Are the parents just freaking, or are the peanut/nut allergies really that severe?
Why can't they just have meds on hand for the allergic kid on the off chance they react?
Are severe nut allergies really that common in kids these days?
Because if so, I am going to start telling the parent of every misbehaving brat that I am a nutatarian who works in a peanut factory so their child should keep its distance!
There's been quite a few studies on the whole thing and none of them have been able to pin down the "why" as far as I'm concerned. Although I have my theories.
When I was little (first exposure landed me in the hospital at age 2), I was the only kid we knew who was allergic, but these days I could name at least 5 or 6 that I know. Some studies have shown the numbers doubling in recent years. It's definitely the most widespread, deadly food allergy. (80% of allergy deaths) I do have one friend whose child is so severely allergic that he cannot be in the presence of a peanut product. I cannot tell you how many times that poor child has been hospitalized and nearly died. His case is definitely one of the rare, insanely horrific cases. He will never attend school outside the home.. he can't even go to the grocery store and even a family event like Christmas dinner is such a burden on the rest of the family that his mom often just has to stay home with him and let her husband take the rest of the kids, which is totally devastating to her. His case is what I fear we will be seeing more of unless we get to the bottom of this.
I think the last count was somewhere around 2+ million Americans. Of course, the level of reaction ranges, but in my case it has gotten worse as I've gotten older especially since the last few accidental exposures.
EpiPens don't always work. If a child goes into full-blown anaphylaxis, sometimes the pen will only take the edge off just to get them to the hospital where an attempt can be made to open their airway through other methods such as steroids.
The thing is... if you can keep young children from being exposed for as long as possible once discovering the allergy, there's a chance that they can outgrow it or have mild reactions in the future. By the time middle and high school roll around, most of these kids will be able to handle it themselves as far as being exposed. But a young child has a higher chance of being exposed accidentally and each time, it puts them at risk for a more severe reaction.
If you look at the number of people being diagnosed with wheat/gluten and soy intolerance and allergies... well... it makes me wonder if because our society has veered so much from simple, whole foods, to processed foods, we're reacting because of over-exposure. I mean, try and find a processed food that doesn't have gluten in it. Same thing could be said for peanuts. We're being repeatedly exposed by products we wouldn't think even had peanuts in them. Even bath and body items are made with gluten and peanut products. So you're ingesting it, putting it on your skin, etc... Too much of a good thing?
