Living with Food Allergies, 2013 and on

[GoingNuts]

I need gloves to handle raw potatoes.  I get super itchy and irritated from them.  No problem eating them.  Clearly. 

[LinksEtc]

Thanks everybody.

[PurpleCat]

Links,  and  .  Wishing you the best!


Mary, me too.  I always get super super itchy hands from potatoes!  No issues eating them.  This happens occasionally with other vegetables too.  I have no environmental allergies.

[MaryM]

Thanks for everyone's responses.  I am so glad DD isn't alone and that you all can eat potatoes without issue.  She loves them, so I am glad I can tell her there are others who have dealt with the itchy hands issue - she is anxious and  always feels better hearing about other people's experiences.

[spacecanada]

Itching from raw potatoes is an OAS type thing.  My allergist explained it when I developed my potato allergy.  It is very common.  (Potato allergy, however, is not that common.)

Congratulations to you DD, Links!

[spacecanada]

Random trivia of the day: EpiPen trainers are approximately 1 mm different in size than the actual EpiPen devices.

You know, because these are the super random things we learn whilst living with food allergies. 

[MaryM]

Having a food allergy momma pity party at the moment.  DD is in a show and they are having a cast party after the last performance.  I had signed up to help with the party but I guess there were a lot of people who volunteered so I am not on the committee.  I got an email that its $3 and there will be pizza, cake and water.  Yippee - my kid can have the water.  She looked so sad when I told her this morning.  I emailed the person in charge and told them DD would be there but I had to send her food and I would stay to help and she thanked me for offering to help.  You'd think she might say, hey do't worry about the $3. (I don't care much about the 3 dollars but it is more of the principal - paying for things she won't have) I really wanted to make cupcakes or something everyone could have including DD.  She is so anxious and I am worried she won't even enjoy herself.  It just sucks.  Milk and egg are so hard.  She may be peanut and tree nut too but having those allergies myself I find them much easier to handle.  People know much more about nut allergies.  I am so sad that she is disappointed, I am sad she is anxious because that makes challenges hard if they are offered.  I hate food allergies so much.  I want my kids to be able be spur of the moment and we just can't be.  It sucks.  Sorry for my rant, I just needed to share in a place where everyone understands.

[PurpleCat]

 

Your daughter is still young.  It is harder for her.   

My daughter no longer is bothered by these kinds of things (even if I am).  Her perspective has changed from focus on the food to focus on being with the social group.  Older teens rarely comment on her eating her own food.  Sometimes she will even say, I don't need to eat, I can eat when I get home (or before she goes).

[MaryM]

I got myself on the committee and offered to make the cake.  They hadn't ordered one yet and were happy to accept.  I sent a picture of the cake we made for School of Rock!  I know DD will be so happy.  I emailed DH before volunteering and he said of course we could do it.  It's more work for him bc he decorates.  I just bake it!

[Macabre]

Mary, that is great that you can make the cake!

Yeah, dairy and egg--so hard. While DS could never eat someone else's cake (so I did that for cast parties if possible), he always had something he could eat--and in all but a few instances has always been able to have the pizza--and there is almost always pizza.

Dairy and egg nix a lot of typical kid/teen fare that might otherwise be safe.

I'm sorry. FAs suck. They do.

[spacecanada]

I hope the party goes well, Mary. 

I got an email from someone asking me to make a dog collar for their dog named... Epi!  (Yes, it's short for epinephrine.)  Whoa.  They want the collar to have the chemical structure for epinephrine on it.  She even had some really funky and artsy images of the epinephrine chemical structure that looked really pretty (not that I can find fabric like that - I wish).  I had an excited allergy geek moment.  Haha...

Our allergy perspective on the world can make the mundane funny at times.

[MaryM]

space - thats cool.

I can't wait to tell DD about the cake!

MIL called to tell me to throw away the potato chips bc she was eating them out of the bag and had onion dip....ummm, oh the chips I sent with DS to  have at lunch....ok.  Luckily DS can eat pizza and at a milk challenge he drank 2 oz of milk and only got one hive that resolved on its own.  I think he will be ok.  I appreciate my MIL being cautious, just wish she had thought of it last night.

[SilverLining]

Milk and egg are so hard.  She may be peanut and tree nut too but having those allergies myself I find them much easier to handle.  People know much more about nut allergies.

I know you are not trying to put one allergy against another, but just wanted to say I completely understand and agree. Peanut/nut are so much easier than sesame to me.

I can't wait to tell DD about the cake!

I'm so glad you are able to make the cake. How excited is she?

[MaryM]

Definitely not putting one against another - just speaking from my experience dealing with Pn/tna and dairy.egg...very different....

[PurpleCat]

 

We have been working towards challenging different tree nuts after 2 1/2 years of allergy shots and progressively improving test results and new tree nut component testing which helps the allergist identify what we should challenge.  Our goal when we started the allergy shots was to hopefully cut down on the list of foods DD is allergic to before college.  And we know what tree nuts we DD may never tolerate.  We have 3 more challenges coming up. 


I have gotten some emails in the last day about the story in the news about tree nuts and the "fact" that I can "save my money because my DD was never allergic in the first place"!