Friday, December 21, 2012

Allergy Friendly (Not!)

Today was one of those days where I wanted so badly not to have allergies. We were having a class Holiday party today, the last block of the day before winter break. I made Donna's "Butter" Cookies and they were a great success! Everyone loved them! Another person brought in Lay's potato chips, which are also allergy friendly! I was quite happy with the food turn out! However, about 1 week ago, my friend told me she was planning on making latkas. She showed me a picture of the ingredient list and told me that they were going to be fried in veggie oil, and that was it. I was excited, I was going to get to try a latka, and it was allergy friendly without any recipe altering! So of course I told her yes, that I can eat them!

However, after eating just one, about 2 inches in diameter, I felt my stomach starting to hurt within the next 20 minutes. At first I just thought, no hoped, that maybe, just maybe, it only hurt because I had eaten too many cookies and chips. But we all know that there is quite a difference between a "belly ache" and an "allergy ache"...they are two completely different feelings. In the next five minutes, I could tell it was a reaction because my body was heating up and my stomach really hurt. My mom and dad arrived in the nurses office soon after that, and when my mom had to leave for a doctors appointment, she told my dad "Take care of my baby girl". She felt horrible that she couldn't stay when I was in so much pain, but don't worry mom, dad took care of me!

As I sat in the nurses office, school ended and everyone went home. But not me, I sat with the nurse and my dad for another hour and a half. Towards the end, I just wanted to throw up, just so I could get everything out of my system, and after starting to have an itchy neck, it finally happened. As soon as I was done, I felt 110% better and I, exhausted after a lot of Benadryl, went home. 

I guess when I told my friend that her latkas were safe for me, I was saying it not because it was true, but because I wanted them so badly to be safe. I let my feelings cloud my judgment, and endangered myself in the process. Today was my first allergy reaction in over 2 years, and I can easily say that it was a learning lesson for me. This time around, I'm going to try to stay allergy free longer!
Wish me Luck!

-Alli

2 comments:

  1. glad you are ok. sorry that happened. :( thanks for sharing so others can learn from you. my daughter is 6 and it is so valuable for me to understand what it must feel like to be a teen with allergies. thank you for writing your blog and expressing what it felt like to want to eat the food that ended up containing an allergen or maybe some cross contamination. I'm so glad you are ok and that you sought help when something didn't feel right. Btw, make sure to discuss the reaction with your allergist/doctor. Take care Alli!

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    1. I'm very glad you are able to learn through my mistakes so your daughter doesn't have to go through them! Food allergies can be very hard, but I believe that she can pull through! Best of Luck! :)

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