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.
No tests, just a severe reaction when he was around one after he ate a cracker with just a little dab of peanut butter a well-meaning store lady gave him (with my permission--who knew?).
He ate a peanut again when he was about two at a Gators v. Noles football party, just picked it up and popped it in. The hostess felt terrible--she had meant to pick up the peanut dishes when we arrived.
The third time was at preschool when he was around four. A parent who hadn't read the allergy list at school gave him a peanut butter cookie--I got a frantic, freaking out call from school.
All three times, people were very apologetic but I'm sanguine--I try Benadryl first before popping him with the EpiPen!
My son can actually eat the fried turkey and Chick Fil A so he's not one of the severe cases, either. I, too, have heard both--it stays with you vs. you outgrow it. Who knows, I'm certainly not going to make him eat a peanut butter sandwich to test it!!
It drives my mother in law crazy--she is dying to test him but I just look at her like she's insane and she backs off. She does go out of her way to tell him how delicious peanut butter is, however! I guess he can be tested but by now he'd probably hate the stuff anyway.
Some of my favorite cookies are what we call "Peanut Butter Kisses". Peanut butter cookies with a Hershey's kiss pressed in after they are baked. I still make them but I'm sure to make his favorite cookie as well. I do know that he is not allergic to pecans, as he has eaten a cookie containing pecans (by accident the first time). I generally keep him away from all nuts, just in case.
He is also allergic to milk. He can't drink it--it gives him a rash and makes him act terrible, but I can use it in baking and cooking without a problem, and he can even have cereal with some milk, as long as he doesn't drink the leftovers. When he was little I used Rice Dream, which was a good substitute.
I'm sure the mother is not only in shock, but devastated. Obviously her daughter's doctor didn't emphasize enough, the dangers of this lethal allergy, or everyone would have been alerted.... Very, very sad situation.
Another great example of Canadian medicine that WE DON'T WANT!
Sounds like she collapsed well before receiving medical attention.
She probably died of suffocation when from the swelling of her airways before the epinephrine could help.
Does a milk allergy kill a person? I thought it just made them sick.
We've had this argument in my county. Some want the schools to ban peanut butter and ban all students from bringing peanut edibles to school.
I say such a policy would be a diservice to the peanut allergy kids because it would give them the false impression that their world is a safe place, when the reality is that it is a deadly world and they have to be on guard everyday for the rest of their lives.
What are you saying?
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.
Yeah, but you also signed up tomorrow...
How did you find out that your little one was allergic?
How did you find out that your little one was allergic?
Me, too.
Of course, my kids have always snacked on Cheerios as babies, and this kid always had honey nut Cheerios. So I know she is not allergic to tree nuts, even though they still make me nervous for some retarded reason.
We had gone to South Carolina on a trip, and my FIL loves those little debbie things that are wafers and peanut butter dipped in chocolate. My daughter, who was one at the time, had been eating bites of these things the whole time we were there.
We brought a box home with us (long car trip), and the very next time she ate one she just went into serious allergic reaction mode. I absolutely freaked out, as she was so tiny, and soooo sick, and I had never seen such a thing.
Her doc told me that with the first exposure, the body is alerted to the allergy. The next exposure can be as mild as a torso rash that you may not notice, depending on the severity of the allergy. But it gets worse with every exposure. As a result, he knew of NO doctors who would test my kid, as in order to do so they have to expose them, running the risk of killing them just to find out!
So tell your MIL to take that and smoke it!
She does go out of her way to tell him how delicious peanut butter is, however!
And that is just mean. What is her problem?
Oh, heavens no, I certainly do not advocate that. It's just a scary thing to have to throw your little kid into the big bad world anyway. Couple that with having to worry about every little thing they eat, that you cannot control, and it can make you crazy.
But, at some point she'll be old enough to watch out for herself, and I can buy peanut butter again! When she moves out, that is. : (
Yup........ and that George Washington Carver fella.
Within ten seconds of her swallowing that thing, she looked like a play dough machine, with foam coming out of her mouth. There was so much of it that she couldn't get a breath. I grabbed her out of her high chair, and sat down with her. She then began throwing up all over, so I took her clothes off. Then I could literally watch the rash spread as it rapidly covered her little body, to the point where even her eye balls were swelling.
During all of this, my nine year old had called my husband, who in turn called 911 because I was hysterical, thinking her tiny airway was going to close any minute and there was nothing I could do.
The firemen showed up, and thankfully one of them was a friend of mine, which calmed me down a little.
We got loaded into an ambulance, with my baby on an oxygen monitor and a little oxygen mask, and that was my very first ambulance ride. Ever. And I hope to God I never have to be in one again.
Still chokes me up thinking about it. I was so scared.
to xjcsa,
i don't know about signing up "tomorrow" - i just signed up, and the computer/software did the date; not me. I am not trying to deceive anyone.
teenyelliot,
i read several books/articles on this years ago. my ex-wife was a surgical nurse; i worked in several hospitals; my friends were drs, nurses etc.
the most famous person that confirms these reports is Heather Whitestone, miss america 1995. her and her sister became deaf AFTER their childhood immunizations.
many more infants/children had different maladies.
regards
Thank you, common sense is practically nonexistant on these threads.
I'm glad you have some.
You're story made me hyperventilate...I mean it...I felt what you must have been going through. Can you tell me what an Epi Pen is?
A lot of the boomers were not breast fed---it was sort of "out of fashion", yet the peanut allergies weren't around then.
I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for you. It's tough enough without life-threatening allergies.
Good luck with your little one.
My husband is that allergic to bananas and he doesn't allow them in the house and though I have eaten them it is very rare. I never thought about a kiss killing him. Hmmmmmmm.
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