Talking Allergies

KarenOSAG wrote-


My computer has been broken for the past week!
I just started to draft a letter to Health Canada but when I try to find a Halloween related article to ask them to link to at Allergic Living, Anaphylaxis Canada or our local OSAG... I come up empty.
I am hesitant to ask them to concider us a link to the halloween specific site for ths reason but I suppose I can ask that they concider these links as resorces?
How about we create a such an article so that we may ask them to link it?
Am I wrong?

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

I have convinced both my kids to keep 'only' 20 pieces of candy and trade the rest to me. . . for a $20 bill each. Took some convincing of my non-allergic child, but I am so happy they have agreed, even if it makes me feel broke. I will take the rest to work so I won't be temped to feel even greener around the gills by eating rest of the (non-peanut) stuff by myself!
Caroline2
ps I hope to hear how everyone's night went - what did you do for trick or treating??

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son anaphylactic to peanuts

I drove thr girls to my moms, and my friends house. Then we hit our neighbourhood. We only got afew pieces of peanut free nestle treats which are off limits in our house (milk) and the rest was stuff that I had mentioned to my neighbours that my girls were not allergic to. Some of the neighbours also had special bags for my girls with stickers, hair clips, a book, stationary, toy dinosaurs etc. They have a whole bucket of stuff that isn't even food! The rest of the candy my youngest very willingly traded for nonuttin granola bars. She wasn't even allergic to it...she just does not like candy. Barely anything for the great pumpkin (aka daddy). The great pumpkin is leaving back pack carriers for their webkinz (They love webkinz!!!).

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DD age 9 1/2 -peanuts, nuts,
DD age 7 1/2 - milk, eggs, chicken, peanuts, treenuts, cats, dogs,
DS age 2 1/2
Husband- asthma, eggs, treenuts, fish, shellfish environmental
Self - penicillan, eurithromiacin, mild laytex allergy.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. Halloween is getting bigger every year, this Halloween we did related stuff for 4 days prior, and the trick or treating was like a 6 hour event, with people coming for a spooky dinner, then trick or treating then a huge fireworks display at the neighbors then a car tour around the neighborbood to look at the decorations. It is probably the day that my son is more likely to come in contact with peanut accidently than any other.

The amount of peanut chocolate bars at the school where I work was amazing - the parents put on a haunted house and party and there were wrappers all over the gym floor. It really is a dangerous time for our kids. On the day after Halloween, most of the schools have a Pro-D day, thank goodness. That way there is time to clean up, and most of the kids gorge on candy all day at home, so they don't have as much to bring to school.

In all the excitement we forgot Aaron's Epipen.

I am just wondering what you do to make sure you never forget.

I found it difficult to find articles dealing with Halloween - how to stay safe. I finally found one that AC had put out years ago, but that is cos I have kept all the newsletters, there was nothing really informative on the web (but I am not great at searches so maybe it was me).

The medical officer of Vancouver had asked me to find him something he could distribute to school nurses, so I gave him the info from AC, but I don't know if he was able to get the info out in time. I did not see it. I will phone him today.

I am wondering if we could use one section of this site as a resource for situations like this. We could go through the calender and put out links or resourses to deal with that specific holiday.

I just felt so unprepared this year...

Everything went okay, and he did not have a reaction, there was only one bag of peanuts in his sack, but only one little Mars bar. One guy asked if there were any kids with allergies, that's never happened before.

We had a great night too. My daughter loved going door to door. When we got home she had no issues giving up her peanut & unsafe treats to give to The Great Pumpkin. I was actually very impressed with our neighbourhood as we got very few peanut treats and TONS of Nestle favorites & Humpty Dumpty chips labelled peanut free.

We had a sign on our door & non-food treats for anyone with allergies. We only had 1 Peanut allergic boy come and he was very happy to get the peanut free chocolate we had. But I also gave out some of the other stuff to smaller children and one little boy went running to his mom, he was so excited about the Pumpkin straw! LOL

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4ye old DD allergic to sesame, peanut, raw egg , and mulitple environmental & seasonal allergies

2 yr old DS -no known allergies!

Global News had a story about allergic children on Halloween. I was too tired to watch but I found the link this morning on their website:

http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhea ... fcf37cd619

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15 year old - asthmatic, allergic to cats, dogs, horses, waiting to be "officially" diagnosed for anaphylaxis
12 year old - asthmatic, allergic to tree pollen and mold, OAS
Husband - Allergic to amoxycillin
Self - Allergic to housework only

Every year I make my own chocolates using Halloween molds and buy safe treats and wrap them up in special Halloween bags and deliver them to our neighbours and friends prior to Halloween night. That way when we arrive on Halloween night we do not have to explain anything and we do not have to worry about weeding out unsafe treats. So far my daughter is happy only going to a few houses (about . It's the excitement of dressing up and seeing others at our door that is exciting right now. We had a great Halloween and the school party went well too.

I heard on CBC radio on Halloween morning an interview with an adult who had multiple allergies. Her mom had delivered treats in advance also when she was little. She had always been surprised how the neighbours had prepared safe treats for her. She did not find out until recently (some 25 years later) that her mom had been the one who did the delivering and preparing. Her mom had finally told her secret. It's amazing how creative we can be!

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

Someone else here on the board made the suggestion of hanging your epi carrier / fanny pack on your door knob - so it's the last thing you see before leaving the house. We've done that and haven't forgotten since.

I also saw a piece on Global News Hallowe'en night. It featured a mom and her son who is allergic to peanuts / nuts. It showed what precautions they have to take in order to make the night safe for her son. I believe she is the Anaphylaxis Canada support group leader for the Toronto area. It was really good to see!

Our night went well -- we had to give away quite a bit, but he still had enough to enjoy. He was thrilled about his Great Pumpkin present (he left him a movie). The day after, he wanted to know how long he had to wait until it was Hallowe'en again!

I'm sooo late looking at this - sorry!

1. For the EpiPens: In our front hall we have a piece of furniture with various drawers for mittens and hats, etc. On the outside of the furniture we have put 2 hooks for the boys' EBelts. The hooks are at their chest level level so they can easily grab their belts and put them on before heading out. And they are easily accessible to everyone in case of an emergency at home. Plus it's a good way for me to make sure they have taken off their EBelts when they get home from school. I just look at the hooks and if one is empty, I yell for the kid who is still wearing his to take it off and put it on the hook.

2. Halloween went really smoothly this year - although my youngest had to give away about 90% of his candy. He didn't seem to care though - I think he just enjoyed collecting and seeing all the decorations.

As I said in another post (I think) I am thinking of weighing his bag next year - before and after. But neither kid minded - I was really impressed at how they came in, sat down, and starting sorting their loot.

But my oldest did mention how happy he was that The Great Pumpkin came. (We put out Halloween bags this year for him to fill.) And my youngest was so sweet in a kind of heart-breaking way: I overheard him asking his big brother if the candy that the GP brought was safe. 'Of coures it's safe!" exclaimed my oldest. "The Great Pumpkin knows we have allergies..." (And I assured them that the GP did indeed only bring safe candies.)


K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

Karen,

That's a cute story. It amazes me to see how kids have sometimes more sense than some adults.

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15 year old - asthmatic, allergic to cats, dogs, horses, waiting to be "officially" diagnosed for anaphylaxis
12 year old - asthmatic, allergic to tree pollen and mold, OAS
Husband - Allergic to amoxycillin
Self - Allergic to housework only

bumping up

http://www.nationalserviceresources.org ... ep_id=1071

I think this is a great idea!

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

I like to have an array of different treats on hand, applesauce cups for the wee little ones, bags of goldfish crackers, and of course the mountains of peanut free candies (lots of extras for the kids when they toss out all the unsafe treats).
It's so great to see many more products out there that are Peanut/nut free

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ds 6: ana to peanuts and fish, cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, many environmental
dd 12: reacted to pork rinds
dh: brazil nuts
me: shrimp, mangos, environmental

(it's been a while... )

Quick question. Anyone has any candy ideas for a kid and that are beef (incl gelatin), milk, gluten and soy free? I've been out of touch for a while and my cousin's son has to avoid all of those... she's looking for candy not non-food items...

thanks in advance,

Mylène

What about making candy apples?

I've done it a few times and it's not hard, you just can't leave the pot cos it's nasty if it burns cos the sugar gets REALLY hot.

Here's the recipe I've used

8 apples and sticks (crunchy work best)
1 cup water
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
(it says red food color but you wouldn't have to use it)

Put it all in a 2 quart pot and heat to boiling without stirring, medium heat. Heat without stirring till candy thermometer is at 290 degrees F. (thin, thread stage) about 20 minutes.
With paint brush dipped in hot water, occasionally brush sugar from sides of pot as it cooks (this keeps the sugar on the sides from getting too hot) . When it is 290 degrees, remeove from heat and dip the apples, tipping the saucepan to cover the apples. Place appls on a cookie sheet, cool at least one hour.

This wouldn't be good for giving to kids door-to-door, but if it is just for your nephew it would work, and they are SOOOO good! You would be his favorite auntie forever!