Mom wants city oaks torn down to protect kids with nut allergies

I have killer allergies to nuts and I think she's batshit mad, myself.

The last time i was on a plane (return trip from Boston to Michigan) one of the passengers as they were boarding the plane informed the stewardess that his allergies to nuts were so severe that no one on the plane was allowed to so much as open a bag of nuts while he was onboard, or he would sue the airline...

until just now i had thought that was ridiculous and overboard... but beside this woman he seems almost normal

When the doctor told her that her son could be killed by a nut... He was probably making a psychological evaluation and not a physical one.

Well I used to live in a place called Sherman OAKS! It was near a place called Encino! OH! Didn't you know? Encino is a SPANISH word! Translation in English? *****OAK***** My father lives about 30 miles away in a place called THOUSAND OAKS! There is even a place called OAKLAND! I once lived in an area that had oaks, and forests have them ALSO, and even wrote a paper on how some indians made meal from them.

In contrast, I had a coworker that had a kid that was allergic. NO allergies, he was simply allergic! They looked far and wide to try to find SOMETHING he could eat.

So she wants to kill off all the oaks? What is next? COWS? GOATS? WOMEN? You know, thr ARE people allergic to MILK! Hw about flowers, and most plantlife? How about fish and seafood? And don't forget the dust!

Steve

I understand that mom's concerns. I've been busy trying to get cars removed from the streets of Vancouver because of the dangers they pose to pedestrians, pets, and wild animals. Not sure what we'd do with the traffic lights, maybe scrap metal.

Let's get rid of car radios. I HATE noise, etc.... And buses and carspollute. PEEEEUUUUU! And buses with those air brakes, etc? FORGET IT!

Steve

You people are just out of line. I have nut allergies - they are not the same for each nut, but some will cause anaphylactic shock - which means death if you don't get to an emergency room in time.

Kay - thanks. Yes nut dust inhaled can cause wild reactions. It can also cause reactions if you get it on your skin. My mother once cleaned a counter with peanut butter off and missed a dab that you wouldn't even notice. I was around 3 years old and I put my hands on the counter and then wiped my eyes with the hand. My eyes swelled shut for days.

Gary - that's what my ex thought when he put a dab of peanut butter in a grilled cheese sandwich he made for me to prove it was all in my head. He almost killed me. I was in the emergency room getting shots and had no clue what I had been in contact with. He finally confessed. Nice of people to be so willing to help people discover their psychoses eh?

If you are allergic to something any point of contact can cause a problem, topical, inhalation, or ingestion. If you had ever been in, or had seen someone go into anaphylaxis, you would not be so flippant about how serious allergies can be. I quit the girl scouts when we had meetings in our leaders house and she had her cat in with us. I told her I was allergic (at that age very extreme. I had to take a pill to even go into her house) and she told me that I wasn't going to eat the cat so quit playing the attention game. I called my mom and waited outside for her to pick me up.

While I think it's outrageous to cut trees over a nut allergy - the guy on the plane was right. Nut allergies are extremely common and when they are passed out on a plane the dust gets everywhere. They could very easily pass out sunflower seeds, which few people have allergies to, instead.

I hope people are a little more understanding of your physical illnesses.

It would be more cost efficient to simply remove the mom. Just saying.

Yeah, that's pretty damn crazy. Who the hell is eating acorns off the ground? lol

This is what happens when you cut down all the trees!

3M - some good questions. I was allergic to so many things when I was a kid it's kinda a surprise I made it. I was eventually able to get rid of all but 2 of them. There are only a few really common allergies as far as food goes - seafoods, nuts, chocolate, and strawberries seem to be the main ones. It's something about particular proteins in them.

While it is stupid to think that trees are going to be cut or removed for a kid, I lived not far from filbert orchards and they gave me a lot of problems at certain times of the year. I don't allow peanuts or peanut butter in my house. Period. It's too much of a problem. I am aware, however, that there are places I have to really be careful when I go. For a plane to serve nuts is really unbelievable. The allergies are so severe and frequent it's "nuts" (lol, had to) for them to serve them. There is absolutely nothing that can be done for someone if they go into anaphayxis on a plane. If they don't have a medical person on board who is equipped to handle it, or they can't land and have a doctor actually waiting - that person is dead. You don't have more than a few minutes to play around if you are going into shock from that severe an allergy.

People who think they are all in someone's head need some re-education. Sure there are hypochondriacs everywhere - but people with allergies will often get reactions and not know at the time what exactly they were exposed to. More people die from severe allergy than it seems that most are aware of. Someone would be very lucky if I was around to help them if they started to go into shock. I know how to handle it well enough that they have a chance of getting to a hospital on time. It's a very fast, miserable death.

I said the mother was screwy if she expected trees to be cut for her kid -- but I can imagine why she might be scared shitless of that tree being there. Kids love to rub another kid's face in something that they are allergic to, and if your kid ever swelled up beyond recognition, turned blue (literally) and maybe even stopped breathing, I'm sure you'd be a tad nervous about having what did that to them around anywhere.

I can't eat fish or nuts.......but on the other hand, I can walk through poison ivy with no reaction whatsoever. Go figure.

Exactly TB - Never, Never cut a tree that isn't dying anyway. I don't care what kind.

I wonder what the filbert farmers would have thought if I'd told them they had to cut their trees because I was allergic. Bet I missed a wonderful opportunity to have my move gladly funded for me. Gee, I wonder if there are nut trees here. I might want to move again next summer.

Upon further review... I apologize for my previous post. I mean it does sound crazy to want to cut down a tree - but to be honest, if I knew one of my kids could possibly drop dead from an acorn, I'd probably be the first person out there w/ a chainsaw.

HeySal I meant no offense. Phobias to stuff that can kill you is not a craziness - it's a necessity, and I get that. I apologize for being insensitive about it.

@Sal and Terra !!
Thank you for posting your responses! I am the subject of nut allergies, bananas, avacados, all "cillins". People throughout my childhood never took my allergies seriously. I too am supposed to carry an epipen, but do not .

Now, not to go off the subject, but here's another one I have trouble with. Because I have a Polish background (yes, I'm a Polish blonde ) I have a weird tollerance (not the right word here), to novacaine! IT SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK ON ME! I white knuckled my dentist appointments throughout my life!

Trying to convince a dentist that it doesn't work on me was daunting. I usually just shut up and took the pain. Here's the kicker: I have a minor heart condition, so I have to take antibiotics before every appointment. I have to buy a really expensive one because I cannot take the "cillins". This stuff upsets my system to no end. Now I have a system full of antibiotics and a dentist that keeps pumping novacaine into me! The end result was always my heart racing from all the novacaine and a stomach ache that had me in a fetal position for the rest of the day.

(Sorry for the super long post)

I have to be so careful when going to a restaurant. I always make sure the servers know that I cannot have anything with nuts. And, if it's something that would normally come with avacado, I have to really stress that I can't have it. So many times I have taken a bite of something and had a minor reaction because the people in the kitchen were careless.

There are a lot more stories here, but LONG story short, people are becoming more and more cautious and leaning toward paranoia because they have to. No, I don't agree with cutting down trees, but others that don't have allergies need to understand the severity of them.

Again, thank you Sal and Terra for taking a stand on this subject!

~ Theresa

Gary - no apology necessary. I had no feeling you were trying to belittle anyone. You did sound misinformed though - it used to be poplar thought that allergies were psychological. Actually - I've known people to have asthma more over parental control issues than anything physical. I learned to control my emotions to keep my asthma from flaring. If you don't panick or get agitated, it calms the lungs and keeps them from spasming, so to an extent, psychology does play at least a part in the strength of asthma attacks - unless they are triggered by an allergy. Those are just a bitch coming and going.

Theresa -
A lot of people are deadly allergic to penicillin and that allergy often comes on unexpectedly. Someone can take it once in awhile for years and all the sudden it turns deadly. For me it was fish. I remember that last plate of fresh fried smelt.......the last time I ever ate fish without ending up in an emergency room. Man - that is one allergy I can't even start to forgive. Every now and again I'll go park near a hospital and put some fish on my tongue and just wait to see if it's gone. So far not. I start to react in less than 5 minutes so have to spit it out and then just wash my mouth out over and over.

To keep myself cleaned out I eat blood purifiers like dandelion root, chamomile - if there's no toxic build up in your blood you don't get the 24/7 deficient feeling. Garlic is a good non-toxic antibiotic. It takes a lot of cloves if you are really sick, but it's a good preventative to eat a couple of times a week for prevention. Long Pine, if you can find it at a health food store is actual treatment for it = close to what primatine mist was but not in aeresol. Those with asthma and allergies (among others) do best to use preventative health measures.

Sal!
Thanks for the information! I cracked up with your fish story. I too have thought about sitting in front of a hospital to see if my allergy to bananas has gone away!
I eat a lot of garlic, and raw onions. I don't have any proof, but crazy neighbor's grandmother was once deathly ill and her doctor gave her a raw onion sandwich, after she ate it she recovered! :confused: I know if I am feeling a little icky, I'll eat some onions and it goes away.
I was alone when my first reaction to penicillin came! I started to get firey itchy, and my face swelled to the size of a basketball! I called my doctor and he told me to take 2 benedryl. I worked, whew!
Thanks again for the information.

~ Theresa

I use benedryl, too. In fact, in an emergency, I snort it - keeps the throat and nose open and works quicker that way generally.