Posted on 11/30/2005 5:40:53 PM PST by jdm
Thinking she was having an asthma attack, Christina Desforges burst into a friend's room and woke him in a desperate search for medicine.
Friends called an ambulance as her breathing grew labored, but Desforges collapsed a moment after she stepped outside. She died four days later.
It quickly became clear the 15-year-old girl succumbed to a peanut allergy _ not from nuts she ate, but a peanut-butter sandwich her boyfriend had consumed before kissing her that day.
A friend of the couple said in a television interview that Desforges' boyfriend and other companions had no idea she was allergic to peanuts. An allergist said Wednesday that the teenager's friends and relatives should have been warned about her condition.
"Some people have an extremely low threshold," said Dr. Rhoda Kagan, an allergist at Montreal Children's Hospital. "This varies greatly from person to person and is highly unpredictable."
She called Desforges's case "very rare and worrisome."
One friend, Michael St. Gelais, said he was devastated by the case.
"I felt guilty at first because if I had realized earlier she was (allergic), we could probably have saved her," he said in an interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corp. "However, we did as much as we could and I don't think there was more we could have done."
Desforges, who lived in Saguenay, about 155 miles north of Quebec City, was almost immediately given a shot of adrenaline, a standard tool for treating anaphylactic shock brought on by an allergy to peanuts. But she died Nov. 23 at a Quebec hospital.
Symptoms of peanut allergies can include hives, plunging blood pressure and swelling of the face and throat, which can block breathing.
"There are several images stuck in my mind," St. Gelais said. "We went upstairs because she really was having more difficulty breathing. The minute we went outside, she collapsed."
A memorial was held Saturday and an autopsy was being performed Wednesday.
Desforges mother declined to talk to The Associated Press.
About 1.5 million Americans are severely allergic to even the smallest trace of peanuts, and peanut allergies account for 50 to 100 deaths in the United States each year.
Peanut allergies have been rising in recent decades. The reason remains unclear, but one study found that baby creams or lotions with peanut oil may cause children to develop allergies later in life.
Do you have any idea how many things you eat every day are made in factories that also make other products that may contain peanuts?
How would you feel if as a mother you cannot check every single thing your child eats? And if you don't, your kid might die?
Glenn Beck had a caller on yesterdays show, Tues, who said he knew why this is a problem now, Our local station does not carry the final 1/2 hour of his show...Did anyone hear the explaination??????/
And it doubly sucks, cause I love peanuts! Can't have em anywhere in the house. I have to scarf down an occasional Reeces when I am out and about, just to get my fix.
Obviously, the older she gets the more she can watch out for it, too. But there are so many varying degrees of this allergy, and you never know how badly your kid is going to react to any given exposure.
My dyslexia saw that as deadly peanut gallery!
Now, he could eat peanuts, so one day he picked some peanuts out of a can of "mixed nuts" and went into an immediate reaction AGAIN. The Doctor said that just a tiny bit of the oil residue from the Brazil nut got on the peanuts and that's all it took. He was deathly ill for days, without even ingesting the nut itself.
It's very scary, people.
sw
My son is also allergic to peanuts.
I would never demand that peanuts be taken out of the school menu--I would pack the child's lunch and snacks each and every day and be sure he/she has an Epi pen handy. What's wrong with this person, too lazy to pack a lunch?
People who seek to change things to benefit their own extremely small minority are positively despicable. Think Michael Newdow.
I would be scared, just like you and praying for her. I would do it anyway, but I would homeschool her. My comment wasn't made, non caring. It's just that she can't be kept completely away from them in society.
You were lucky you didn't have to rely on a 15 year old and the canadian healthcare system. Those two factors are not insignificant.
The whole thing just baffles me, and I have considered home schooling her. Haven't made up my mind yet.
It is just soooo scary. Her first reaction, I thought my heart was going to explode. I literally thought I was holding my baby while she was dying. Terrible. And I am told with each exposure, the reaction gets worse.
I'm with you on that one. My youngest daughter is allergic to peanuts.
Well the baby-boomer generation didn't have the peanut allergies and not many died young either.I don't know one who did.
This is such a tragic story. It is true that some kids just died years ago and and no one understood why. But it is also true that 50 years ago (the boomers) childhood deaths became the rare exception at the same time that the medical community finally got a handle on diagnosing and treating allergies. But that was at the same time that Cracker Jacks and other peanut products became every-day items across the land and not rare treats that many would never be exposed to, yet these kind of allergies were virtually unheard of then.
Something isn't "what it used to be" with this peanut stuff. It's no longer a one in a million thing, and the increases do not seem to be a result of better diagnostics and record keeping.
Is it the peanuts we produce today versus 50 years ago, the more frequent exposure, or the people we produce that has changed?
We need to find out.
Good luck.
I've kept mine alive for nine years. :-) He is at the point where he can self-monitor, although I am still sure to notify other parents at parties or sleepovers so they can be sure not to use peanuts as an ingredient. He has a reaction if he ingests peanuts, but not if he just smells it so we're lucky. He also does not seem to be allergic to peanut oil.
Beware of Chick Fil-A. They cook in peanut oil. Also, chinese food is often cooked in peanut oil. It's really not so hard to eliminate it from your child's diet once you get used to it.
Unfortunately, my 100% naturally fed baby did develop allergies (peanuts and milk). One theory is that he was exposed to the proteins of those substances in my milk.
Everything is pretty much theoretical at this point when it comes to allergies, however!!!
I have heard from some doctors that if it is a mild allergy, they can sometimes outgrow it. Others say peanut allergy is the one allergy that cannot be outgrown.
Who knows. I do know I am NOT gonna be one of those kid in a bubble moms. I have let her eat some candy that said "made in a factory that also processes peanuts", and that caused her no problem. So, on Thanksgiving hubby always fries a turkey, and you have to use peanut oil in those fryers.
Well, my mother, of all people, gave some to my little girl. No reaction. Hmmmm.
So, I am hoping she has a very mild case, and maybe will outgrow it if that is possible.
How did you find out your son was allergic, and have you ever had the actual allergy tests done?
Jeez, it's already hard enough to get a girl to kiss me. Now, they have the peanut butter excuse, too.
What has changed? - actually it's more like what has been addded!
Immunizations - with built-in allergies -- the drug mfg's dream come true. Guaranteed consumers!
Trust me on this, I am a certified bio-med tech.
So, why didn't the adrenaline stop the allergic response?
I went into anaphalactic shock once, and that's what they gave me.
My neice, has an allergy to milk. It is as bad as peanuts because so many things are made with milk.
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