Living with Food Allergies, 2013 and on

[PurpleCat]

That is so thoughtless!   

[GoingNuts]

Awful. 

I be been handing out  and  right and left today, because so many people seem to deserve them. Hope there are enough to go around.

[spacecanada]

Three boxes of chocolates were left on my desk late yesterday afternoon (after I left my office) because I neglected to pick them up yesterday for my department staff.  I was so scared to come into work that I couldn't sleep.  I called the head of maintenance to go into my office and remove them before I arrived, and he did (leaving the cards behind).  He deserves a hug, at least.

Kryptonite - the perfect allergy analogy, isn't it?  Superman wouldn't willingly go into a room filled with Kryptonite, even if it was in lead boxes. 

As my husband says, Christmas is like a war zone for people with allergies - allergens are flying around everywhere and pop up in places they normally wouldn't.  Be careful everyone, and take care this Christmas.

[CMdeux]

Christmas is like a war zone for people with allergies - allergens are flying around everywhere and pop up in places they normally wouldn't


Precisely.

On a happier note, my daughter's boyfriend and his family are the most amazing people EVER-- since they have come up to speed in ways that astonish me-- in just a few months.

[PurpleCat]

My gluten free friend stopped by to drop something off yesterday.  I answered the door wearing an apron and I was covered in white powder.  She looked at me with big eyes and I immediately said, oh no!  It's safe confectionery sugar - not flour!  Yes, I roll and cut my cookies with confectionery sugar.  Even the ones that are not gluten free.  Less airborne flour in my house.

[Janelle205]

Note: I am not trying to make light of people getting very sick and dying.

The current caramel apple listeria outbreak is obviously a huge deal on pregnancy information stuff all over the internet.

And guess who doesn't have to worry about it at all?  Allergy win.

[SilverLining]

I get what you mean Janelle.  I would never wish harm to anyone. But I didn't need to worry during the long peanutbutter recall.

[CMdeux]

Exactly-- it's just ironic for us with food allergies that there is occasionally a time to be pretty breezy and dismissive of food safety awareness....

and it's just inverted for us, that's all.   

[SilverLining]

Well, it was bound to happen eventually.   

Someone in my family knows someone who was cured of their allergies. I think it was through acupuncture, but I was busy keeping my jaw clenched so wasn't really listening.

The most infuriating part was....they set up the conversation.  A fancy dinner, and not once were allergies a topic of discussion. It was really pleasant. I'm sure, they had intended to raise this when the discussion naturally rose...but since it didn't, one of them just, out of the blue, mentioned about isn't it great that there's a cure for allergies now.

I let it go.

And the other person carried on the conversation.

And I let it go.

And eventually they both stared at me....Had I been asked a question? I stopped eating and looked up. Yup...they were waiting for a response from me.  So, I said something like "the only food allergies that anyone can actually cure are the ones they diagnose and you never even knew you were allergic to anyway".

And I went back to eating.

And one of them said "no her son really was allergic to antibiotic, and after this treatment he can have it with no problems".

And I said "hallelujah".

I didn't ask all the questions like "what kind of reactions" and "what kind of doctor diagnosed the allergies".

I didn't point out it was probably a sensitivity as opposed to an allergy.

I didn't ask if a real doctor was involved at all (because it's so dangerous to just try it after a treatment, but people do).

I didn't 't feel like arguing at Christmas. And I know they would have either just made up answers, or said I was making up excuses to not get this magical treatment.

[Macabre]

Sorry SL.


I learned something about that this week at my allergist visit. I have been allergic to penicillin all my life--or have avoided it all my life since I had a reaction as a small child. My doctor laid everything out for me so helpfully--how we can do an IgE blood test for it (I assume ImmunoCAP). And if that comes back negative I shoukd be fine for a challenge. But if not, there's something else we look at. Anyeay, she said if it's a dire case, there is a way to become desensitized to an antibiotic within a 24 hour period but it has to happen in a hospital during that time. And then the desensitization may not last beyond the course of meds. So you can be desensitized for that time period but it may ware off after you're done.

I had no idea! 

But drugs and bees and food are all so different in treatment.

It sounds to me like you took the high road sL!

[CMdeux]

Interestingly, our Dr. Awesome is a major guru for that rapid abx desensitization protocol.   

This is a happy thing, really-- since his risk tolerance is high enough that we were able to get through 6y of SCIT for aeroallergens with DD, and it would quite probably never have been possible with anyone else.  He's amazing.  And smart.  VERY smart.  He may be the smartest M.D. I've known.

[GoingNuts]

Yes, that was suggested as a possibility for DS when he was little; he was allergic to both penicillin and cephalosporins, and with a strong family history of Stevens-Johnson syndrome reactions to Sulfa Drugs his allergist mentioned that as a possibility if absolutely necessary.

He seems to have outgrown his penicillin allergy. 

[guess]

Having their little plan backfire in their face might make them think twice before trying it again.  Don't want an answer -- don't ask!

Anyhoodle, found a quote from an allergy parent on life with food allergies.

As a parent of a child with a nut allergy, Pistiner empathized with parents who have to educate their peers even as they're trying to protect their children. It can be difficult to pass on that responsibility to others, he added.

"I'm trying to teach my mom how to use an EpiPen and read labels, and she's not taking me seriously, and I'm a pediatric allergist," he said. "Imagine if I'm a school teacher, imagine if I'm a stay-at-home mom. Now who's going to take me seriously? It's a really hard position to be in."

Brennan, G. (2010, March 26). Nut-free school spurs ed campaign. Retrieved December 28, 2014, from http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20100326/NEWS/3260314?template=printart

[spacecanada]

And don't forget bee pollen... it can cure all your allergies.   

[YouKnowWho]

Aye yi yi.

DD has a different view on allergies than her brothers, for sure.  DH came home from Panda Express and handed her the fortune cookie as he had done previously.  Pre-reaction, I wouldn't care.  Post reaction, I care, kwim. 

I grabbed it out of her hand and told her to wash up (tossed it) much to her dismay.  I offered another cookie and calmly tried to explain that it had no ingredients list (may have, but she tossed it) and I didn't know if it had nuts or was on shared lines.

"But Mommy, the shot in the leg hurts less than the one in the toe!"  DD has had two visits to the ER in the last few months.  One involved a splinter up her toe nail and her foot turning colors - she had to have a shot in her toe so they could cut the nail (her screams were louder than two incoming sirens on ambulances).  And then her reaction to macadamia nuts (she has since had a hazelnut reaction as well). 

So while I am comforted that she is not scared of the epi pen, now I need to figure out how to explain to a 4yr old that it's not good allergy management practice to eat first, jab later.