergy. I have been struck by how tight knit the anaphylaxis community is and just how much there is to learn. I think we've done a good job of managing the allergy without having to significantly alter the things we do, but it is certainly a challenge at times. It is difficult to be 100% compliant in reading labels, checking ingredients, quizzing servers, bringing the EpiPen, bringing safe snacks, etc. It is annoying to deal with people who think that you are overreacting. It makes me sad to hear my daughter It is also quite stressful to live with the intense fear that rises up whenever you see a red spot on your daughter's hand.

That being said, while it would be great for her to outgrow her allergy I would not change anything. She is an absolute treasure and the food allergy is part of who she is. I am certain that we appreciate every day with her even more after experiencing a near fatal allergic reaction to peanut six months ago.

Sunbutter On the Cheap

For those of you sitting at the edge of your seats wondering when I would find less expensive Sunbutter, the wait is over! I did a review of Sunbutter recently and noted that the only negative was its high price. Several readers commented that $8.49 for a jar of Sunbutter was ridiculous. Turns out they were right.

My wife talked to the grocery manager at Stong's our (excellent) local grocery store here in Vancouver. They now stock Sunbutter and price it at a reasonable $3.99. I guess that leaves me with a clean review of Sunbutter afterall!

Sunbutter is perfect for those with anaphylaxis due to peanut allergy in their homes. We do not let our daughter eat Sunbutter to avoid confusion but it has been an excellent peanut butter replacement for us.

Please Don't Pass The Mayo

Tonight we had an incident that reinforced our decision to remove all raw egg products from our home. We ate dinner on the deck tonight. My wife ran back into the kitchen but for an instant and in the time she was gone, our daughter grabbed her hamburger and took a big bite. In the past we always had mayo on our burgers. Given our daughter's egg allergy this would likely have been a bad situation.

But alas we are now using an eggless mayo so disaster was averted. There was no way I could have gotten to the burger before my daughter. Naturally my immediate thought was a mental image of the allergic reaction that might have ensued should the mayo have been of the egg variety.

Our decision to remove eggs from the home came after I ate an omelet. It was about a month ago. Up to that point we kept eggs but removed peanuts. The thinking was that we could be careful with eggs but despite all my precautions during the cooking process, I gave my daughter a kiss after eating the omelet and she had a large welt on her cheek. That was the final straw.

Ironically a week or so after we removed eggs from the house my parents were here. My Dad found four eggs in the back of the fridge and fried them up. My wife caught him just as he was bringing the eggs downstairs to my Mom, who incidentally was playing with our egg-allergic daughter. Understandably my Dad did not think about the allergy and it was only after my wife caught him at the top of the stairs with a plate of eggs that he remembered. I did not even realize we still had eggs in the back of the fridge.

Though (like me) you'll probably miss many of your favourite food items, I urge you to rid your home of any products that contain allergens harmful to your family members. Accidents happen and it is just not worth the risk.

Topic Of Conversation

I always find it interesting how many times our daughter's anapylaxis comes up in conversation. People are genuinely interested in it. Surely our forced preoccupation with her allergies is a major factor but when the topic comes up people do not shy away from the discussion. They are typically inquisitive and sympathetic at the same time and seem interested in discussing it at length.

I was reminded of people's interest tonight after reading an article which discussed the fact that food allergy seems to be growing exponentially. That point resonates with people whenever we discuss food allergy - they are not generally aware of this increase. The other thing they are struck by is how little research funding is out there. Though total research seems to be growing, at least anecdotally, the fact remains that food allergy research lacks funding versus other health issues. The Food Allergy Project sums it up well:

"Food allergy research is woefully underfunded. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spends less than $10 million a year on food allergy research, compared to $107 million on attention deficit disorder and $1.2 billion on diabetes. These are all important diseases that deserve attention."

Whenever we discuss food allergy over dinner or in a group setting, people are troubled by the fact that while many healthcare professionals and scientists concur that there is likely a cure for food allergy, research into a solution is underfunded. Hopefully this will change as awareness builds.