My Most Recent Allergic Reaction: Backpacking!

Today I'm going to be talking about my most recent allergic reaction that I had. When I had this allergic reaction, I was with my dad on a 3 day backpacking trip. We had just set up camp in the woods, basically in the middle of nowhere. For dinner, my dad used our little fuel stove to cook us up some cous cous with fish mixed in.

We had eaten the type of cous cous before, but we hadn't ever bought the type of cous cous with the seasoning packet that came with it. There wasn't anything that I was allergic to on the ingredient label, so we assumed the rice was safe. We had already eaten the fish before on a previous backpacking trip, so we knew for a fact that the fish was safe.

My dad poured the seasoning packet into the cous cous and fish mix and we started eating. When I started eating, the food was steaming hot, so I waited for it to cool down a little, but it was still hot when I finally started eating. Once I got about a quarter through my meal, my tongue felt puffy and itchy, but I just thought the super hot food was making it feel like that, so I waited for my food to cool down to lukewarm. After I ate a couple more bites, I knew something was wrong. My tongue was getting puffier and puffier and the puffiness wasn't going away. I told my dad, who took away my dinner and told me to get out my Epi-pen two pack, which had two Epi-pens and four Benadryl medicine packets in it. I was about to take some Benadryl when I realized my tongue felt better. My dad had me wait on taking the Benadryl, and after about five minutes, the puffiness was completely gone. I felt perfectly fine again, but instead of finishing the cous cous and fish, my dad made me a peanut butter and apple bagel sandwich. We both knew that I could eat the apple, peanut butter, and bagel, so I ate that instead to fill me up.

It was very scary to be out in the woods, nowhere near the road, having an allergic reaction. Having an allergic reaction at home or somewhere near the emergency room is scary, but you know that you can get to the hospital within a couple of minutes. Out in the woods, it was definitely very, very scary because if we called for an ambulance, they wouldn't be able to get to us. There was no way an ambulance truck could could come and get me, and it probably would've even been hard with a helicopter because we were surrounded by trees. I'm very glad that my dad was there with me and that I wasn't alone while I had this reaction.

Now, my dad and I will never go backpacking with foods that we haven't had before, and we'll be extra cautious next time we go for a backpacking adventure.

Thanks for reading! Talk to you in my next post!

My Experiences-Q and A

Hi there! Today I'll be talking about the different types of questions that I've been asked about in school, at relative's houses, friend's houses, birthday parties, and summer camps.

In the past 8 years, I've been asked lots of questions about my food allergies. Lots of people at school would ask me easy to answer questions, like "What are you allergic to?" and "Do you have to touch the food to get an allergic reaction or do you have to ingest (eat) it?". You might think that the only people that ask me questions about my food allergies are my friends from school, but my relatives, teachers, classmates, neighbors, and family friends also ask me about my food allergies. Today I'm going to be answering an assorted list of questions that I've most been asked. Let's get going!

What are you allergic to?
Oh, that's an easy one! The foods I'm allergic to are all tree nuts except almonds, dairy, and sesame seeds. I also have seasonal allergies; I'm allergic to pollen from trees and grass.
Do you have to touch the food to get an allergic reaction or do you have to actually eat it?
I am touch sensitive, which means that if I touch a food that I'm allergic to, I have a risk of getting a reaction. So, I either have to eat the allergen or touch it.
What food allergy do you dislike the most?
I think the food allergy I don't like having the most is dairy, but the food allergy that I least want to have an allergic reaction to is tree nuts, especially pistachios. The reason for this is because I'll get an anaphylactic allergic reaction if I eat tree nuts, which means I'll get a life threatening allergic reaction instead of a less severe allergic reaction like I may have for dairy or sesame seeds.
How many allergic reactions have you had?
Well, I've had only one anaphylactic allergic reaction in my life, which was to one pistachio, when I was three or four years old, but I also had an allergic reaction to yogurt when I was about one year old. Another allergic reaction I had was when my dad accidentally switched my soy milk and my sister's cow milk at dinner, so I had a minor allergic reaction to that, when I was probably 8 or 9 (we no longer have plain cow milk in our house!) I also had a minor allergic reaction to some french fries at my sister's birthday party (I was around 10 years old). These were the most major allergic reactions that I've gotten.
If you could be allergic to just one food out of the three you're allergic to, which would it be?
Probably sesame seeds because they aren't in a whole lot of foods. The only things I might eat if I wasn't allergic to sesame seeds is hummus, some types of crackers, some types of trail mixes, some types of breads, and some types of seeds that use the same equipment as sesame seeds.
Which allergic reaction was the worst?
Definitely the anaphylactic allergic reaction that I had when I was three or four years old. One night, I had eaten one pistachio and I had gotten many symptoms that hint at an anaphylactic allergic reaction. I had to take my Epi-pen and I was sent to the hospital.
When did you first discover you had food allergies?
I think when I was one, when I had the allergic reaction to the yogurt. When we went to the allergist to figure out what was wrong, he said that I was allergic to dairy and eggs (I outgrew my egg allergy later).
Were you born with food allergies, or did they "pop up" throughout your life?
My food allergies have come up throughout my life, and maybe more will!
Do you like having food allergies?
Eh, it's okay. I like being unique but it's a pain because I always have to read labels and pay close attention to how I'm feeling and bring my own food everywhere.
When was your most recent allergic reaction?
Haha, I won't tell you this one! This question will be covered in my next post. Watch for it!
What's getting an Epi-pen/having an allergic reaction like?
I haven't had an allergic reaction that requires an Epi-pen in a long time, but I do remember that it's hard to stay calm, especially if you're having breathing problems. Staying calm is supposed to help, but it's almost impossible if you aren't with someone.

Sorry about how long this post is! Thanks for reading and watch for my next post: My Most Recent Allergic Reaction: Backpacking!