There has been a lot of talk in the media lately about the cause of allergies. We all know that there are many theories about what causes an allergy to food or another substance, however some of these theories can be a little bit far fetched. Today I am going to outline some of the theories I have heard! Feel free to add on to this list in the comments.
1. If you feed your child the allergen, they won't be allergic
We have all heard this one. That the reason you or your child has an allergy is because you didnt feed them enough of it when they were younger/when you were pregnant.
From a personal experience side, I know for a fact my mum ate my allergens while she was pregnant with me, and tried to feed them to me before I was diagnosed with allergies. Well, lets cut straight to the point; IT DIDN'T WORK! Even when I was a baby, I would throw up after every meal, because I was allergic!
I'm not sure about everyone else's experiences, but from what I have read in terms of other parents, this theory seems a little bit far fetched.
2. Eat more dirt
I cannot understand this particular comment to be perfectly truthful!
Dirt doesn't have any particular qualities that make us healthier, otherwise I'm sure it would be the next superfood!
I do understand that by letting your children play in the dirt, you can strengthen their immune systems, but the truth is that allergies can be developed before kids are even old enough to go outside and play!
I heard this theory when I was younger and thought it was a bit odd!
3. Your house is too clean
This one kind of relates to theory number two in terms of strengthening the immune system. I still think it's not quite on track!
I know that as new parents, everyone is told to keep everything super clean in order to keep the baby healthy, but if you have multiple children, you learn that they can handle it if you don't dust the house every day!
This theory really doesn't lend itself to being truthful when there are multiple children in a family with allergies!
I know that the cleanliness story came up as my parents were told they had to be scrupulous with their hygiene as I was their first child. But by the time my sister came along, they realized they didn't have to wash their hands every few minutes just to pick me up, and she still has allergies.
If children don't know or understand allergies, then they may come up with their own crazy theories! Here are a few I heard when I was younger.
4. You have allergies? You must be an ALIEN!
I heard this one as a child and it threw me off guard a little bit!
The other child's theory was that my 'home planet' didn't have chocolate or nuts, so when I came to earth it was foreign which explained why I was allergic!
So I know I'm not an alien, but this one made me laugh when I remembered it the other day!
5. Your parents must not love you enough.
There are no words to describe how I felt when I heard this! It was a rainy day in primary school and we had to eat inside. The teacher (to her credit) explained that before we played boardgames, everyone had to wash their hands because of my allergies.
One particular boy turned around to where I was finishing my lunch and told me "You know why you have allergies? Your parents don't love you enough so they decided you couldn't eat all this stuff"
Now as an adult, I can look back on this and know that this kid was not only uneducated about allergies, but was just being plain mean! As a child, I knew it wasnt true, as my parents were investing a lot of time and money into finding a cure for my eczema and allergies but this comment really hurt!
We all know there are a lot of theories out there, but no definitive answer. Sometimes it can be frustrating and we can try to blame a lot of different factors, but we just have to adapt and learn to live with it!
You are all doing the best you can so do not beat yourself up over the people who try and 'educate' you on why your child or yourself has allergies!
Have a great day everyone :D
Friday, 27 February 2015
Sunday, 8 February 2015
An Allergy Experience
Whilst trying to come up with an idea for a quality post for everyone to read, I remembered a particularly scary situation from when I was in high school.
I went to the sick bay (nurses station etc) one day and I can't particularly remember what I went for. Perhaps I had a headache, cramps or something, but I remember it wasn't so bad that I had to go home.
Whilst lying there, a young girl was carried in. Now I have seen photos of anaphylaxis but I had not yet seen it in real life so I saw her red, swollen skin and coughing and my mind said: She must be having an allergic reaction. I was interested to see how the staff handled the situation, as this would be how I would be handled if I was to have such a reaction at school.
The story goes that her buddy from another year level shared food with her that everyone thought was safe, but it contained one of her allergens. The nurse spoke to the teacher and established that other medication had been given and they needed to use the epipen and call and ambulance straight away. The nurse communicated this to the young girl (who was year 4 at the time) who absolutely refused and started crying. As soon as I heard the nurse say: Michaela, we need to give you the epipen. My heart lept into my throat.
This girl has the same name as me, the same allergens and went to the same school. All I could think of was how scared I would feel in that situation and how it could so easily have been me instead of her. The nurse left the room to grab the epipen and tell one of her staff to call an ambulance, leaving her for a maximum of one minute. I jumped up from my bed and walked over to try and calm her down as she was sobbing and in pain.
I remember what I said first, which was commenting that we had the same name and the same allergies. I just wanted to distract her from what was happening so that we could save her life. When the nurse came back in, I had stopped her crying so much just by talking to her about general everyday things. I held her hand and kept talking while the nurse put in the epipen. I didnt leave her side until the ambulance and her parents turned up.
It was such a crazy experience as I didn't think about what I was doing until I stopped and sat down. Her parents and teacher came up and gave me a hug and thanked me and the paramedics said I did a great job calming her down. I heard nothing from the school, but didnt expect anymore thankyou's. I didn't do it for the recognition; I did it because I related and felt her pain and knew she just needed someone there to understand. A few months later I went back to the sick bay and was asked if I had received a copy of the letter. The kind parents of the young girl had written to the school commending me on my actions and asking the school for some recognition (which I received later in the form of a community service award). It blew me away that my simple action had such a big impact.
In my last few days at high school we had a primary school immersion day where we reminisced on our past. I sought out that young girl to see how she was going. She told me she appreciated what I did so much and that she hadnt had another reaction since.
It just goes to show that all we need sometimes is a bit of understanding to get us through. It got me thinking about how other young children reacted when they needed an epipen? Do you have any stories? How have your kids reacted?
Don't forget to enter my competition with A Bit Hippy! Even if you dont have eczema, the products they make are great for any skin type! Just send me a recipe on The Eczema Experience facebook page! It can be Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Soy Free or anything you can come up with! It can be a sweet desert, or a dish your family adores at dinner! Send them in for a chance to win a great prize pack! Enter here: https://www.facebook.com/theeczemaexperienceblog If you dont have facebook, comment below and you can email me your recipe instead!
Have a great week everyone! :D
I went to the sick bay (nurses station etc) one day and I can't particularly remember what I went for. Perhaps I had a headache, cramps or something, but I remember it wasn't so bad that I had to go home.
Whilst lying there, a young girl was carried in. Now I have seen photos of anaphylaxis but I had not yet seen it in real life so I saw her red, swollen skin and coughing and my mind said: She must be having an allergic reaction. I was interested to see how the staff handled the situation, as this would be how I would be handled if I was to have such a reaction at school.
The story goes that her buddy from another year level shared food with her that everyone thought was safe, but it contained one of her allergens. The nurse spoke to the teacher and established that other medication had been given and they needed to use the epipen and call and ambulance straight away. The nurse communicated this to the young girl (who was year 4 at the time) who absolutely refused and started crying. As soon as I heard the nurse say: Michaela, we need to give you the epipen. My heart lept into my throat.
This girl has the same name as me, the same allergens and went to the same school. All I could think of was how scared I would feel in that situation and how it could so easily have been me instead of her. The nurse left the room to grab the epipen and tell one of her staff to call an ambulance, leaving her for a maximum of one minute. I jumped up from my bed and walked over to try and calm her down as she was sobbing and in pain.
I remember what I said first, which was commenting that we had the same name and the same allergies. I just wanted to distract her from what was happening so that we could save her life. When the nurse came back in, I had stopped her crying so much just by talking to her about general everyday things. I held her hand and kept talking while the nurse put in the epipen. I didnt leave her side until the ambulance and her parents turned up.
It was such a crazy experience as I didn't think about what I was doing until I stopped and sat down. Her parents and teacher came up and gave me a hug and thanked me and the paramedics said I did a great job calming her down. I heard nothing from the school, but didnt expect anymore thankyou's. I didn't do it for the recognition; I did it because I related and felt her pain and knew she just needed someone there to understand. A few months later I went back to the sick bay and was asked if I had received a copy of the letter. The kind parents of the young girl had written to the school commending me on my actions and asking the school for some recognition (which I received later in the form of a community service award). It blew me away that my simple action had such a big impact.
In my last few days at high school we had a primary school immersion day where we reminisced on our past. I sought out that young girl to see how she was going. She told me she appreciated what I did so much and that she hadnt had another reaction since.
It just goes to show that all we need sometimes is a bit of understanding to get us through. It got me thinking about how other young children reacted when they needed an epipen? Do you have any stories? How have your kids reacted?
Don't forget to enter my competition with A Bit Hippy! Even if you dont have eczema, the products they make are great for any skin type! Just send me a recipe on The Eczema Experience facebook page! It can be Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Soy Free or anything you can come up with! It can be a sweet desert, or a dish your family adores at dinner! Send them in for a chance to win a great prize pack! Enter here: https://www.facebook.com/theeczemaexperienceblog If you dont have facebook, comment below and you can email me your recipe instead!
Have a great week everyone! :D
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