Fast-acting mum’s allergy shock
“I just threw the peanut butter on the toast and literally within seconds the hives and the redness started to show up.”
Those were the words of fast-acting mum Roselyn Grufferty, whose nerve-racking story of her daughter Róisín’s peanut allergy diagnosis was aired on national TV last night.
Last January Roselyn, from Glanmire, was home alone with her young daughter Róisín when the infant began to develop red blotches and hives on her skin.
A number of weeks previously Roselyn had given her daughter some peanut butter and had noted no adverse reaction whatsoever.
“I gave her some peanut butter at around six months old, and then I tried it again after a couple of weeks and that's when she had the first reaction,” Roselyn told the Cork Independent.
She added: “It clicked with me that it had to be the peanuts. It was very scary how quickly it came upon her, and knowing what could happen if she went into anaphylactic shock.”
Roselyn, who herself suffers from no apparent allergies, rushed Róisín to her GP who administered an antihistamine and referred them to CUH for further assessment.
Following a number of visits to the clinic, Róisín was officially diagnosed with a peanut allergy, something her mother must now keep a watchful eye on.
“Obviously you don't want your child to have an allergy, and when I found out it was a bit of a shock to take on board.
“It was a lot to take in, in that moment. It changes our lives and her life,” Roselyn said.
But it’s not all bad news, as Róisín is set to return to the clinic later this year for reassessment in an effort to reintroduce peanuts to her system in the hope that she can become tolerant to the substance.
Roselyn and Róisín’s story was featured in an episode of TG4’s documentary series ‘Tabú’ which aired last night at 9.30pm.
The episode looks at the growing numbers of allergies in Ireland and features CUH’s dedicated public paediatric allergy clinic, one of only two in the country. Ireland’s only other public paediatric allergy clinic is in Dublin.
The episode, titled ‘Ailléirgí’, states that international allergy rates are on the rise, with a 50 per cent increase in the last decade.
It also claims that over 24 per cent of the Irish population now suffer from an allergy, a number that’s growing year by year.
Speaking during the episode Paediatric Allergist, Prof. Jonathan Hourihane, CUH, says that his clinic is struggling to process the large amounts of people in need of allergy testing.
“Our clinic is overwhelmed. We think there are 40,000 people with a peanut allergy in this country, and if I saw one of them every half an hour for the rest of my career, I’d never get through them,” said Prof Hourihane.
“Finland, which is about the same size as Ireland, has 100 paediatric allergists, whereas there’s only two in Ireland,” he added.