By Larry Teren
If you mention peanuts to some people, they immediately think of the famous comic strip by Charles Schulz. Others break out in a sweat because they are allergic to the popular snack. For peanut allergy sufferers, it can be a deadly situation as the mere touching of peanut residue can cause them to swell up and choke to death. I know one teenager who carries around with him at all times a type of medical syringe pen that he or others can inject into him if he is having such a type of reaction.
When I visit with his family, I have to make sure that I am not carrying any peanut based products into their house. The young man is not shy but is hesitant to shake anyone’s hand unless he knows that it has not touched anything peanut-related.
I recently heard on the radio that scientists are working on a cure for this deadly peanut allergy problem. The cure is not imminent but they have had success trying out the concept on animals. They inject the toxins into the blood stream that cause the allergic reaction to try to build up immunity to it. Let’s hope that a serum can be concocted such as was done for polio and other dreaded diseases.
My annoying allergies are mild compared to peanuts. Besides tomatoes, the biggest aggravation I suffer from is hay fever and ragweed infestation. Just saying the R word makes my eyes burn. As a kid I’d wake up in the later August to mid September days with my eyelids shut from all the pus crusted by my ragweed-infected eyes. I’d literally have to pull them open after soaking them in very warm water.
My parent were not on easy street or as they used to say ‘made in the shade’. They spent hard earned money getting me hay fever shots during the winter and spring to build up my immunity against ragweed. It helped very little and more often it just gave me a swelled arm to go along with my swelled head.
This past autumn, I have been suffering terribly with burning eye sensation. My doctor thinks that whatever I am currently having an allergic reaction to will stubbornly not leave my sinus cavities until that first frost even though it is now past Thanksgiving Day. I’ve tried all types of temporary relief medicines and even went out and bought an air cleaner. Whatever it takes. Oh, for thirty-two degree weather!
About twenty years ago I ate pistachio nuts that must have been tainted because it caused my hands to get very red and swollen like you see in a cartoon when someone smashes their hand against a wall.(By the way, I did that, too- smashing my hand against a wall playing pinners [if you have to ask, fahgedabout it] and spent the night in total agony until I finally convinced my father that I wasn’t faking it. He took me to the hospital where they said I had broken blood vessels but that there was not much to do but let it heal and take aspirin.) I became convinced that I was allergic to pistachio and am reticent to ever let that greenish-yellow little nut ever touch my hands again.
It goes without saying that anyone who suspects that they may have a peanut allergy should not shrug it off but check it out even if it ends up being a false alarm. A good website to find more information on peanut allergy is
https://www.positivehealthwellness.com/diet-nutrition/need-know-peanut-allergies-symptoms-look/
another more general explanation is
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/peanut-allergy/DS00710/DSECTION=symptoms
Note: I nor the host of this website are medical professionals nor claim to have medical expertise. We do not endorse any medical practitioner or solution to health problems. Always seek a competent health care professional.