I am one of the 4% of adults who have a food allergy and one of only the .6-1% of people who are allergic to peanuts. I had my first reaction when I was eleven months old when my mom tried to feed me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it ended with my face super swollen, the advice nurse telling my mom that she wasn't a good parent because "all good parents have Benadryl" and my dad getting pulled over because he was speeding to get the medicine back to me. The first reaction was just the start of one of the most influential parts of my life. Especially as a young child, a big part of my life was learning what I could and couldn't eat, touch and be around, and telling a small child that she can't have the same candy as the rest of her friends is hard. But when you puff up and look like a balloon and your throat swells so much you can't breath, it is important to know what you can and cannot eat. Now that I am getting married, I pray that when I have children that they don't get this trait from me because I know how difficult life is with it. I mean, my children will probably never be able to have a PB&J anyway.
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| The photo on the left is a picture from me in the hospital after a reaction and the one on the right is me normally. Both of these pictures are from high school, I don't remember when exactly but it was around 2009 I think. |
Here are some facts about food allergies and peanut allergies:
Children who are going to outgrow food allergies usually outgrow them by the age of four.
A lot of times very young children will be allergic to a variety of foods; i.e. eggs, milk, peanuts, etc. but outgrow it by the time they start school. But if a child hasn't outgrown it by that time, they probably won't. For people like me who didn't out grow their allergy, it has the potential to get worse with age. This is what happened to me. Every reaction I have, is worse than the one before. What started as "simply" my face swelling up has now escalated to my face swelling, breaking out in hives, vomiting, blood pressure plummeting, throat swelling and blacking out. So believe me when I say that these reactions can be life threatening.
There is no cure for peanut allergies.
While there has been talks about a drug called TNX-901 for years that increases the amount of peanuts that would have to be eaten to trigger an attack, it does not cure it. TNX-901 has also been talked about for almost 10 years now and is still not on the market. Some people who don't have a sever allergy have had success by being exposed gradually to their allergen but it never completely gets rid of the allergy. It only allows the person to be able to be exposed to more of the allergen before having a bad reaction.
If I have a reaction there are certain steps that must be taken.
Every reaction is different and every person reacts differently to their reactions, but this is what happens to me when I have a reaction. First, I start to just feel weird. I get chills throughout my body, my ears tingle and something instinctual just kicks in so that I know something is wrong. When this happens I first take benadryl. While this won't stop a sever reaction, it can sometimes slow it down. Liquid benadryl is the best because it gets into your blood stream faster and starts to work. If I can tell it is going to be a reaction that requires me to go to the hospital, depending on how far the reaction has progressed, I will either go straight to the hospital or use the Epi-Pen.
Once the Epi-Pen has been injected, you must go to the hospital ASAP.
Epi-Pens are designed to speed up your heart rate by giving you a dose of Epinephrine that counteracts the reaction. Because one of the side effects of going into a life-threatening reaction, commonly known as anaphylaxis shock, is a massive drop in blood pressure. You can go here to look at more information about Epi-Pens and anaphylaxis.
Everyone needs to know how to work an Epi-Pen.
It is not hard to learn how to work them, and who knows one day it might save someones life. Teachers especially need to know how to work these life-saves, not just because of peanut allergies but all allergies. Children are more likely to not completely understand their allergy and have a reaction. It surprised me as a kid when I had a reaction and the school nurse didn't know how to work the epi-pen! Here are some videos that teach a little bit more about how to use an Epi-Pen.
I hope that you understand the severity of a peanut allergy and what to do if you see someone having a reaction. And please be considerate, people with allergies didn't choose to have them, they don't ask for "special treatment" just to be difficult, it is to save a life.
I would love to answer any questions you might have about peanut allergies or Epi-Pen.
Felecia
I also have food allergies. Its not easy to live this way. I interrogate waiters and read food labels all the time. I have been teased for this for years and, by now, I simply say, "Well, this is what I do to avoid dying." Pretty much stops the nonsense. I have mild reactions to most fruits--itchy mouth, a little rash develops around my mouth. I can either just stop eating the fruit and drink lots of fluids to stall the reaction or, if it gets worse, take Benedryl (which by the way I carry with me at all times--and I can chug the liquid form like it was water). I have learned (the hard way) to avoid certain fruits at all costs--no melons except for watermelon, no apples except for Granny Smith variety, and no peaches--ever (and that is hard). I am also allergic to some tree nuts--walnuts result in an immediate trip to the ER because I need to use the Epi-Pen (they are the worst for me). I can't even be around a walnut grove when the nuts are being harvested and processed--its just like eating them. I know I can safely eat pecans, peanuts (not a nut anyway), and almonds (but never raw). Given my reaction to walnuts--the first episode was when I was 2-3 yrs old and the second was in my early 20s--my mother raised me to simply avoid nuts unless I knew exactly what they were. So, I have not had many other types of nuts other than the ones I know I can eat. I also have friends and family members who serve as food testers for me--sometimes its hard to know if there is something in a food that I cannot eat. However, I had a very scary situation when I came in contact (not consumed) macadamia nuts. Cookies were offered at the end of the year luncheon a few years back. I was assured the ones with nuts had never been in contact with the other 3 types of cookies so I took 2 cookies with M&Ms--on a plate away from the macadamia nut cookies. I felt safe so ate one of the cookies--and then it started. I was stopped just short of a full-blown reaction requiring an Epi-Pen because the school nurse and my friends got me to the clinic immediately and I started drinking Benedryl. My throat was itching, I had hives developing all over my body, but I had not begun wheezing. Apparently, when putting out the cookies the servers did not change out their gloves when creating the 4 separate platters. So, I now know macadamia nuts are in the same category as walnuts--never, ever have them. Its not easy to live this way--and I am sure some people think I'm either crazy or making this all up. I am so happy that my son has not inherited this from me although he does have hay fever and asthma (lovely genetic gifts from me). One of my brothers and my mother have these allergies--so, I know where this comes from. I just wish other people who are blessed enough to NOT have to deal with these food allergies would understand--and at least not say anything negative.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea how bad your allergies were. It is a scary thing and most people don't understand the severity of it. I think the older I get the more people are like "just don't eat the peanut butter," they don't understand that it doesn't work like that. Glad you were able to get to the hospital when you needed it and that there are such great teachers/staff at RMS to help when things like this happen.
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