Introduce Yourself - We're Glad You Found Us!

[bfirenza]

Hi I'm Bridget.  I'm new here.  I have a six year old that is anaphylactic to peanuts, all tree nuts and eggs.  She also has reactions upon contact.  She has asthma and eczema so we are dealing with the annoying three.

I'm looking forward to being a part of this group.

[CMdeux]

Hi Bridget!  A very warm welcome to you.  I hope that you will find our community to be supportive and helpful.

My daughter has the same combination of allergies-- and the same unfortunate sensitivity.  Every day is something of an adventure, isn't it?  It is just her "normal" though-- she doesn't really spend any time thinking about what she can't do, day to day.  She is a college student now, but I can still vividly remember the time when she was a sweet little 6yo.   

[jenreimer]

Hi my name is Jennifer.  I have three kids.  My middle child , 8 year old, wad just diagnosed with a food allergy.  We were very luck, according to the allergist that her reaction wasn't worse.   She is allergic to blueberries, they happen to be her favorite food.  She now has an epi pen at school and at daycare and home.  She was just diagnosed Friday.

My concern is to keep her safe and I am conpletely new to all this food allergy information.   It doesn't help that she also has autism and adhd.   

[SilverLining]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Sorry you needed to, but glad you found us.

Feel free to look around, and to ask questions.

There seems to be a lot of kids with autism and food allergies. Or siblings with one each.  And quite a few here have kids with ADHD as well. (We talk about everything.)

[rebekahc]

  Jennifer, glad you're here!

[cjgayler]

Hi all! I'm new to the site and looking for a little help in coping with my ridiculous allergies. I'm 31 and my reactions are becoming increasingly severe. I discovered an allergy to coconut and latex at 18, developed a reaction to palm oil at 25, had my first ER visit and allergy test at 29. I learned then I am allergic to coconut, latex, hazelnut, avocado, potato, chestnut, shea nut, macadamia, papaya, quinoa, palm and its derivatives like Vitamin A Palmitate, and am to watch for further reactions with latex cross-reactive foods like kiwi, banana, peach,fig, bell pepper, and tomato. I've started wearing a face mask while in public to avoid inhaling coconut, but had my first reaction last week despite wearing it and have been down for a week with allergic bronchitis. I'm a mother of 3 and long distance runner and worried about sudden reactions when alone with my kids or out during runs!

[IDDIAATLG]

High, I have been looking  for a site like this for awhile. Looking for some people in the  Naples, Florida area with allergies to everything. MSG, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Carrageenan. Just  trying to see who is out there

[L8keGal]

Hi, I'm Diane. Had many health issues that led to a year of chemo, which seems to have decimated the rest of my body. The day after I turned 54 I found myself in hospital for the first of 3 visits in 3 days by ambulance, no less, with a suspected allergy to peanuts. The allergist said I'm so reactive that she may never test me for that and it's only now that I'll be getting tested for a bunch of peripheral (to me) stuff like sesame, sunflower, shellfish.

I traveled the world back in my working days, before I got sick, and now am terrified to venture more than 5 minutes' drive from a hospital.

But I've booked a solo trip to NYC for Christmas and that's what led me to this site. I'm now terrified about the flight, about being there and reacting, and I'm looking for info.

I'd always had an allergy to flaxseed. Touch it and I'm out for 6 hours (well, last time that's what happened). So I know anaphylaxis.

Anyway, I'm happy to have found this board.

This is the topic where you can introduce yourself and give a few details about your current situation and your (or your child's) allergies. (You may also jump right into posting in any of the other forums if you like.) 

We're very glad you're here. Welcome!

[guess]

We can help with the airline prep and all that goes with it. What are the departure and destination points?  You have an epinephrine autoinjector, yes?  If not two.  Stock up on a few more if your insurance covers it every 30 days or so.

[CMdeux]

You can do it!

Which airline?  Have you let them know about your allergy in advance?  If not-- do.

We usually take several autoinjectors with us when we fly.

[SilverLining]

I traveled the world back in my working days, before I got sick, and now am terrified to venture more than 5 minutes' drive from a hospital.

I remember that feeling.  We drove with two kids from Toronto to PEI while I was pregnant. (It's about 1250 miles each way I think.) no restaurants, and looking for hotels and picnic areas close to hospitals.

[spacecanada]

But I've booked a solo trip to NYC for Christmas and that's what led me to this site. I'm now terrified about the flight, about being there and reacting, and I'm looking for info.

If you live in Canada, you may want to investigate WestJet airlines.  If not (and since you already booked), have you called the airline to set up allergy accommodations?  Some airlines will provide you early boarding (to wipe down your table and arm rests), buffer zones (number of rows varies), allergy announcements (asking all passengers to refrain from eating your allergen(s)), or pulling your allergen(s) from the free snacks offered to their guests. 

There are some threads on flying with allergies, but here are some recommendations for flying:
- wear long sleeves and trousers to minimise skin contact with contaminated surfaces (and promptly change out of those clothes when you get to your destination - and keep them away from your other clothes if you suspect contact)
- wipe down all surfaces around your seat with disinfectant wipes (i.e. Clorox) to remove existing residues
- if they are serving your allergen, don't eat anything on the plane (I don't eat anything, even when they make full plane announcements, enforce them, and don't have my allergen at all, but that's just me)
- bring more auto-injectors than you would normally need (we bring 6)
- if you have a history of airborne reactions, and your allergen may be onboard, you may wish to bring a mask
- notify EVERYONE about the allergy: reservations, check in, gate attendant, flight attendant

Welcome to the board.  Feel free to ask questions.  There's a good support network and knowledge base here. 

[AdminCM]

Hi, everyone.

I hope that nobody has much noticed anything amiss over the past 24 hours or so; if not, then that means that our time and efforts to stop what seems to be a MASSIVE spam attack originating in Russia/Ukraine/Iran is more or less successful.

However-- the energy required to keep doing that is pretty high.  We both have real lives and need sleep! 

Rebekah and I have very reluctantly opted to shut off forum registration when we can't actually babysit it actively-- we're already at a level that requires us to manually approve registrations-- all registrations, at the moment.  Even with our normally stellar and state-of-the-art spam filtration, we're getting dozens of them an hour.

Hopefully it'll be back to normal in another day or two and we can return registration to its usual state.    As usual, reading and posting as a guest is always an option.  We want people who need our resources here to be able to use them-- even if it means a little extra effort to keep the bullies out, we'd rather that-- than even one person who needs us right before the holidays not have access. 

Cheers!   

[AdminCM]

(And with that, I'm going to lock the doors for the evening.) 

[admin rebekahc]

Good morning, I'll be opening the doors now.