Peanut allergy treatment involves avoiding peanuts and peanut proteins completely. But peanuts are common, and you or your child are likely to come into contact with peanuts eventually.
While most reactions to peanuts are not life-threatening, it's important to be ready should a severe reaction occur. For an anaphylactic reaction, an emergency injection of adrenaline (epinephrine) and a trip to the emergency room are necessary. If your doctor thinks you may be at risk of a severe reaction, you'll probably have to carry injectable epinephrine (EpiPen, Twinject) with you wherever you go.
Peanut allergy treatment medications, such as antihistamines, may ease the mild symptoms of peanut allergies. These drugs can be taken after exposure to peanuts to ease itching or hives. However, antihistamines are not enough to treat life-threatening reactions.
Peanut allergy treatment means constant vigilance when buying food in supermarkets, or eating out of the house. Allergic individuals must always read the labels of the foods they buy and inquire about food preparation and ingredients when they are eating away from home. Accidental exposure to peanut proteins can be deadly.
Peanut allergy treatment involves patients avoiding products with unfamiliar ingredients, since the substance may be a peanut derivative. Many manufacturers offer customer service lines to answer inquiries about their products. Generally printed on product packaging, these phone numbers allow consumers to inquire about ingredients.
Peanut allergy treatment includes activated charcoal, which is effective at reducing the severity and progression of an allergic reaction. The therapy works through binding to the major allergens in the peanut, blocking the allergens from interacting with the immune system and preventing allergic symptoms. This type of therapy is not suitable for treating a peanut allergy response by itself. It should be used only after other more effective treatments (e.g., epinephrine) have been given.
Peanut allergy treatment includes a new therapy known as TNX-901, which is helping to disrupt peanut allergy reactions. This therapy may allow people to tolerate several peanuts worth of allergens without a reaction. It acts by blocking IgE, which is an antibody that initiates a peanut allergic reaction. By interfering with IgE, TNX-901 effectively prevents the allergic cascade from occurring. Monthly shots of the drug would allow a person to tolerate a very small exposure to peanuts (about one to nine nuts). This therapy is not a cure, but would allow peanut-allergic people more breathing space in the face of an accidental exposure.
