Who Am I? And Why Do I Have These Food Allergies?

Imagine that everywhere you go you have to be careful about what you eat, what you touch and what you breathe.  To try to bring food allergies to life I thought it was time to open up about myself and what life has been like for me as a person with food allergies. Let me begin by saying I did not always have food allergies. I say that even though I was allergic to milk as a baby and had to have soy formula instead.  But I don't remember it and if you don't remember it, it doesn't count.   Prior to age of four my favorite snack was M&M Peanuts.  I am told I loved scrambled eggs too but I don't remember that either.  

My first recollection of my allergies was when I was visiting my grandparents in Sedona, Arizona with my family.  I was four years old and it was my dad's birthday.  We had an ice cream cake with either pecans or walnuts on it for decoration.  I popped one in my mouth and almost immediately I began to have trouble breathing.  No one in my family had every seen or experienced anaphylaxis before so they were not sure what to do.  My mom gave me a big dose of benedryl and sat with me through the night.  As the benedryl kicked in I had less trouble breathing and fell asleep.  

Once we arrived home my mom brought me to the doctor and explained what happened.  The doctor spoke to her tersely and told her I could have died and we should have gone right to the emergency room.  She listened and we went home.

About a year later, my dad who never had an allergy in his life, said try this pistachio.  I don't believe you are allergic.  Not knowing what a pistachio was I popped it in my mouth.  Almost immediately, my throat closed.  My mom raced to get the epi-pen.  She slammed it into my leg and we rushed to the emergency room.  There they loaded me up with benedryl and I had to take steroids for the next six days.  Needless to say, it was not worth the experiment.  

Since then I have been tested for food allergies and I am allergic to nuts, eggs, sesame, mustard and shellfish.  I avoid all them at all costs.  But as careful as I am the environment can cause me to have a reaction.  If I am sitting next to someone eating nuts I experience a severe shortness of breath.  Is it psychological or physical?  I really don't know.

The most recent and scariest episode I have experienced is last year on the day of my parents 35th wedding anniversary celebration.  I went to work out at the local gym.  While on the treadmill I experienced serious shortness of breath and began to get welts all over my body.  The gym is 5 minutes from home.  I called home and told my parents about the reaction as I was driving home.  By the time I reached the house my face was swollen, I was having trouble breathing and the welts now extended across my torso and up and down my arms.  We got in my dad's car and drove to the emergency room.  They injected me with benedryl and almost immediately the welts began to disappear and the swelling began to go down.  By that evening I was well enough to attend the party and have a good time.  We guessed that someone must have touched nuts before getting on the treadmill and I reacted either to the nut dust or the sweat from the person who just ate the nuts.

So I learned a few lessons from my experience I would like to share with you.

1. Always wipe down gym equipment before use!  Do not assume someone else did it for you.
2. Don't drive during an anaphylactic reaction.  Call 911 and wait for an ambulance.  I could have passed out while driving endangering myself and others.
3. Always carry your epi-pen.  If I had brought it with me I could have prevented the severe reaction I had.
4. Reactions can happen anywhere and at anytime.  Be prepared!

Even though I have lived with allergies all my life I still sometimes disregard my own good advice. I am hoping by exposing my own reactions if you see someone experiencing a reaction you will know to call 911 and hopefully save their life.