hnechets

Well, this did not happen to me, but a fellow consultant realted something that happened to him on a flight last month.

Being like me, a true fan of peanuts, and being as how you just about can't get them any more on the plane, he, like me, brings his own to eat in flight.

Upon opening his first pack, the pax next to him like almost panics nd says "You can't open those! I am violently allergic to peanuts!!"

So, being a nice guy, he puts them back into his pocket.

My question is, are those with peanut allergies that sensitive to them? I mean, not allergic to consuming them, but just to the, I don't know, peanut dust in the air?

I think he did the right thing, but I do wonder, what's the real skinny here? Is this a truly real health hazard to those with allergies to peanuts and other nuts?

Is this new thing that has just popped up like the monkey pox? That is, all through grade school, Jr. high, and high school, the school cafeterias regularly had peanut butter and jelley sandwiches, etc., and no one ever died through al those years of a peanut allergy. It wasn't even mentioned...it was never, not once an issue.

I am not trying to start anything here, I am merely asking for clarification, is this really a serious health issue?

Billiken

The degree of sensitivity to exposure can be amazing = fatal (if not treated ASAP).

A lot of processed foods/candies today indicate that, while there are no peanuts in the product, the factory does have peanuts in other areas of the facility.

A friend of mine once showed my how allergic he is. He touched a peanut with the tip of his index finger. He immediately washed his hand/finger with hot/soapy water. Fifteen minutes later half of his index finger was still bright red. Imagine if that happened to your respiratory system.

Yes, extremely sensitive.

clacko

appearently it can be very serious & can kill people, just as shrimp,crab,& lobster to which i am allergic. fortunately only mildly, but i quit them all a long time ago.

in a mystery that i read recently, a guy was offed by a cocktail that had ground peanuts in it. the perp obviously knew of the allergy. must be true!

hnechets

Wow. That is really scary.

gleff

Scary? Yes.

Miles and Points? No.

I'll move this over to TravelBuzz. Please continue the discussion there.

Regards,
Gary
aka gleff
MilesBuzz and Delta moderator

JS

What if the person in the next row had opened a bag of peanuts? Would there be a FlyerTalk topic shortly thereafter in "In The News" titled "Man killed by in-flight peanuts!" Pretty unlikely if you ask me.

If you really are that sensitive to peanuts, bring your own O2 supply.

Jet2K

I once read that a woman die from allergy to peanuts after eating a bowl of chili con carne at a popular restaurant.

It appears that the restaurant was running low on its chili, and added peanut butter to "stretch" it. The article also mentioned that adding peanut butter was a normal resturant practice for stretch chili.

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oldpenny16

I am extremely allergic to shellfish and carry an emergency kit with me at all times. Frankly I don't know what I would do if someone on a flight had an allergic reaction to peanuts or whatever. I'm not a medical person. I am trained to help myself, not the next person. Do airplanes carry emergency kits for allergic reactions?

I am not bothered if someone sitting next to me eats shrimp....just don't kiss me!

fiat_owner

You'd be surprised at how extreme some allergies can be. I slept over at a girlfriend's house once after a long flight. I woke up wheezing that afternoon...her mother was boiling shrimp in the kitchen! Previous to that incident, I had always thought that the wheeze I get when exposed to the smell of cooking fish/shellfish was purely psychosomatic.

That said, I pretty much view my allergies as my own problem, and not everyone else's. Then again, I'm not the type to actually die from non-ingested allergens!

fiat_owner

birdstrike

That is an interesting question. I once told my doc that I swelled up a fair bit when stung by bees. He prescribed an Epi-Pen that I was supposed to keep handy in the event of a severe alergic reaction. I've taken several advanced medicine-for-civilians courses and this very question came up. If you have an epinephrine injector, and the person next to you is having an allergic reaction, and no professional help is available, do you use your injector on them?

The answer to that has always been no.

Still, I'd hate to be put in that position. Since the injector never leaves the house (and, oops, expired 10/00) I doubt if I ever will.

Now you'll have to excuse me for a few minutes, I have to go check on my bees. Seriously.

StudentExplorer

As a roomate of someone who is highly allergic to peanuts, I can confirm that this is true. It's not the "peanut dust" but rather the smell that can set of a reaction. And any trace of peanuts will cause him to react almost immediately. Quite scary actually to witness.

Green Dragon

My husband is very allergic to pineapple, of all things. He can't eat cut fruit without knowing the cutting board was washed first. He did this once and started choking, as his air passage swelled close and he couldn't breathe. We went to a large dinner once, where the ham, which had been baked in a layer of sliced pineapple, was brought out... he had to leave pretty quickly, as his nose was tingling and his breath was getting short.

It's amazing what people are sensitive to!

Did you hear that in certain elementary schools NO children are allowed to bring peanut butter sandwiches, in case one of the other children is allergic, since 'kids share lunches'? Don't know the veracity of this, but heard it on the news several months ago.

wingless

I found a website www.peanutallergy.com

They even have a bulletin board.

Some of the poster have over 1,000 post...about peanut allegies...what a trip.

cathaana

One of my friends is very allergic to peanuts. If he eats anything with peanuts in it he has about 2-5 minutes to take a pill or he will die. I have often seen him having trouble at parties where people eat peanuts or products made with them. The guy on the airplane was probably just as allergic as my friend. BTW, he hates to fly because so many airlines serve peanuts as a snack.

dejahma

I'm dejahma's daughter and I am very allergic to peanuts. When I was in kindergarten, my class was having a snack of cellery sticks with peanut butter and raisins on top, and I was standing on the opposite side of the room. Just being in the same room with the peanut butter and not touching it, my eyes swelled shut and I started wheezing. My mom had to come pick me up so that the teachers didn't take me to the hospital.
More recently, on a trip to Spain, I was eating almonds (which I am not allergic to) and my throat started to swell shut. The man who brought them out had also brought out peanuts, so we think that some of the peanut touched the almonds.
I'm not sure if an O2 tank would pass through security now a days for someone who wasn't in apparent respiratory distress, it could be used as a weapon

[This message has been edited by dejahma (edited 06-30-2003).]