Cashew Allergy Advice

Keep some benedryl with you at all times. I know on the bottle it says not to give it to children under six but it is a life saver, literally and most of the time, this is one of the first things that the ER would give them anyway. Ask your doctor how much you can give your little guy in case of an emergency. The sooner you can give them medicine the better and when it comes to sever allergies, the time it takes to get to the ER might be too long. My daughters are allergic to peanuts and the first time I gave my oldest a peanut butter sandwich her face swelled up like a ballon. It was very scary! The benedryl stopped the reaction almost immediately and we did not have to take her to the hospital, thank goodness. Oh, neither my husband or I have any food allergies either.

Check out the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (www.foodallergy.org) and Kids with Food Allergies (www.kidswithfoodallergies.org). Both sites have a lot of great information, although they both require a membership to access some of it. The Kids with Food Allergies site offers scholarships for families who may not be able to afford the membership fee. You can find lists of what to avoid, tips on preventing accidental exposure and cross-contamination, forums where you can find other parents in a similar situation, and even recipes that avoid your allergen set. Another great site is Cooking Allergy Free (www.cookingallergyfree.com). You can set up a free account and enter which foods you are avoiding. Then you can search their database and it will tell you which recipes are safe, may be safe depending on what brands you buy, and those that are not safe (but often you can alter those to get rid of the problem ingredients).

A side note: Peanuts are not actually nuts, they are legumes so peanuts may be totally safe, but tree nuts could be very dangerous depending on your son's level of reaction. Check any peanut butter that you buy to make sure that it is not processed in a facility that uses tree nuts, because it could be cross contaminated. This is usually listed near the ingredients.

Good luck.

Go to foodallergy.org It is THE BEST web-site with information on all types of allergies! Also, peanuts are not nuts, so your son is most likely only allergic to tree nuts, not legumes (like peanuts). Please be VERY careful that if your doctor says peanut butter or peanuts are fine that you make sure they are not cross-contaminated with tree nuts. Also, please see a pediatric allergist and get an Epi Pen, Jr in case of a severe allergic reaction. I know what I'm talking about...my son has life-threatening food allergies to milk, eggs, and peanuts, and is also allergic to wheat. Have a great day and please feel free to contact me if you have more questions!

I am allergic to cashews & pistachios. It's a scary allergy and the reaction gets faster each time. It's easy to check ingredients at the store & at home. The thing I would tell you to watch out for is when you're eating out. I ended up in the ER after eating shrimp linguini once...... shouldn't have been a nut in sight, right? Well, when I called the restaurant the next day & talked to the manager - they found out the chef puts nuts in the pesto he uses for the pasta sauce and apparantly used either cashews or pistachios that particular time. Needless to say, they reimbursed my out of pocket expenses on that one. My point is ALWAYS tell the server that your child has a cashew / tree nut allergy and make sure they tell the chef. Most restaurants are trained in proper food preparation for food allergies. If you haven't seen an allergist, I can recommend an excellent one in OP. Also, Check out FAAN - Food Allery & Anaphylaxis Network. They do a walk for food allergies in Shawnee Mission Park each year - I believe it's in October this year. Best of luck.

My son is allergic to peanut, but did not become so until age 5. Up until then, he enjoyed peanut butter on a regular (sometimes almost daily) basis. It was this over-indulgence that created the intolerance, then the actual allergy to peanut. We used the method of complete avoidance for 2 years, then at the dr's recommendation tried adding it back into his diet. It's been 7 years since his diagnosis, & we still can only add in 1 tsp....any larger amount triggers response.
In order to deal with this dietary restriction, I read EVERY SINGLE LABEL of every single food he eats. When dining out, we always ask about peanut usage in food prep. & as an additional note, he used to only react with consumption...as of this spring, he now reacts with proximity.
In regards to other nuts, we have found that cashews are processed in peanut oil...so they are off-limits to Toby. Surprisingly, he is able to eat all other nuts-in-the-shell.

Hi K.~
Actually, peanuts are legumes & they are technically not in the same family as nuts & seeds. It is true that cashew, almond, & walnuts are in the same family & you could see a reaction, but not necessarily. I have several delayed-onset food allergies, which are different than immediate-onset, like peanuts. Testing for this is not done with standard tests from your MD's office. Look up "Elisa allergy testing" on the internet. Once you find out if he's allergic to anything else, you can start will adjusting the diet. The Elisa booklet is very helpful that I received with my test results.
I hope this helps a bit & doesn't confuse you!
J.
www.jessicagrimm.com

Wow, another kid with a cashew allergy! My daughter was eating watermelon, cashews, and codfish by age 1. They were some of her favorite foods. I didn't know she was allergic to them though. She had been having asthma most of her infant months and up til the age of 3 yrs. old. I finally had a skin test and found out she was allergic to all the foods that we ate on a regular basis. Come to find out, she was being exposed to these through me even before she started eating them. She would have full blown asthma attacks when she came into contact with these foods. As soon as I found out she was allergic to these foods, I removed all of them from my diet and hers! I took them out of the house too. My daughter loves peanuts and peanut butter. She is ONLY allergic to cashews...no other nuts. She can also eat artificial watermelon flavor, but not the real watermelons. Eventhough you and your husband don't have any allergies doesn't mean your child won't. Allergies are simply an immunological response to a regular substance that normally has no effect on people, but for some reason certain bodies' immunological systems regard these as foreign invaders and attack them!
I suggest removing the cashews from your family's diet as a whole. Check labels and make sure they don't have cashews or come into contact with them.
Good luck!

My son has been milk and peanut allergic since birth but we recently found out he is also allergic to cashews and pistachios which are in the same nut family and if allergic to one, probably to the other -- I have also read mangoes may be a problem if you have this allergy and a severe reaction to poison ivy is possible. All new to me too! I would recommend reading labels carefully, be careful also of baked goods at bakeries as most items are processed on the same equipment as many types of nuts. there is a national org called FAAN - Allergy and Anaphalaxis Network -- you can google it -they have a free e-mail alert service you can sign up for in the event of recalls for allergens not listed on labels, or contamination by common allergens (nuts,etc) this happens much more than people think even in name brand products. hope this helps -- always carry your epi-pens.

Did you have a food panel done on your son? if not i would schedule him for one with your pediatrician. Tyler had his at 18 months. We knew about the milk allergy (diagnosed at 6 months), suspected an egg allergy, but were blown away by the peanut allergy. Thank goodness we adhered to the advice not to introduce nuts until 24 months of age. Tyler scored pretty high on the nut allergy.

my advice? call me anal, but we avoid all nuts, read the ingredients to anything we buy - if there is hint that it was processed on the same machinery as nuts...it doesn't go in the shopping cart. we also avoid chocolate since it tends to be processed with nuts 80% of the time. when in doubt about food...we do without....it broke my heart when we went to a birthday party and Tyler couldn't eat anything offered at the party....always bring your own snacks became my new mantra

Also, he has a younger sister who has not shown signs of being allergic to any foods. But in all fairness, we treat them both as if they are allergic to nuts.

we keep benedryl and his epipen at hand at all times. Benedryl is great when I see a first hint of rash...haven't had to use the epipen once....i'd like to keep it that way too.

my niece was just diagnosed with a tree nut allergy, which includes pretty much every nut except peanuts. my sister has found that chocolate often has tree nuts in it, as well as cake mix, and some cereals too. i think anything processed you will want to look at those labels. they may not specify cashews, but should state whether there are peanuts or tree nuts.

My son was just diagnosed about 6 weeks ago with allergies to nearly every tree nut (cashews, peanuts, almonds, etc.) We AVOID all nuts just to be on the safe side. He was also diagnosed as being allergic to just about everything that grows outside....trees, grasses, weeds, etc. Anyway, I've found that we try to compensate for the lack of protein from those nuts with other protein enriched foods. He drinks alot of milk and eats his fair share of cheeses & yogurt. He's also allergic to eggs so we sometimes do the egg substitute to get him the nutrients he's missing. He also LOVES brocolli therefore we have that once a week. Good luck controlling his allergies and be sure to inform everyone who might have contact with him about his allergy to certain foods/nuts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphylaxis

Have you had your son diagnosed by an allergist? Or is this supposition on your part due to a reaction from him ingesting the cashews?
I would strongly recommend getting an actual diagnosis from an allergist due to the extreme seriousness of this type of allergy.
My son was 14 mo old before I gave him any type of eggs, because he had other allergies. He immediately turned red, wheezed and choked..fortunately Benadryl cleared him up, so it was a mild reaction. We did avoidance until he was two, and then he was able to eat it with no ill effects.
I would suggest avoidance of all nuts and nut products until he is seen by an allergist.

K.,
Read every lable looking for tree nuts. Often a child allergic to cashew can not have almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc... You will get really good at reading lables and learning what foods are okay. Ask at the bakery and other places where food is prepared.
It is normal for tree nuts and peanuts to be different allergies. In the plant family they are really far apart. We just say nuts for both.
Enjoy your son he is a gift from God and will grow really fast. God bless you.