Living with Food Allergies, 2013 and on

[Gray]

I hear you Ajas!

That's great, TT.

[Janelle205]

Additionally, I think that there really needs to be a way for patients to relate important intolerances that are not necessarily allergies on a medical form - I explain to them that I'm intolerant of some things, but that it isn't a true allergy, but the medical staff pretty much always just puts it in as an allergy.

To make that somewhat vague sentence more clear, I'm intolerant of a few antibiotics, to the point that I will not take them.  (I understand that some level of GI distress is expected with the abx - the level I had was definitely not just some.)  But it's not an allergy - yet that is the only way to really indicate that on most medical forms.

[Macabre]

Oh, I just say allergy and call it a day. I am/have been allergic to penicillin (would love to have a challenge), but quinolones make me wish I were dead. I DO NOT want them. I've never been tested. I don't have hives, etc., but wow, does that stuff make me feel awful and I don't want it.

[Janelle205]

See, that's what I usually do, but then the doctor asks about my symptoms and says "Well, that's not a real allergy."  Yes, I know this, but there isn't any other place to write this, and I'm still not going to take it, which is really what is relevant here.

[SilverLining]

For years, when my youngest needed any antibiotic I would say NO PENICILLIN.  I did not say he was allergic, I just said he is not getting it.  Then, when he got allergy testing done, the allergist actually said he was amazed ds had never had an anaphylactic reaction to penicillin.  Now, I have the allergists advice to actually say he is allergic.

[Janelle205]

My regular doc is used to it, but I've had a stat care doctor totally throw a fit that I need to avoid two antibiotic families.  Zithromax (the z pack) ends with me living in the bathroom, to a point that isn't acceptable.  I was in college and actually had to stop going to class.  Doxyclycline might actually be a real allergy - I throw up, like clockwork, every single time I take it.

[notashrimpwimp]

Living with food allergies means starting the evening by reading a menu and planning in advance precisely what to order...only to leave midway through the meal because of an allergic reaction. Pinpointing the cause, because the food read safe, proves difficult. 

Living with food allergies means trusting your body when others disagree and attribute your reaction to anxiety. How can you fear something you aren't even aware of? Sometimes it means facing a reaction's progression while trying to decide if it really is a reaction...when it usually is.

Living with food allergies means making alternate suggestions for hanging out with friends while hoping they understand why you declined an invitation because every time you make an exception something happens. :/

[booandbrimom]

So soy is 0.8. Challenge in a week.



Geez, if he can eat soy...and baked milk...and tolerate trace amounts of peanut...he could actually start eating in restaurants.

[Macabre]

Wow. That's great. And such a nice possibility at his age.

[SilverLining]

Living with food allergies.....means.....crossing another company off my safe list.

I bought a Selection product.  It does not list "may contain" so I called.  The CSR could not say the name of the product properly because she doesn't speak English well enough. (That matters when I can die if the person doesn't understand me.). Anyway, she says they do not put "may contain" on the label but she can check for me.  I give her the code number and she says she has to put me on hold while she speaks to her specialist.  Then she comes back and says her specialist is in a meeting and she will have to call me back.

   

get with the program people.  We are living in the computer age.

[SilverLining]

Got the call back.

It's may contain tree nuts.

[GoingNuts]

Got the call back.

It's may contain tree nuts.

[ajasfolks2]

If ANYONE believes that food allergiy is a "one size fits all" -- all he/she needs to do is READ THIS THREAD.

Such widely varying experiences . . . as we all go through life . . .

and (thankfully!) still living with food allergies!

[TabiCat]

This is a little thing but thrilled me. I went out too lunch with some buds from work and found another restruant where I can eat the SALSA 

[Macabre]

Woot!  Tabi I thought you were NKA.