This may prove to be promising to children and adults alike that have life-threatening peanut allergies.It's at least an opening to finding a cure.


Risky therapy may cream peanut allergy - Allergies and asthma - MSNBC.com

What do you think ?.

I heard this today on one of the morning shows. Isn't this type of treatment similar to the same premise behind allergy shots and some immunizations?

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

It would seem to be. I would be nervous at 1st to allow my child to take part in the study ( not that I have a child with nut allergies ), but the study seems to at least allow them a small dose w/o problems.This could be a starting point in some schools where tiny bits of peanut butter or other nuts have touched. With the treatment claims 1 child is now up to 15 peanuts. with more time and studies this may be a life saver for millions.

I have always wondered if this approach would work, but because of the severe and intense reactions medical doctors were afraid to try it. The risks outweigh the benefits kind of thing...

Shameless plug for Arkansas Children's Hospital (who is part of conducting this study)--ACH is one of the best children't hospitals in the US. Should you ever have the need for pediatric medical care, I highly recommend ACH. And no, I don't work there. They took such excellent care of my niece that I can't say enough good things about them!

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Yes, I read about it and I'm excited. My 18 yr old has a peanut/tree nut allergy.

There was a bit on this on the nightly news. It seems like the idea would be applicable to many types of allergies, not just peanuts, right?

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

If I'm not mistaken the treatment for the peanuts are the same as treatments for allergens, but this study they eat the allergen instead of being given a shot.It's to help build the Immune-system . What I read this is the 1st of it's kind in food allergy treatment. Seems very hopeful with more research and time.

It is very important news, yet at the same time so scary for so many millions and millions of adults and children who suffer from peanut and shell fish allergies so scary to say the least... Peace. Catherine

Just something I've pondered before: Back when parents weren't so particular about what they fed their babies, it seemed like there were less allergies?

Now, is that because we have better technology/medical discoveries and can diagnoses better; or is it because we protect and shelter our children too much (as it pertains to food allergies)?

The same w/ asthma: I can remember one kid I went to school with. He had horrible allergic asthma. However, he managed to play basketball/participate in sports and he worked in the summer cutting, baling and hauling hay! If he had an asthma attack, he'd just "hit" his inhaler.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

marilynk,
Thats very good pondering there. I too have often wondered why you didn't know people that had allergies to foods 20 + or longer years ago. I can't recall knowing 1 person in school that did. ( I'm in my early 40's ). My DD drives me NUTS with her "fear" of letting my grandson eat eggs, milk, and nuts. But she still gives him items cooked in peanut oil like the turkey we had for Christmas, cookies with eggs and milk etc.Tried to explain to her peanut oil is made from none other than peanuts. Eggs she uses to bake cookies are the very same eggs she would be giving to him scrambled. same with the milk she used in mac and cheese and other dishes. She just doesn't "get it".

But any hoot,
I also wondered if it's because we don't use as many whole food items now as we did back then, with putting additives and preservatives in so many foods could this be messing with our systems ?.causing us to lose the natural Immune-system we were born with and built . what I'm meaning is. since we have so many 'subs' to things we as children have eaten a million times thu life but now with our children they are not whole but rather a sub of it could this be the problem ?.

Doesn't really seem that far off you really think about it.
( did that make sense )

I have wondered that myself. Same with ear infections in little kids. My son has a peanut allergy. No one on either side of the family has food allergies. You would not miss diagnosing a peanut allergy though. There are almost instant reactions. No one has yet figured out why there has been such an increase. I nursed him completely for the first 6 months and continued nursing into toddlerhood. He had baby eczema on the second day in the hospital which continued for years, develped asthma with colds that he outgrew after age 3 and had a reaction to a tiny (size of the top of any eraser on a pencil) bite of peanut butter and got swollen, purple eyes. He has outgrown most of his problems except the peanut allergy. I believe peanut allergies are the deadliest of the food allergies. I sure hope this new study will lead to better ways of handling allergies. They are really scary.

peanut allergies are by far the most deadliest of the food allergies with around 200 deaths a year and millions of attacks. Followed closely by tree nuts and shellfish.

We have a life long friend of my family that has eaten lobster for years and years till 1 night she had one and she nearly died. he body turned on her and she went into a full blown attack and had to be rushed to the ER. The treating ER doctor said it was one of the worse shellfish attacks he had seen in years. I Kidd you not she looked like a pumpkin head with big red puffy shut eyes. He lips poked I know 2 inches from her face. It was really freaky and scary.

My stepfather ( god rest his soul ) a year before he passed away had a allergy attack from tomatoes I had for supper. It nearly gave me a heart attack. This man had eaten tomatoes all his life and this never happen before that night.

Strange how our bodies in a split second can turn on us form things we have been exposed to and eaten for years.

I can't help but wonder how many of the "allergies" have really been diagnosed by a doctor and how many are just parents wanting to jump on the bandwagon and get attention.

Not that there aren't people out there with peanut allergies, some of them severe, but I'm sure we all know at least one person who just HAS to have the "disorder de jour". Kids with peanut allergies can get quite a bit of attention, especially at school with the creation of peanut free zones and such, so I can see how some attention craving parents would want to get in on that.. Face it, not all parents actually have their kids best interest at heart.

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