Daughter of DH work collegue

[LisaFromAustralia]

Last year, a my DH's work colleague's daughter had a mild reaction to peanuts. Tests by a allergy specialist were negative. Her mum (Indian descent),  on Tuesday, made a decision to give her fussy child, who was home from childcare, suffering from conjunctivitis, some peanut butter on bread. Wham big reaction, hives and swelling.  What is scary is that she did not call 000 (Aus emergency service no), she waited for her husband to come home from work. My DH gave her a lecture about how serious PN allergy was and that she should have called for help.
Hopefully she will be able to have  the child re-tested and gets the correct DX arm herself with the correct information needed to keep her child safe.

[Macabre]

Wow--that's really scary.  I'm glad the child is okay! 

Yeah, the whole false negative possibility is always out there--and frightening.

[twinturbo]

What does identifying the mother's ethnicity have to do with it?

[rebekahc]

What does identifying the mother's ethnicity have to do with it?

Perhaps to indicate a different cultural awareness of food (or peanut) allergies?

I'm so glad the child is okay!  Hopefully further testing will be correct and the doctor will be able to give her proper management advice.

ETA:

More than 4 million people in the United States alone are affected by peanut allergies, yet there are no reported cases in India, a country where peanuts are the primary ingredient in many baby food products.

http://www.cfp.ca/content/57/10/1176.1.full

[twinturbo]

As opposed to everyone else who does get it? Please let me and everyone else know who those people are. Should we delve into the anecdata of experience here of doctors, board certified allergists, ER staff who woefully undertreat anaphylaxis?

The parents took the child in for testing after the first mild reaction, answer back was negative. Surely we can empathize with a family that got bad or inaccurate advice before we call out their ethnicity (which is not always synonymous with national culture). Or do I need a ridiculous but unfortunately true counterexamples of the white American doctor, pediatrician and teacher who blew off their own childrens anaphylaxis?

And where would the contrast be? I have no idea nor assume what Lisa is or her husband, unless unmentioned is white with only non-white called out. For all I know they are all of the same background.

[rebekahc]

I can't speak for Lisa or why she mentioned the nationality of the mother.  I'm not sure why you're jumping on me when I simply tried to give a plausible explanation. 

[lakeswimr]

Welcome.  I also hope the parents get good information and help.  However, it sounds like the doctor she saw did not give her any more info so I don't think she did anything wrong.  I get the feeling you think she should not have given her child peanut butter that day.  Why not?  While my child is allergic to peanuts and other things, most kids are not. 

Maybe in Australia a person's ethnicity would be mentioned but it isn't something people normally think is noteworthy in north America. 

I could be that mother.  My son had reactions when he was little.  I told the doctor repeatedly. He told me it was nothing.  I went to an actual allergist and he told me it was nothing.  So, DH and I fed DS a tiny amount of restaurant food and he had a major reaction.  We did not handle it properly.  This was from lack of correct info, not from lack of trying.  Now years later I'm an old pro at handling things.  As soon as I got proper info about FAs I took great care to prevent any more reactions.  Lack of info is a real problem.  When even DOCTORS don't have the right info sometimes (often times) how can parents?

Anyway, hopefully this woman will also get good info and learn about FAs and how to avoid and treat reactions, etc.

[Macabre]

Lisa -- it's great to see you!

[hedgehog]

   Hi Lisa!  Been a while since I've seen you.

Yes, this woman did what most of us here would not do NOW.  But when we started out dealing with allergies?  I know I wasn't any more informed, and just as easily could have done the same.

[Mfamom]

Hi Lisa!  Hope you and your family are doing well!

I wondered if Lisa mentioned ethnicity because there was a possible language barrier