I’m not sure what to think about a recent clip that I viewed on YouTube showing a young man having an allergic reaction to peanut. I had just come home from holidays and had several enewsletters waiting for me as I subscribe to many from the allergy and gluten free worlds. One particular enewsletter had a link to a clip showing a peanut reaction. I thought it might be informative for both my husband and my allergic child and so forwarded the enewsletter to my home address for viewing later that night.
When I got home, I discovered that my husband had already watched the clip and that my allergic child had refused to watch so I sat down to watch it by myself. As I was watching, my husband came in to sit beside me and guage my reaction. At the end I was really quite disturbed.
You may have seen this clip but if you have not, the young man has a reaction over several hours after accidentally ingesting a peanut candy bar hidden in a cake. His filming over these hours shows him gradually having a skin reaction (hives and flushing), stomach pain and vomiting, facial swelling and difficulty breathing. I’ve seen this in my own child so, while not easy to watch, it was not surprising to me. What was surprising was that after indicating he was having difficulty breathing, he went and “passed out” on the couch for several hours.
It would appear from the opening and closing remarks made by this young guy that his reason for posting the reaction on YouTube was to educate others as to what happens when those with food allergies have reactions and why they should be taken seriously. So why, you ask, would I find this upsetting? Because I think that the opposite of his educational intention is clearer in the clip. His accidental message is that he can essentially “ride out” the allergic reaction and that after having systemic reactions, it’s okay for an allergic person to go lie down.
If you read the posted reactions to this clip, you’ll find other people asking the same questions that I did. From his responses to those questions, it appears that he did have antihistamines and epi-pens available but it isn’t clear exactly what he used and when, if anything, in the clip. So the message that clearly comes across is that a wait and see and lie down on the couch approach is a good idea. Not in my book! So in the end, I’m very glad my allergic child didn’t see the clip and I don’t want her to except perhaps to point out at which time in the clip that using the epi-pen and calling 911 would have been a good idea.
After the clip, there are several other posted videos on allergies but I couldn’t bring myself to watch any of them. Not if what I was going to see was potentially the last video that person would make.