4 reasons why you'll want to read this if you're an allergy kid/parent

1. I'm an allergy kid. I'm in high school and am currently alive. You're probably quite stressed and want to know what to do without living with the worry that you might have an allergic reaction.
2. I have more than the doctors tell you. No, I'm not going into details about all the sciency and technical stuff. I can share with you real experiences and advice from things that happened to me and what I've learned...sometimes the hard way. I can help prevent that for you.
3. I'm a human being. Ask me questions by commenting!
4. I have loopholes so you don't have to avoid EVERYTHING. I can tell you the secrets that most restaurants and doctors won't tell you so you can get the food you want without having an allergy attack.

You're NOT ALONE! Allergies are so common these days. My goal is to build a community / support group thing that will STOP THE STRESS that people carry with them when they eat food. 

I will post more specific things about my personal experiences and advice. Hope this made you at least a little more relaxed and confident that everything will be okay. :)

Can kissing cause allergic reactions?

You lean in to kiss her goodnight and... Oh no! You ate a PB& J sandwich for lunch and she's allergic. You've heard stories that people have had allergic reactions from kissing. You're not sure what to do.

It's always good to take precautions, but according to a WebMD article, research conducted by Jennifer M. Maloney, MD, a pediatric allergist at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, it's been proven that allergens can remain in saliva for up to 4.5 hours. Even if it has been that much time, it's better to be safe than sorry. Brush your teeth or skip nuts for the day altogether. But make sure you wait a few hours.

It's not very romantic to give your parter an allergic reaction on a date. 

Even if you're a parent and you think you've spared your child from eating your pistachio ice cream, if you kiss your little one on the forehead right after, he or she could actually have a reaction.

So BE CAREFUL! And happy kissing!

Ways to...wait for it...PREVENT allergies???

Some exciting research has come out that there are ways to actually prevent allergies before they develop in children. According to a recent NY Times article, studies show that feeding allergenic foods (peanuts, eggs, etc.) to children under one year old reduces the risk of developing the allergy. When I was a little kid, I used to eat sesame all the time without any affects. Because my blood test results showed a likely allergy to sesame, the doctor told my parents to stop feeding it to me. Perhaps because I stopped eating it, I lost my immunity to it and gained a severe allergy. Although this research is too late for me because it suggests that my doctor gave bad advice, it's promising to reduce allergies of young kids.

Bon voyage! Travel fearlessly.

As winter break just ended and with President's Week around the corner, I was reminded of precautions to take when you go to another country.
1. Be prepared for non-English speakers
Oftentimes vendors and servers don't understand what "nuts," "sesame," or other things mean. Make sure you know how to say what your allergy is in whatever languages you might be encountering on your trip. When I went to Budapest and Prague last year, I carried around a notecard with my allergies listed in English, Hungarian and Czech. Although for the most part they understood the words in English, many locals did not know what "sesame was," hence the card came in handy.
2. Before the flight
It's also a good idea to inform your airline in advance of your allergy so they can prepare a special allergy-free meal just for you. Even vegetarians and gluten-free people can do this! They will have your seat number and will know what foods are okay to give you.
3. Back-up fuel
You should bring your own snacks just in case the food around you is unreliable at times. In Europe, most desserts and snacks have nuts in them, so I thrived off of Fiber One bars, Craisins, cheese sticks, and easy mac n' cheese.
It's important to be careful if you're not familiar with the local cuisine because you never know what hidden ingredients there may be!
Happy travels :)

The line to remain uncrossed

There's a line between being careful and being downright mean.
When I was in elementary school, many people crossed to the mean side. I was instructed by teachers to sit at the designated "peanut allergy table," which was supposed to make me feel more comfortable and less at risk, but it just made me feel isolated and miserable. I switched back to my normal classroom table. Also, sometimes kids would tease me and shove Nutella in my face. This is not okay at all because it actually both physically and mentally bothered me (the smell made me nauseous). People should be respectful and cautious, but not to the extent that it's exclusive. Like I've said in other blogs, we allergy people aren't allergic to the subject. We don't need to be discriminated against because we have allergies either. Of course, not everyone realizes this and won't follow this perfectly. Don't let it get you down! You're not worse than anyone else because of your allergy. You're different. You're YOU and that's okay! :)


               Careful
Line: ---------------------
                 Mean

Fake Allergies

Have you ever gotten an itchy throat from eating a fruit? Let's say, an apple. Or a strawberry. Or maybe even a grape. During my entire early childhood I thought I was allergic to apple skins because sometimes they made my throat itchy, so my mom peeled them off for me. The same itchiness has happened to me with other fruits.

I was wrong! What actually was bothering me was that the protein in the fruit has a similar protein to the trees, weeds and grasses of my hay fever allergy. Some people even say that there is some pollen on the fruit. If you have seasonal allergies like me, this has probably happened to you or will happen at some point. Have no fear! It's totally normal. And the symptoms don't usually last long. It may not bother you when the season changes so you can eat with comfort then. Or if the fruit is cooked, you should have no problem.

Don't get tricked by that sneaky pollen-food allergy!  You're good to go.

Am I having an allergic reaction?

Symptoms:

• Itchy throat
• Hives
• Slight nauseia
• Extreme nauseia, vomiting
• Heartburn
• Having trouble breathing
• Having trouble swallowing

The blue symptoms are minor reactions, whereas the red symptoms are the more dangerous warnings.

If you're having a blue symptom you can take an allergy pill like Benadryl or ignore it. 

If you're having a red symptom, then it's more serious and you should definitely take Benadryl. If you have trouble breathing or swallowing, that's where an adrenaline auto injector like "EpiPen" comes into play.