Please Don't Die from this Doughnut

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

<snip>. I'll never be able to wear a wedding ring... <snip>

What about a stone ring? I've seen some lovely agate ones. Sorry, for the , this just caught my attention.

As far as screws/plates are concerned, I really hope that you never need them. But I would start checking out the use of ceramics in medicine. Just in case.

[FuzzyKitten99]

I'm curious about the "not training immune systems" thing. My older brother and my little sister both have severe animal and pollen allergies(I only have the metal). My brother received his immuniation(sp?) shots, while my sister and I received none at all. My mother was kind of a hippy, no antibiotics unless absolutely needed(strep throat no, pnemonia yes), breastfed, no antibiotic soap, organic foods, etc etc etc. Do you think this tactic failed with my siblings and me?

Not sure about that one. Animal and pollen allergies can be genetic or develop over time. An allergy to all metal is unusual, although many people have a similar allergy with 'nickel' in jewelry. I know if I wear earrings with nickel in them, my earlobes itch and a few other side issues. So I have to buy earrings that are nickel-free or marked 'hypo-allergenic'.

I lived with cats and dogs and birds from birth, but sometime around 11yo or so, I became allergic to cats. I have no idea why. I was put on Claritin (before you could get it OTC) and I was on it for about 2 years, just taking it once daily. My prescription ran out and I never bothered to get it refilled (I could ride my bike to the pharmacy and get it myself) and eventually forgot about it. But I am no longer allergic to cats and haven't been since, and it has been 15 years since I last took Claritin.

As far as peanut allergies, it seems to be more of a genetic mutation trait than exposure to things with peanuts. If you can pass the trait to your kids, it seems to have little to do with actual exposure/use while young.

[Andara Bledin]

It's kind of odd that peanut allergies are a first world problem. There are very few instances of peanut allergies in the third world.

Makes me wonder if we really are making ourselves sick.

We are. There are a lot of physical ailments that were fairly uncommon until we industrialized our food sources. Processed foods are terribly bad for everyone. There was a dentist from Cleveland (Dr Price) who wanted to know why so many people suffered from tooth decay when it wasn't historically such a problem. (he published his findings in 1939)

He travelled the world and found that people who still partook of their indigenous diet didn't suffer from tooth decay, other dental problems such as crooked teeth, didn't suffer from allergies, etc.

He's also the dentist that first wrote against root canals.

^-.-^

[Geek King]

Maybe there are very few instances of peanuts in the third world.

More true than you know. First-world populations have enough trade to expose them to things that most people might never see. If you're allergic to something you never encounter, how would you know? Outside of testing, you don't.

I should also point out that peanuts were not widely in use until the early 1900's when George Washington Carver did his reasearch on them. After that point, peanut use became much more common as farms cropped up (ouch--unitentional pun) to raise them.

I should also point out that allergy research has expanded in the last 2-3 decades, so we are identifing allergy-related problems much better now. Before, a person might have a reaction and even die, but there would be no way to tell what caused it except trial and error. It is perhaps not that such allergies are suddenly appearing, but that we can now better point to something and say, "that's what did it."

On the dog and cat allergies: These are a bit different, because many people can change around puberty. I used to be slightly allergic to cats (confirmed by testing), but now can own one. My roommate is only allergic to strange cats, as he seems to build up resistances to cats he is around a lot. Some people even develop pet allergies in adulthood, when they were fine as a kid. So it can be kind of different than other types of allergens.

[Nayeli_Sabia]

I always felt bad for the kids though, as the bakery display had all these awesome looking chocolate/fruit/nut pastries set out that they couldn't eat. I always thought about how lame it would be to see all that and then be stuck with pumpkin and zucchini muffins (yuck for me personally). They were very nice though, and understood that all our dough was made in the same factory.

My cousin's daughter has Celiac disease. She can't eat anything with glutin, or ends up in the hospital. Her grandmother searched, and found a gultin free cake and frosting recipie. She made this for the girl's 6th birthday. She even piped the frosting, so it looked very professional. The poor little girl didn't want to eat it, because she was sure it was a "real" cake and something she couldn't have.

She was 6 and had never had a cake before. It was a happy day, but sad for the adults who realized how hard her life is going to be.