Dragonlaurel's journal- Community Garden

[dragonlaurel]

XPC - I'm 45 and I'm still a prize, but somebody already won. I'm married. You still gotta clean your own house and get your own food. I'm vegetarian so I wouldn't be your dream girl anyway. Maybe you can meet a girl at KFC. I've stretched out with a good book lots of places- including the floor.

Thanks for tip about the banks and sheriffs sales. I've seen the ads in the paper once in a while before, but didn't know when to expect them.

 

[dragonlaurel]

I developed an allergy to peanuts in 2004. I've had 4 peanut related reactions, including the original time. Learned to be very careful.
Many people that are allergic to peanuts are also sensitive to tree nuts because the proteins are very similar.
Tree nuts are risky for me. Walnuts made my mouth itchy when I had too many as a kid. They are obviously high risk. My sister is allergic to them.
I haven't been tested due to $$$ but the reaction was obvious and one time was to fresh ground natural peanut butter - by itself.
I also react to the peanut oil. Skin contact gives me hives, so I will NOT risk eating it.

How I get by with it:

Read the whole ingredient label on all prepared foods. Very important.
Read allergen warnings. "This product made on shared equipment" or "May contain traces of... " .
Remember that allergen warnings are not standard. They are still being phased in still and not on foreign foods usually.
Find out what kind of oil anything was fried in. Peanut oil is popular because it has a high smoking point. Turkeys are fried in it sometimes.
Snack foods are very high risk for contamination with peanut. Always read it.
Learned other names for peanuts. Groundnuts, Arachis oil, Peanut flour ( in Fearn's Carrot Cake Mix - I had no idea! )
Must check medicine and vaccine ingredients. Some contain peanut oil. Almost never use pharmaceuticals.
Avoid Thai food and careful with other Asian and Indian food. Checkers is out- they fry in it.
Ask servers questions and stick to the lowest risk items I can find. A server that didn't speak English well served me a side dish of peanut sauce.
Read ingredients on beauty products, massage oils. India's beauty stuff uses it often.
I snack before a party/potluck or new restaurant so I wont be too hungry - in case there isn't much definitely safe food. People don't pay attention if it isn't their allergy!
Vitamin C flush, homeopathics & natural allergy stuff helped some.
I've used Benadryl for a reaction sometimes. It made me sleep for 12-16 hours afterwards. ONLY for emergency.
Grocery shopping is very slow when you have to read labels. Good motivation to cook from scratch.
People assume you are being picky or don't take it seriously lots of times. So read for yourself.

 

[freemotion]

The allergist I went to (10-12 years ago) said the tests were not that accurate, and that your reactions are a better test. He taught me how to do an elimination diet to determine my allergies. The weird part is, you can react to a food many hours after eating it, so it can be sneaky.

I had no reaction to using almond oil in massage school....or so I thought. I would get asthma the next day.

 

[Farmfresh]

If you think avoiding peanuts is bad - try avoiding wheat, barley and rye!

That darned "modified food starch" is in everything! Eating out is especially dangerous. You can order a nice wheat-free steak and they will bring it to the table with a roll sitting on the top!

My D2 is so allergic to gluten (wheat) that a few crumbs can send her to the emergency room in a life threatening emergency. That roll sitting on my steak will cause me to send the whole plate back or else spend a day in the bathroom!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Food allergies are scary things. DS had a severe reaction to shellfish, began going into anaphylatic shock before we got the Dr. to give him an epinephrine shot. We keep the epi pens on hand now.
I heard about this on the radio several weeks ago and your post made me remember it. Interesting read on a possible peanut allergy cure, at least for kids.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/health/16peanuts.html

 

[xpc]

I am allergic to beans and bean by-products. Bacon flavored ice cream seems to help though.

Birds, cats, and evergreens would send me into an asthmatic fit, 30 years later I out grew all but the vile cat. Thanks to me, my family had to have a fake Christmas tree, and in the 1960's the only ones they had were the tinfoil ones.

 

[freemotion]

A few months ago, a teen died, a friend of one of my client's kids. He was at another friend's house, no mom home, and grabbed a Nutty Bar from a bowl on the counter. It was out of the box and not labelled individually, and he had a big bite without thinking, as 15-year-olds will do. He called his mom, who called 911, but he was found dead on the road when they got there. Tragic.

People need to take these allergies seriously.

 

[Farmfresh]

All you have to do is sit in an ER with 5 doctors working on your kid while she swells up and cannot breath - doctors talking about shoving tubes down their throat to allow the air to pass through - one time. Then you take it seriously.

Especially when the aforementioned ER session was brought on by one tiny bread crumb.

D2 carries epi pen, benadryl, and a medic alert bracelet. She lives very carefully. Gluten is everywhere.

 

[dragonlaurel]

The allergist I went to (10-12 years ago) said the tests were not that accurate, and that your reactions are a better test. He taught me how to do an elimination diet to determine my allergies. The weird part is, you can react to a food many hours after eating it, so it can be sneaky.


I had no reaction to using almond oil in massage school....or so I thought. I would get asthma the next day.

I got the eliminating part down pretty well but I'm afraid to try eating any of the nuts because the reaction could be bad. I would like to have the blood tests done for the food allergies. Then I don't have to get the reaction. Wish I had the $ for it.

I developed the allergy while I was in massage school. I liked using a oil that Does contain peanut oil. I guess that was a mistake.

 

[dragonlaurel]

I've heard that weak adrenals can be associated with allergies. The adrenals love Vitamin C and B-5. It's in natural allergy formulas usually. Y'all can read up on it. A nutritionist told me about it, so I don't have a link handy.

Farmfresh-
Hope you and your daughter stay safe. I've had friends with that allergy before. Used to keep some foods around that I knew they could eat for when we hung out. Worked in a health food store that had a pretty good Gluten Free section. Restaurants would be high risk.
I got the allergy bracelet last year but should wear it regularly. Benadryl makes me sleep so I put off taking it to see if the reaction is mild or not. Probably a bad idea.

Noobie- I should get an Epi-pen. My throat and chest have gotten tight a few times in reactions. I always managed to get air, but it was scary. My reactions also had full body hives.

XPC- My Sister is allergic to evergreens too. Christmas season is awful for her breathing. We had the foil tree when we were little too. With the colored light thingy. Then we graduated to a "fancy" one. Still plastic. I had a real tree once after I moved out. I loved it but prefer to have a healthy potted tree that can be planted after.
Are you really allergic to beans? I would hate that. Being vegetarian is much easier with them.

Freemotion- I remember those Nutty Bars. I helped keep them in business, back when I still ate more junk food. Shame about the kid. That must have been hell for the Mom.