The Dangers of Chutney (duuh duh duhhhhhnn....)

  Okay, so I didn't really think anyone actually read this, i more of thought the views were just people who randomly got thrown here and that counted as a view. So even if it's just one viewer who actually values this blog, i'll do my best to keep posting! So in the past few months that i haven't posted during, a lot has happened, so my next few posts will include what has happened. First let's start with the most life changing event: my first reaction in over 5-6 years!
  So i had my reaction on Thanksgiving of last year (a holiday all about food, what a coincidence!). The day was going perfectly, family and friends arrived to watch golf and catch up. I into one of my favorite dresses and did my hair in a perfect little high-set bun. I was prepared for the conversations with adults i was soon to be forced to have. Me and my siblings went outside to kick around the soccer ball and try to burn some calories before eating our turkey feast.
  After playing for some time i got cold (i refused to wear a jacket in fear of ruining my hair) and went inside to grab a snack. I headed straight for my usual, pepperoni, when my grandfather started raving about the brie cheese and chutney combo. So through his persuasion, i decided to try something new.
  I had my mom make me up a cracker with the brie and chutney and ate it up. My first reaction was that it was delicious! I loved it and wanted another cracker. But, my second reaction was, fuck... my whole mouth is stinging and tingling... i haven't felt this sensation in a very long time.
  It had been so long since a reaction that i didn't actually remember what it felt like, i only remembered that i had had reactions and that it was terrifying (im actually shaking writing about this now). I knew that sometimes my lips would tingle when my lips were chapped and i ate something salty or citrusy, but that feeling on Thanksgiving was different from any other.
  I immediately told my mom that something was wrong and she lept into action, trying to figure out what i ate that could have caused this. She then ran to the fridge and grabbed the bottle of chutney, the only possible explanation for what was happening. I ran up next to her and in that moment, reading the ingredients of the chutney, my heart dropped. Walnuts.
  As soon as i read that i panicked, texted my boyfriend that i was scared i was going to die, and ran upstairs to brush my teeth. I picked out pieces of walnut from my teeth and started to cry. My mom and sister surrounded me and hugged me, trying to calm me down, and eventually i did. I don't know why i was able to calm down so easily, but it seemed that everything would be okay.
  My gums started to swell in the bottom of my mouth. My mom then informed me that she would have to give me to epi-pen. Well, this was an absolutely terrifying thing to hear. I haven't been shot with an epi-pen in years. Too many years to remember if "it won't hurt, don't worry", was true or not.
  I didn't really have the choice or the time to get over this skepticism so i laid out on the foyer floor.
  The epi-pen didn't actually hurt that much, which was extremely surprising to me, especially because it caused me to bleed and gave me a more-than-noticeable bruise.
  We all then rushed to the hospital, leaving family and guests behind at our house. When sitting in the waiting room i was shaking uncontrollably, partly form fear and partly from the adrenaline.
  Thinking about it now, while waiting for the nurse to finish filling things out, all i could think about was that i was glad i at least looked good in my dress and done-up hair.
  Everything calmed down once i was at the hospital. I was given an IV and pumped with life-saving drugs. I eventually fell asleep for almost all of the 8 or 9 hours i was there.
  Even though the whole experience was terrifying, im almost glad it happened. I learned so much from that one experience.
  So, for those of you who haven't had a reaction in months or years, let me tell you this:
    Stay calm, just get help and breathe deeply, freaking out will only make things worst.
    The epi-pen doesn't hurt that much, surprisingly, and you can show off your tough-guy, survival         bruise to all of your friends (as i did!)
    And last of all, you know your body best, you know best what's going on. The feeling of a reaction is different from any other. Trust your gut when you think something is wrong, it could save your life!
You can never be too careful!

It feels great to be blogging again and telling my stories, thank you to whomever commented and helped me to start sharing again :)

They Aren't as Bad as They Seem

  So I've decided to do my post a little early this week due to the fact that a horrible cold is keeping me up until midnight, so to pass the time i figured I'd write! Here we go. I'm going to tell you why food allergies are really not that bad. It seems like its going to be a difficult task, right? To answer that, it really won't be hard at all. 

  I've had food allergies since i was 4, so naturally, I've gotten used to having them (I've had them for almost 13 years!) The first reason why allergies are not horrible to have is that people remember you. You have that unique quality of being able to die at any random time just by eating something or being around a food. I've noticed that many people remember me with more ease than others just by the fact that i have my own unique way of dying. Sounds kind of bad, doesn't it? If it does, that's not what I'm trying to get at, I'm just getting at the point that my food allergies make me unique. They make me who i am and have helped to shape my life and make me a more responsible and mature person.

  On to the next one! My food allergies have also made me a much more social person, due to the fact that i have to talk to adults and other people to tell them about my allergies. Having food allergies is also a great conversation starter! "Have you ever had to use your epi-pen?" "What's it like having a reaction?" "How long have you had your allergies?" I have heard all of these questions and more. People are curious about food allergies and that constant threat that surrounds you. I have made many strong friendships because of my allergies and talking to people about them. I used to be a very shy and quiet person but because of the necessity there is to talk to people, i had to overcome my shy personality to keep myself safe. 

  Number three. Personally, my allergies have given me confidence and have made me less afraid of death. This may not be true for everyone but it is especially true for me. Almost everyday, someone does the kind gesture of offering me food (people without allergies probably don't notice that this happens basically every day to them but with food allergies you have to take notice). Usually if the food is not safe I'll casually say "No thanks, that'll kill me" or "Nah, I'll die." I try to make light of the situation because I've taken my allergies so seriously for so long that i want to be able to keep the situation light, while still keeping myself completely safe. One person has even told me that i am the most comfortable person with death that he's ever met. I took that as a compliment because, yes, i may have the possibility of dying from my allergies at any moment, but there is no way that I will ever let that get me down. Over time i have learned to love my allergies and all that they have made me. Never let your food allergies get you down. Be safe, but always stay happy!

  Those are three major reasons why food allergies don't have to suck. Those are definitely not the only three though. I may be ending this post now but expect many more posts like these to come, mixed in with my other stories! I have to end this post now because i really shouldn't be staying up until 12:30 with a horrible cold! 

  I would love to get some comments, so if you have anything to say write it in! I'd love to hear it! I hope everyone is having a great beginning of the school year! Talk to you next week!

My God-Awful Summer

So for my first real, non-introductory, post, I'm going to tell you about the worst summer of my life. It was the beginning of the summer of 2007, I was about 9. I had recently been getting strange stomach aches almost every single day and eventually my mom made an appointment at Children's Hospital. First, they put me through a test for diabetes. For those of you who don't know what this involves, it's basically drinking a full cup of, to me, melted gummy bears. The down-side to this was that, if you threw up, you had to do the whole process over again. Oh, and did i mention that all of this was on an empty stomach?! I threw up. But i begged my mother not to make me do it again so eventually the doctor gave in and let me go free. Over the next few weeks i had other appointments. One was a scratch test, this test is when they put several oils of different nuts (or other allergens) onto a board of small, sharp pyramids. For me, they tested tree-nuts (which we already knew i was allergic to, so there was NO point). Every single spot lit up and flamed red. My arm was so itchy, but of course, "No scratching allowed dear" was all i heard. Eventually, after i left the hospital, the area where they tested walnuts turned into a painful, raised bruise. This bruise stayed for about a week. So after all of these tests, like i was some sort of lab rat, the doctors were stumped. Apparently being stumped and not knowing what to do in their minds means "take her off of every food that makes life enjoyable and lets ruin her summer." Without doing any more tests, the doctors told me what i could no longer eat until later tests, here is said list:
Tree-nuts
Peanuts
Milk
Wheat
Mango
Sesame Seeds
Now most these food items were what made life with a life-threatening food allergy tolerable because it was still easy to find foods that i could eat. Now, though, i could barely eat anything. Throughout the whole summer i ate rice-cakes and scrambled eggs (two things that i can no longer tolerate eating after that summer). I could no longer go to my friends houses because they didn't have any of the food i could eat and i could no longer go to any sort of restaurant. I was stuck inside my house all summer because the doctors wanted to cover their asses. I lost a ton of weight and became unhealthily skinny. Near the end of the summer, my mother became worried about my health and decided to go in to talk to the doctors again. My stomach aches had gone away but i refused to accept that taking away any of the foods that they took me off of resulted in this. When i went in again, the doctors did more tests! This time, however, they actually got somewhere. They didn't test for any sort of allergy this time, but tested for something wrong with me on the inside. After several blood-tests they discovered that i had (prepare yourself for this one) Hashimoto's Hyper-Thyroiditis. This sounds pretty freaking scary now doesn't it. It means that my thyroid has basically been tiring itself out and will eventually lose function, resulting in me becoming depressed and over-weight. Overall, this was the "cherry on top," as some would say, to my god-awful summer. I was put back onto the foods that the doctors had forbidden me from at the beginning of the school year, but it was far too late. My summer had already been categorized in my mind as the worst summer of my life.

Introduction

Having food allergies sucks, whether they're life-threatening or not. For those who have them, it's a difficult adjustment when it comes to being a teenager. There's peer pressure, the desire to just be like everyone else, and the hope that one day the allergies will just disappear. For some with lesser allergies, they can go away with age, but for others, like me, they will never go away, no matter how much time passes. This blog is to share my stories (I'll be posting every Sunday) and for others to share theirs about the pro's and the con's of having allergies. I hope those who read this gain insight to my life with life-threatening allergies and are willing to share their own stories. Allergies suck. Hopefully this blog can lighten the load!