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40 years old - been allergic to peanuts since I was about 10. I can, however, eat small amounts of peanut butter, but it has to be creamy and low in oil content. Prior to 10, I ate peanuts all the time.
I knew someone in grade school allergic to peanuts, but not deathly allergic. Also milk allergies. Peanut allergies seemed to soar in the 80's. When my son, now in high school, was little, we were urged not to give peanut butter before a certain age (2 or 3), also, strawberries, orange juice, and honey, to reduce their risk of become allergic or intolerant. One of my sisters worked for an allergist. Apparently it has something to do with building antibodies or resistance to certain substances in those foods which aren't present prior to a certain age. My son's friend is extremely allergic to the tiniest bit of egg in anything. He polices himself quite well now, but we had to be hypervigilant when he was younger and visited our home. His mother attributes it to a particular vaccine he received as an infant. My sister, 39, recently developed an allergy to fruits with pits like peaches. Weird. I've had severe hayfever allergies since I was quite young - the usual culprits for me - cats, trees, mold, dust, pollens, etc.
I have an allergy to poison oak... and I hat the stuff...
You think that's rough? My son's alergic to WHEAT. No cake, Ding Dongs, 3-Musketeers, pasta, etc. A few days after the diagnosis he was getting really depressed so I took him to the store. I bought fresh strawberries, cool whip, ice cream, chocolate milk, kosher hot dogs, candy bars, jelly beans and every other good thing that he could still eat. Of course I didn't let him eat it all at once, but he was thrilled and is still happy with the trade offs.
Then, just a few months after the wheat thing, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He was very depressed about having to give up sugar until his first hypoglycemic attack. "Here! Quick! Eat this candy bar! Drink this juice! Eat these jelly beans!" We're still adjusting his insulin and on one very bad day he had to eat... 4 16 oz glasses of juice, 8 candy bars, 6 fruit cups and a half gallon of milk to keep him up. Scared the crap out of me and made him SICK of candy! LOL!