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[rebekahc]

Hi and welcome!  With your daughters list of allergens and that she's contact reactive, I'd be very leery of taking her to Mexico.  I know some members have gone and there's probably info in the Travel section of our board.  I'm thinking packaged food might be okay going in, but no meats or produce (I haven't gone to Mexico since 9/11 and the heightened restrictions, so I'm not positive how it is now).  I definitely wouldn't put much in my carry-on bag.

[John McGillin]

Hi, my name is John McGillin. I am an industrial design student at the Savannah College of Art and Design and for my Senior thesis project I am designing an EpiPen case for the active user.

An EpiPen is a small medical device shaped like a pen used to deliver doses of epinephrine (adrenaline) to people severely affected by allergies, and I'm talking about life or death situations. I myself have an allergy to poultry so severe that after contact, within 15 minutes I will be in anaphylactic shock.

This is why it's important for users to carry an EpiPen on their person at all times, at every meal. For active users that enjoy running, rock climbing, cycling and playing basketball like myself, it's a real drag to carry & properly store an Epi-pen...

My goal is to design a sleek, convenient method of carrying an EpiPen through any activity. Help me give freedom back to active users by answering 10 quick questions. Thanks for your help!




http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TGSHLVG

[SilverLining]

Hi John.  Are you aware that in November there will be a new auto-injector called an auvi-Q?  It's about the size of a pager. 

https://www.multivu.com/mnr/57459-sanofi-receives-fda-approval-for-auvi-q-epinephrine-auto-injector

[hoosier87]

Hello.

I'm a PhD student and a life-long suffer of allergies.  I was under the care of an allergist who wasn't too concerned about a recent walnut and almond allergy dx until recently when I started going back to my childhood allergist.  She's 9 hours away but will work with my GP until we can find someone here who is not a total quack and will take me on as a patient.  Right now, a waiting list puts me almost into my 4th year in this godforsaken place without a good specialist!

I got diagnosed with an allergy to nuts about 2 years ago.  I was told I had a "mild" reaction on allergy tests despite having some pretty typical nut allergy reaction symptoms - once with a trace amount of almonds in candies over Christmas two years ago.  No epi-pen, no nothing.  I was told to take my pred and benadryl.  While I was out of the country, I came in contact with an ice cream that was mis-labeled.  I had a terrible reaction pretty much instantly to almonds (the worst trigger) and felt my throat closing, I wanted to throw up, and then even after it died down a lot, I woke up hacking my head off that night and didn't calm down until I got back to the states and had multiple steroid injections and breathing treatments.  It was there that my allergist back home explained to me how dangerous that reaction was and wrote me a script for an epi-pen pronto.

I've always had bad, bad seasonal allergies.  My ragweed allergy is so bad that I've been stuck indoors lately a lot and have had to go back on prednisone and breathing treatments because of an asthma flare.  I am also allergic to salmon and shellfish.

I'm hoping to learn some things here that can help me because I feel rather lost on what to eat and how to just live.  I will be browsing these forums a lot, I think!  I'm a cyclist and I love food but I can't have these things always put on hold just because of stupid allergies!

[SilverLining]

Hi Hoosier 

Glad you now have an epi-pen.  Hope you never need it.

If you have any questions you don't find an answer to, just ask.

[rebekahc]

Hi!  I'm glad you're here! 

[hoosier87]

Thanks for the welcome.  I hope I never need it, too!

[Macabre]

Hello, everybody! I am brand new to the boards. My daughter is 6 and has severe food and contact allergies to eggs, milk, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish & shellfish. My husband and I are looking into taking a family trip to Cancun, Mexico but we are not sure how or what she can eat there. She has never eaten at a restaurant as we bring all of her food with us. Can we bring food into Mexico?

Welcome!  We took snacks for DS in 1999 and 2004 --to Cozumel.  But we didn't take all of his food.  Our last trip (to Cozumel) was before I became allergic to shellfish.  Not sure  how that'd work for me now. 

We took 8 or so Epis.

When planning a trip to Cozumel, a friend who has a court reporting interpretation business in Dallas translated these questions for me and I laminated a card at Kinko's. I'm going to paste this, though doing so doesn't imply that I think your child can eat safely there.  I honestly don't think I'd risk it unless I knew I could take all the food. And I am guessing that could be problematic. 

BTW--if you are going to Mexico, watch out for peanut flour. And don't eat Mole (pronounced Molay). It's a sauce that most often contains peanuts or another nut.

I printed these in two colors. We used these homemade cards here in Texas often. In fact, we used them at a restaurant a mile from our house. Our 7 yo DS learned "cacahuetes" and can ask! The word "cacaheuetes" (peanuts) has different regional pronunciations. And nuez=nuts.

I don't know all the words you'd need, but shrimp=camarones. 
---------------------------

My son/daughter is allergic to peanuts. He cannot eat even one peanut or one drop of peanut oil or any peanut products. Eating them could cause his death.
Mi hijo/hija tiene alergia a cacahuetes. No puede comer ni un cacahuete, ni una gota de aceite de cacahuetes ni productos de cacahuetes. Comiéndolos puede causar su muerte.


Does this food have peanuts or peanut products in it? Esta comida tiene cacahuetes or productos de cacahuetes?
Are there any nuts at all in this (food)? Esta comida tiene algún nuez?


Was this fried in peanut oil?
Está esto frita en aceite de cacahuete?


Was this made with peanut flour?
Esto tiene harina de cacahuete?


I need to call an ambulance.
Necesito llamar una ambulancia.


Where is the hospital?
Dónde está el hospital?

It is very important that you bring epinephrine.
Es muy importante que traigan epinefrina.

This is an emergency. We must get to the hospital in 15 minutes or my son/daughter could die.
Esta es una emergencia. Tenemos que llegar al hospital dentro de 15 minutes or podría fallecer mi hijo/hija.

[Macabre]

Hi, my name is John McGillin. I am an industrial design student at the Savannah College of Art and Design and for my Senior thesis project I am designing an EpiPen case for the active user.

An EpiPen is a small medical device shaped like a pen used to deliver doses of epinephrine (adrenaline) to people severely affected by allergies, and I'm talking about life or death situations. I myself have an allergy to poultry so severe that after contact, within 15 minutes I will be in anaphylactic shock.

This is why it's important for users to carry an EpiPen on their person at all times, at every meal. For active users that enjoy running, rock climbing, cycling and playing basketball like myself, it's a real drag to carry & properly store an Epi-pen...

My goal is to design a sleek, convenient method of carrying an EpiPen through any activity. Help me give freedom back to active users by answering 10 quick questions. Thanks for your help!




http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TGSHLVG

It seems to me before there is a sleek way of carrying an EpiPen, Dey needs to make a sleek EpiPen. The new one is huge!  We're looking forward to owning at least one of the new pocket ones. It will be so great for my teen son.

But I'll take your survey, because I have appreciated my son having lower profile carriers.

[wackattack69]

  Back in the saddle again! I came to post and had not been on in a while. I about had a heart attack! Glad all is well.
wackattack aka 4504s.






DD 16 Peanuts,shellfish,Suprax, Penicillin, Latex, asthma, vocal cord dysfunction.

[Mfamom]

Hi, glad you're back!

[rebekahc]

 

[redearthdaisy]

Hello

I found out a year ago that my daughter was allergic to eggs but the pediatrician said that was normal for a one year old. Then at her two year visit the pediatrician told us to try it out and see if she was still allergic. Well she was and we had to go to the hospital. We finally got to see an allergist who also told me it was not big deal and she would out grow it but would do a skin test to make me feel better. I asked him to test for other things like peanuts and cats. He laughed at me! But tested for them anyway. It turned out that she was severely allergic to peanuts and all tree nuts, cats, and eggs. He gave me a prescription for an epipen and sent me on my way. I have been searching for information and keep finding horror stories and recipes but I need help. I am hoping this support group will help with living every day with allergies.

[twinturbo]

Hello, you'll find the practical, up-to-date accurate advice on IgE-mediated allergies and anaphylaxis from people who live with it. Since you daughter's history of reactions are with egg you may want to start with the egg subforum for information on heat treated egg, sources of egg and flu shots. Having an epinephrine injector is a necessary part of any emergency action plan. Since you have an EpiPen brand injector (Epepen, Jr. for apprpriate weight class) but no action plan I would go to their website to review how to inject then follow up with recognizing symptoms of anaphylaxis to know when to inject and call 911. Until you get to a board certified pediatric allergist who specializes in food allergies and anphylaxis to get a personalized emergency treatment plan you can start there.

To get to a competent board certifird pediatric allergist who is well versed in IgE-mediated food allergy and anaphylaxis I would suggest AAAAI.org. Use their physician search and look into their specialties and board certifications. You were right, taking the appropriate medical steps to deal with the incidence of reaction to hen's egg ingestion. From there a good allergist can help you sort out test positives where there has not been any known reactions.

[rebekahc]

Welcome redearthdaisy!  I'm glad you found us - our community is a great resource for the day to day management as well as the most current medical research on food allergies.  Twinturbo gave you great advice, so feel free to jump in and ask any questions you have!