Reading Nuts

Over the weekend, I went to the library and picked up "The Peanut Allergy Answer Book," which is recommended by The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network that Dr. Herman referred. Since I'm one of those people who wants to know everything possible about a situation (or diagnosis), I was very pleased with the wealth of information this book provided. It taught me a lot about food allergies, most importantly:

"The reactions that peanut-allergic patients experience can vary from exposure to exposure: one time, an exposure may cause a mild reaction and the next time, the same exposure might cause a more severe reaction. The severity of a reaction and risk of anaphylaxis are not predictable by skin testing or RAST tests (blood tests) (92)."

Here I was expecting to learn just how bad it was from the blood test when that's not even possible--we just have to assume the worst can happen and safeguard Moses from all contact with peanuts. We've decided to avoid tree nuts too as a precaution due to the risk of cross contamination (i.e. made in a facility that also processes peanuts). You can never be too careful...

-Lindsey