Girl dies from kissing boyfreind...

[Deutsch]

after he ate a "peanut butter snack". unbeknonest to his knowledge, his girlfreind has a serious allergic reaction to peanuts. She ended up dying. How bizzare...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-11-28-allergy-kiss_x.htm

 

[Beemer B773ER]

Damn... what an unfortunate way to die.
Poor guy must have been in total shock. I guess weirder things have happened, but this isn't something that you read everyday either.

R.I.P to her...

 

[Deutsch]

I can only imagine how the guy must feel. You'd never think something like this could happen, but everyone has some sort of allergy I suppose?

 

[Alx]

I read that today too.... 15yrs old... what a shame.... but enough with all these death threads, its making the forum feel like a morgue!

 

[SDNR]

Actually serious anaphylactic reactions to foods are not as uncommon as you may think, and peanuts are one of the most common causes. I know of a women who died from a walnut allergy.

Allergy and Asthma are increasing in the Western world. I have read that it might be caused by a suppressed immune system. Years of over-use of antibiotics may be partly responsible.

An allergic reaction is actually your own immune system overreacting.

Many people think they have an allergy to a certain food simply because it might give them indigestion or diarrhea etc.. - food intolerance is not necessarily an indication of a food allergy.

BTW. I am speaking from personal experience, I have a life-threatening food allergy to kiwifruit.

 

[Snake Vargas]

Kiwifruit huh. How did you find that out?

I agree with the suppressed immune system. For young children, I'm becoming of the "if it doesn't kill them, it'll only make them stronger" school - well, in that moderate exposure to the germs of everyday life will let your body get used to them whilst growing up.

Anyhow, that's sad, getting kissed and dying. But I guess they didn't know each other well enough for him to know any better.

 

[Ahmed]

I wouldnt wanna be involved in something like that. And ya, cut the death threads, no something I would wanna read everyday. But an interesting, and sad, article.

 

[SDNR]

Kiwifruit huh. How did you find that out?

Snake, it was in the mid 1980's, I was at an ice cream restaurant with my family. I had eaten kiwifruit occasionally when I was young but didn't have any problems with it. On this particular day I ordered my desert and there were two slices of kiwifruit on the side of my plate, after I ate my icecream, I ate the two slices of kiwifruit. After about 2 or 3 minutes my neck and lips started to "tingle", my tongue became very dry and it felt like I had something caught in my throat.

I excused myself from the dining table and went to the WC, I drank some water from the tap hoping to clear my throat. When I saw myself in the mirror, I saw that my face was looking puffy, my eyes and lips particularly, were starting to swell up. It sounds funny, but when it happens to you, it is very scary.

I walked out of the WC and back to the table - my mother immediately saw what was happening, by this time I was having difficulty swallowing and my breathing was becoming restricted - I was taken directly and quickly to hospital - I was given a shot of adrenaline.

It took about 2 days for the swelling to go down. If I had not received medical attention, it might have killed me - needless to say, I am very careful to always avoid anything that looks even vaguely like kiwifruit -

 

[LaArtist]

Wow that sounds bad..

PS
So how was the adrenaline shot???

 

[Snake Vargas]

That's scary. It could have ended up worse, and I for one am glad things turned out ok!

Luckily, they don't usually surreptitiously put kiwifruit in other products. I know someone who is allergic to mango and pineapple, which regularly crop up in 'tropical' juices and such, as well as other desserts; and someone who is intolerant of lactose (I think), which is even worse, since milk and its related products crop up in just about anything; though luckily in that case small amounts aren't too harmful.

That said, peanuts are indeed one of the worst offenders, sometimes producing the severe effects as shown above. They also commonly turn up as trace products in many things such as biscuits and chocolates, making things difficult.

Even over here, some schools have banned peanut butter - not so long ago, a kid died because nobody knew he had a peanut allergy and he was 'made' to take part in a game/contest where he had to lick a spoonful of peanut butter.

 

[Centurion]

Maybe they listened too much to Jadakiss latest album..j/k

 

[SDNR]

That's scary. It could have ended up worse, and I for one am glad things turned out ok!

Thank you Snake - it was a long time ago now.

That said, peanuts are indeed one of the worst offenders, sometimes producing the severe effects as shown above. They also commonly turn up as trace products in many things such as biscuits and chocolates, making things difficult.

I think a lot of those warning labels on food products are the companies covering themselves legally. Those warnings now seem to be on everything - I doubt that in some cases there is any chance of peanut contamination - but the food produces are being ultra-cautious - so they can't be sued.

 

[cawimmer430]

I know someone who is also allergic to peanuts. Apparently he can't even touch you if you ate peanuts.