Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional New here. I think my 7 YO, PG son has Asperger's

Maybe these should be referred to as sensitivities rather than true allergens? Kids being sensitive to a product is very different than having a true life threatening reaction. So I definitely understand your being a bit touchy about the subject!!! I would be too.

My kids have skin allergies and regular seasonal type allergies but no food allergies as of yet (and hopefully never!) I guess Kriston is right and all you can do is educate your child about the dangers. You would think educating the adults in their lives would help too but what do you do with teachers sending home candy with peanuts in it????!!!! Good grief!!!!

I don't know. DD is fairly responsible about her allergies, but I just don't understand why the teacher would put this stuff in her bag. We have been round and round about this with the teacher, so it's not like she isn't aware of the issue. Somehow, people just feel compelled to force junk food on my kids.

Anyway, this is getting way OT. Sorry about that.

Sorry too!!!!!

Cathy, I don't know if this will make you feel better or worse, but I have a friend whose daughter is also severely allergic to milk and peanuts. Actually all dairy. People just don't pay attention. When she was at my house my DD5 who was 4 climbed up into the cabinet and took out some gum and gave her a piece. And we had been watching them closely, it happened in a second. Luckily the gum had nothing she was allergic to .
Her school drops the ball all the time, they just aren't mentally programmed to be on the alert about the allergies all the time.
I am sorry you are in this situation, I can't imagine how hard this is, especially when they are little.

Oh, incog--I know there are many others in the same boat. That's one reason why it's so frustrating. Public awareness is very low.

Thanks for your understanding

I think people confuse neurological reactions with immunological reactions. And clearly, one can influence the other. In very preliminary evidence, kids w/ early onset autism and regressive-type autism each have different immunologic profiles from each other as well as from normal kids.

It may be that autism has some kind of autoimmune component that impairs neurological function. But that is still different from an allergy.

I'm not clear regarding what you mean by "But that is still different from an allergy."

I was responding to this in the context of the food allergy discussion. But maybe you are changing to an entirely different topic related to autism?

Ah yes, I was diverging from the allergy discussion somewhat. Simply that people will speak about an allergy to certain things, which as you stated, aren't immunologically mediated but are rather, neurologically mediated. This of course triggered in my forever wandering brain, research I read recently on a correlative (not necessarily causative) link between the immune system and autism, a neurological disorder. The next few years will be an exciting time for neuro-immunologists.

As a side note, I googled antibodies to caffeine and it's actually an area of research. Apparently llama's produce a heat-stable antibody to caffeine which can be used to detect caffeine in coffee/tea.