Latex Balloons

[CrazySchoolNurse]

At my school we have one student that is allergic to latex (severity unknown) the other day some of the students had balloons that they were going to use to decorate for spirit week after school. Mom was here with said student and pulled her child out of the building and all latex balloons were banned for the event, now I am being looked at to help make a decision whether or not to ban all balloons in the school while she is attending. (we are a small private school less than 300 students).

Has anyone come across this before? Per Mom the allergy is severe but we have no documentation other than its an allergy and I am awaiting a call back from her doctor to help us make an educated decision. We have had balloons in the building from time to time since the beginning of the year with no incidents.

Any and all comments, suggestions will be helpful I'm at a lose as what to do on this one. We have multiple peanut allergies but didn't ban peanut butter.

[OldDude]

1 hour ago, Thanksforthedonuts said:

...she told me that a student and the parent came to her because said student has a gluten intolerance to gluten "in the air"...

Airborne gluten is the worst!! And flying head lice

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

3 hours ago, Davey Do said:

You're my hero, sir.

[Davey Do]

56 minutes ago, OldDude said:

Airborne gluten is the worst!! And flying head lice

[Thanksforthedonuts, BSN, RN]

3 hours ago, Flare said:

speaking of being tired and noticing thing the wrong way... am i the only one who keeps seeing the little banner up top that says "server tweaking up ahead" as server twerking up ahead - i get to giggling when i think about the server shaking it's money-maker!

Did you actually click the banner? If you haven't I suggest you click it. Shits and giggles up ahead.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

4 hours ago, CampyCamp said:

A lot of fruits can cross react and it seems to vary by person. Some people can't seem to eat any tropical fruit or melon and the next can't eat any stone fruit or chestnuts. (and who even knows if they can eat chestnuts or not? I had them at a winter hayride when I was about 10 and never crossed paths with them again.) I don't know if avocado is a stone fruit or a tropical fruit but they seem to be a problem as often as bananas. It also cross reacts with the nightshade family allergies (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, pepper)

The bears are noticing that, too!!! In seriousness, I learned a thing today.

[BrisketRN, BSN, RN]

On 1/30/2019 at 3:12 PM, UrbanHealthRN said:

I didn't know this until encountering kid with a latex allergy this year, but apparently people with latex allergies frequently have cross-reactivities with certain foods (bananas are a common one). I'm just wondering if there's more to this girl's allergy history that mom has forgotten to share- it would be good to find out from the pedi.

Bananas and avocado! I will always remember this because I had a question on a Med Surg exam asking something like "if your patient has a latex allergy which meal option should you not suggest?" And I remember sitting there and thinking that one of my study partners has a latex allergy and also HATES bananas, so I chose the bananas & avocado option. That study partner was so mad when I told her that's how I justified my answer because she actually got it wrong.

[Alex_RN, BSN]

I am reminded of an acute care patient with a stated latex allergy. We took full precautions, which is a hassle. Turns out she just didn't like how latex sounded.

[CrazySchoolNurse, LPN]

The child does have an action plan and epi pens. Latex is on here long list of allergies that also has all the associated fruit as well, but there is no severity listed on any of the allergies.

The latest letter I got from the doctor is just a generic letter stating that there is a latex allergy. Nothing more.

I guess one of the other concerns is that the child takes a Tech Theater class which handles and deals with everything theater to include make up (majority contains latex). Why would you put yourself in that type of situation just to have to be pulled from the class every time the word latex is even mentioned.

I am still awaiting for further documentation from an allergist that she had/has an appt. with. But nothing yet. So the question still remains. To Ban or not to ban for just one child.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, msilcox said:

I guess one of the other concerns is that the child takes a Tech Theater class which handles and deals with everything theater to include make up (majority contains latex). Why would you put yourself in that type of situation just to have to be pulled from the class every time the word latex is even mentioned.

And here is where the rubber meets the road (see what I did there)... A kid with anaphylactic allergies to insects should not be encouraged to play golf, soccer, or outside sports. A kid with latex allergies might ought to play in band or something where s/he isn't in contact with paint (sometimes it's latex based paint), liquid cement, or latex makeup.

That will tell you whether you need to ban the balloons - can the kid remain in tech???

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

18 hours ago, ruby_jane said:

And here is where the rubber meets the road (see what I did there)... A kid with anaphylactic allergies to insects should not be encouraged to play golf, soccer, or outside sports. A kid with latex allergies might ought to play in band or something where s/he isn't in contact with paint (sometimes it's latex based paint), liquid cement, or latex makeup.

That will tell you whether you need to ban the balloons - can the kid remain in tech???

Yes - at the end of the day the primary goal is for the child to stay safe. If the child is able to remain in theater tech with that level of exposure to the latex there, then a school wide ban of all things latex is certainly unnecessary. If the parent and the doctor can justify a reason the balloons specifically need to be banned -perhaps the child has also recently been dx with asthma and they didn't bother to tell you (shocker, i know!).

Years and years ago there wasn't such a drive for inclusion in all aspects. The whims of the world were not expected to bend to the needs of one person. I am waiting for the day that i see that a lawsuit was brought against the Skippy peanutbutter factory for because a peanut allergic employee wants them to go nut free.

[CampyCamp, RN]

I know of a kid with an allergy to airborne gluten, corn, and egg. The kid is allergic to everything though. They're on my periphery because mom home schools but the siblings allergic to many common things as well are in school. Everything looks above board but sometimes I have a sneaking suspicion that there is a Factitious Disorder By Proxy. There doesn't seem to be doctor shopping though which makes me feel better.

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

20 hours ago, CampyCamp said:

There doesn't seem to be doctor shopping though which makes me feel better.

Yes, sometimes you luck upon the compliant doctor first thing. This position has shown me how many doctors cave to patient demands. It's sad.