Allergies - be aware they can kill

[IJ55]

I am allergic (badly) to Gluten and Wheat products. My allergy causes severe inflammation and ulceration to my digestive tract, and also causes a severe swelling in my joints.

Reason I write this is because I was helping out some friends who knew I have a severe allergy, and I asked them to get food in accordingly. Tesco do great range of gluten free sausages and Beefburgers, so away I munched as I spoke.

within two minutes I started to perspire badly, go red, and start scrabbling about for my bag. Cut a long story short its been a week now, and I can now just about hold a short conversation again and type without feeling like I am crackling all my joints.

So - my point being is that if your not sure what an allergy is, or not sure how sever an allergy is, or what causes it, ask. The person who has the allergy would rather tell a hundred times and be all good, than not get asked once and spend a few days unable to eat, talk or move about because of some ones kind hearted, well meaning but mistaken knowledge.

Here is my throat today just over a week later, and yes, my endoscopy showed my entire digestive tract down to my stomach is ulcerated.

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8207/glutenburn.png

 

[malente]

good reminder, and get well soon too!

I'm lucky but SWMBO has bad allergies (one of them penicillin). Those medicinal allergies can be really scary.

Mike

 

[IJ55]

Cheers Mal,
and yes, every allergy however mild needs to be taken seriously, especially medications and ingested articles.

Still as rough as a badgers, but am having a flash back to child hood - Ice cream and milk shake diet, with the wireless laptop in bed.

 

[BOD]

Ow!

Point also being that allergy sufferers should always ask what the food contains and look at the packet if not sure even if it rubs some people the wrong way.

As a sufferer, though not bad, I dont care about peoples feelings if it means that I can breathe freely instead of gasping for air after trying to be polite and considerate.

 

[Ian H]

im lucky enough to not have an allergy (or unlucky enough to not know what it is?)

although i dont understand your post? your friends got you food they they knew would harm you???

 

[cubankopite]

i hope your feeling yorself soon mate
i work in the food industry and have recently gone on an allegen course.
one of the examples that stood out for me was a guy who had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch and kissed his girfriend 10 hours later which sadly resulted in her death you can never be too careful with allegies

 

[IJ55]

im lucky enough to not have an allergy (or unlucky enough to not know what it is?)

although i dont understand your post? your friends got you food they they knew would harm you???

No they just made an honest error because they thought they read the ingredients list. It didn't say wheat on it, and thats fair. It however contained barley malt extract.

Was an honest mistake, and I was wrong to trust some one with getting in food for me.

lessons learnt all round.

 

[xairbourne]

Tell me about it.
This time last year I started to feel unwell for what I thought no reason. I loved Marmite on toast but I noticed a strange feeling in my throat after eating it.
I went to the Dr's on the Wednesday and told him my symptoms. He told me to avoid it (Obviously) and if I had the feeling again, in any other food have a look at the ingredients and cross reference them.
On the Friday we were off to Pembroke, so for food we had some Youngs fish in breadcrumb and oven chips. An Hour later I had a fast response paramedic in the house injecting me with cortisone and then rushed into hospital and straight into resus in A&E. Wired up from head to toe, blood pressure through the roof scared s**tless. I remember telling them it’s my throat it feels weird. They then Injected me with adrenalin an instantly my throat went back to normal. Now I know it wasn't my throat it was my tongue and it had swollen almost blocking my airways.
Adrenalin wow what a rush, I was lying on the bed with a resting pulse of 180 and the Dr telling me to relax and calm down.
They kept me in overnight and let me out when my pulse was below 100.
I had gone into anaphylactic shock. I know now after going private and paying for blood tests (because I could not wait for the NHS) that I am allergic to "yeast extract". Found in a lot of foods...
This experience blew me out of the water food wise, I had panic attacks after eating which gave me a tightening of the throat (that didn't help)
I’m lucky to have a very supportive wife who is an amazing cook,(takes her 3 times as long to do the shopping now) I’m starting to relax with food again, I still have to check every time I eat out and carry an epipen with me just in case Food allergies really suck! I feel for you...your not alone

 

[malente]

i hope your feeling yorself soon mate
i work in the food industry and have recently gone on an allegen course.
one of the examples that stood out for me was a guy who had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch and kissed his girfriend 10 hours later which sadly resulted in her death you can never be too careful with allegies

that sounds scary, almost like an urban myth!

 

[DavidJT]

Get well soon, it sounds rough.
My wife has a severe peanut allergy (caries the Adrenalin Epipens etc), and has had three trips to A&E over the past 10 years or so.
We get very tired of people not taking allergies seriously. One of the recent incidents was on a ferry back from Denmark, when the Chef had decided to sprinkle chopped peanuts all over a buffet dish of steamed cauliflower (why?). There was no allergy signage showing, and my wife luckily spotted it on her plate.
The staff on the Ferry we're completely unapologetic, and seemingly unaware that they were seconds away from a major medical emergency in the middle of the North Sea, and subsequent claim for damages.

 

[Toddy]

i hope your feeling yorself soon mate
i work in the food industry and have recently gone on an allegen course.
one of the examples that stood out for me was a guy who had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch and kissed his girfriend 10 hours later which sadly resulted in her death you can never be too careful with allegies

HWMBLT only gets to eat fish when I'm away from home.
I haven't gone into anaphylactic shock, just clog up like the worst hayfever, my heartrate soars and I break out in itchy lumps.

Worcester sauce has anchovies in it, and it gets added to so many foods

Sorry you're suffering like this IJ55, gluten and dairy only trigger the R.A. for me and that makes life miserable.
Hope everything settles down fast.

Xairbourne's right, you're not the only one, and people are becoming more and more aware and courteous about food allergies I find.

atb,
Toddy

 

[Mikey P]

Worcester sauce has anchovies in it, and it gets added to so many foods

Bum! I didn't know that! That's another thing to knock off the 'Not Suitable For Vegetarians' list. Shows how much attention I pay to ingredients labels.