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[emmycantbemeeko]

"My wife's allergy is so severe that if someone is sitting next to her and eating peanuts, the odor is enough to trigger an allergic reaction."

SILLINESS. You cannot have an allergic reaction to food proteins from an odor!

Comments

[twiness]

Allergies are strange things. I've had several allergies to flowers and trees etc. so to have things travel through the air and bother you seems totally natural..though I'm also very allergic to strawberries but I don't have a reaction because someone else is eating them near me..hmm.

[emmycantbemeeko]

It may seem totally natural but it's not. Peanut allergies are to the protein in peanuts, which is notably not airborne, as opposed to pollen, which is notably airborne.

There's absolutely no reason that simply eating peanuts within sniffing-distance of someone should trigger an allergic reaction. The substances in food that cause them to have an odor and the substances that cause allergies are completely different.

There's a good article about it here: http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/02/food-fears-run-amuck-government-outlaws.html

[twiness]

I very much like that blog, I must thank you for sharing it with me.
I seem to recall that about food allergies from a food science course I took..that does make sense though since there is no pollen in nuts. Is it necessary to ingest peanuts to have a reaction? It seems like maybe people just have severe anxiety associated with peanuts and perhaps even the smell of peanuts and thus they have a reaction.

[emmycantbemeeko]

It's a great blog!

We discussed that a bit above in the thread- the idea that people who'd previously experienced a severe reaction might have anxiety attacks related to the smell. I can buy that, but anxiety does not fatal anaphylaxis make.

The symptoms of a severe anxiety attack and severe anaphylaxis feel similar at first, but the important distinction is that in an anxiety attack you feel like you're going to die; in an anaphylactic reaction you actually might. The chemical mediators that cause the symptoms are different. To someone having a panic attack though, who administers an epi pen, "recovers", and never gets a blood test to confirm or disprove anaphlyaxis, they may well assume that they narrowly escaped a severe allergic reaction, when actually they had none. That's why despite a lack of clinical evidence or logical explanation for a peanut-smell reaction, you'll find some passionate true-believing patients

[twiness]

that thing about schools IS really ridiculous. My friend told me that her son can't even bring cupcakes that are home made to school because parents are afraid they could have some kind of peanut particles on them..I'm sorry but no one checked all my food for strawberries or even bothered to close a window during allergy season when I was a kid..
People tend to overreact though and whether it is warranted or not they obviously have a reaction, what should be focused on are usable (and very easy) techniques for avoiding PTSD to such reactions etc.
but yeah, i think people are possibly overreacting to these things.