A nut allergy is not something to deal with lightly!

An example of nut allergy.

It is the first day of school. A class of thirty fourth grade students piles into the lunchroom starving for lunch. Some students wait in the hot lunch line for the tasty cafeteria lunch of the day while others have brought their lunch. There is a new girl to the school that sits timidly with a group of her classmates.

One of her classmates ruffles through her lunch bag to find her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She starts to eat the sandwich and the new girl smells the peanut butter. The new girl begins to feel sick and goes into a state of shock. The teacher runs over and realizes that the new student is experiencing an extreme allergic reaction.

Sound farfetched? This is a true story. The teacher explains to the other students that the new student has a severe nut allergy. This can vary in intensity from one individual to another. This student had a severe reaction that surfaces by just the smell of nuts or in this case peanut butter.

This affliction is not something to deal with lightly. The teacher had to immediately give the student an epinephrine shot to quell the severe reaction to the nuts. The intensity can range from small skin reactions to full blown shock.

In severe cases it can cause the throat to constrict and the individual can’t breathe. It is as if their whole body swells in reaction to the nuts. Since this can be fatal it is important to follow safety precautions if you know that you have problem with nuts.

Safety precautions include not ingesting anything that has nuts in it. This is an obvious safety precaution. However, it can be tricky when nuts are hidden in different foods. It is important to read the ingredients to check whether the food contains any nuts of nut related elements. Many food packagers will place warnings on their labels stating whether the food item contains nuts or nut by products.

If you suffer from a severe not allergy or even if it is mild, it is a good idea to carry epinephrine shot around with you at all times. Epinephrine shots are used when someone has a severe allergic reaction. They can literally save someone’s life by opening their airways.

The new student in the lunchroom recovers. However, from now on the rest of her classmates know how to deal with her nut allergy.