(Health.com) -- Amanda Santos wanted to send her 5-year-old daughter, Skylar, to a small private school. But after they interviewed, met the teachers, and submitted Skylar's medical records, they never heard back from the school, despite repeated inquiries.





Santos, who lives in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, can't say for sure why communication was cut off so abruptly, but she's convinced that Skylar's severe nut allergy was an issue.





"They knew going in that she had an allergy; they said it was no problem," says Santos. "But until we sat down and had a meeting about the precautions they'd have to take -- kids washing their hands, asking parents not to send nuts to school, that kind of thing -- they didn't realize how severe it was. I just think they didn't want her there, didn't want to deal with all of that."





Health.com: The latest on food allergies





Santos is not alone. According to a new study conducted in the U.K., families with children who are living with this potentially life-threatening condition often feel isolated, stigmatized, or unfairly excluded from activities, due to the allergies.





In many ways, nut allergies feel more like a disability than a chronic illness because of the stigma, the researchers say.





"Families reported some really very difficult and unpleasant experiences when they were trying to keep their child safe from risk," says coauthor Mary Dixon-Woods, professor of medical sociology at the University of Leicester.





She was surprised by the study's results.





"I was expecting to hear about problems with labeling and so on, but the extent of the stigma families reported was very troubling," she says.





Peanuts are the most common food trigger of life-threatening anaphylactic shock, accounting for more than half of all fatal food-induced allergic reactions. Peanut allergies are on the rise, doubling in children between 1997 and 2002. About 1% of children in the U.S. have peanut allergies.





Health.com: 8 Reasons to delay vaccines for kids





Along with the rise in nut allergies have come more restrictions on schools and other public places, including nut-free classrooms and airplanes, as well as better labeling for products.





In recent years, there has been a bit of backlash against the greater focus on nut allergies. In 2008, Harvard Medical School professor Nicholas A. Christakis published in the journal BMJ an editorial called "This allergies hysteria is just nuts." While noting that allergies are a real problem, he wrote about the "overabundance of caution" at his children's school and an incident in which a school bus was evacuated because a peanut was found on the floor.





To determine some of the challenges faced by parents of children with nut allergies, Dixon-Woods and her colleagues interviewed 26 families about their coping strategies and techniques for avoiding dangerous situations.





They found, however, that these parents were routinely made to feel that such allergies were nothing but a "frivolous and self-indulgent fad invented and maintained by attention-seeking people."





Health.com: The healthiest vacuum cleaners for your home





Parents interviewed for the study frequently encountered skepticism or hostility when they tried to explain their children's allergies to others, says Dixon-Woods. Birthday parties became "nightmares," and even just sending kids to school or leaving them with friends or family was terrifying.





Interview transcripts from the study reveal several scenarios in which parents felt ridiculed, ignored, or challenged on the subject of food allergies.





· In the lunchroom at school, children might feel bullied. "She was teased and things like that, people saying...'I've got nuts and I'm gonna come and touch you,'" said one participant.





· Said one participant about a family camping trip: "He'd caught her sort of pulling faces and complaining to other people that they'd had to put the peanuts away...they all laughed and it was awful..."





· At a social gathering, the hosts thought the family was overdramatizing the problem. "We got
What is the most common food trigger? What has increased? Who feel isolated and stigmatized? Families with food allergies often feel what? What is the most common food trigger of life threatening anaphylactic shock?
Peanuts nut allergies families with children isolated, stigmatized, or unfairly excluded from activities, Peanuts
question: What is the most common food trigger?, answer: Peanuts | question: What has increased?, answer: nut allergies | question: Who feel isolated and stigmatized?, answer: families with children | question: Families with food allergies often feel what?, answer: isolated, stigmatized, or unfairly excluded from activities, | question: What is the most common food trigger of life threatening anaphylactic shock?, answer: Peanuts