ALLERGY AWARENESS WEEK! Day One: 5 Things Allergy Kids wish their parents knew

Kids with allergies can be a lot to handle! Looking back on my childhood, I definitely wasn’t an easy child for my parents to deal with. So here are a few things that allergy kids might want their parents to know. 

1) We don’t want to be difficult. To you it might seem as though we are being frustrating on purpose by not taking care of our eczema properly or not eating certain foods that you know we can eat. We aren’t intentionally being painful or annoying. It could be that we don’t understand how to keep our skin the way you can, or that we don’t like trying new foods because we are scared of having a reaction.

 

2) Sometimes we detest going to restaurants. Even if there is a dish we can eat at the restaurant, the threat of cross contamination, and general fear can be hard to get over. Sometimes we just want a meal at home and not have to go through the whole explanation of allergies and speaking to waiters and chefs. 

3) When allergy kids have to start doing things on their own, they can be a little wary if they can’t read the labels on what they are eating. For example, even though the parents might have read the label on a sauce jar and seen that its perfectly safe, an allergy child may want to read it to be safe (I have done this!) It's not that they don't trust you to create a safe meal, it becomes habit to check every ingredient label, and they may feel uncomfortable if they do not check one. 

4) Sometimes we are just as scared as you are. As kids grow up they want to go out and socialise more. But that means letting them go into the world where others aren't as careful (more on this later in the week). Trust me when I say I understand a parent’s hesitation, but its not just parents! I know that when my parents starting letting me go out with friends, it scared me to think what could happen. However it’s important to learn to overcome the fear, as amazing experiences can follow from getting out of the house!

5) We seriously appreciate everything you do for us. I was thinking about it the other week: how many appointments, medications, specialists, food alternatives and everything else have my parents had to pay for? Drive me to? How many emotional times, sleepless nights and stress have they been through? I’m sure the answer would baffle me, but I know they do it all for love. Honestly? Through all the hard times, allergy kids truly appreciate everything parents do for them. From spending time making a separate dinner, to buying all the new creams ‘guaranteed’ to cure your eczema and everything in between! Allergy parents do so much, and kids appreciate it. Even if we don’t show it all the time. 

I hope everyone had a great Monday! Look out for tomorrow’s post: ALLERGY AWARENESS WEEK DAY TWO! 

Easter Bunny Cupcakes!

Happy Easter to all my lovely readers! I hope your day was lovely and allergy friendly! :D

Usually for easter my mum makes a chocolately cake for the rest of the family, and I have something allergy friendly. But this year I thought I would make something a bit cute and different!

So here are my allergy friendly Easter Bunny Cupcakes!

What you will need:

12 cupcakes
Buttercream Icing
Skittles
Marshmallows
Pink Sugar
Shredded Coconut

BUTTERCREAM ICING

Mix Icing Sugar and Dairy Free butter until it forms an icing consistency. Add food colouring/flavouring if desired (not necessary)

PINK SUGAR
Mix some white sugar with a little bit of pink food colouring until the sugar becomes pink. Only add a drop at a time, as you do not want the sugar to be too wet.

CUPCAKES
See my recipe for allergy friendly cupcakes from last year. http://theeczemaexperience.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/recipe-time.html

TO ASSEMBLE THE BUNNIES!

1) Ice the cupcakes with the buttercream (Make sure you have a little bit of icing left over for attaching the other ingredients!)
2) Dip cupcakes into a shallow bowl of coconut until the icing on top of the cupcakes is covered.
3) Cut the marshmallows in half and dip into the pink sugar.
3) Attach the marshmallows to the top of the cupcakes using some icing to form ears.
4) Take two skittles per cupcake and attach to the cake with icing as the eyes
5) Tear off a corner of a marshmallow and shape into a ball for the nose. Attach to cupcake.

Don[t forget to refrigerate them as they can melt and the face can fall off them!

Have fun and share your photos!

The cost of eczema

Eczema isn't something we can just get rid of, it needs careful management and lots of time put in to keep it under control. Unfortunately, this means using a lot of different products.

I have been working for 4 years now, earning money for my own expenses. My sister asked me the other day "How come you dont have as much money saved up as me, when I havent been working as long as you?" She got her answer when we went to the chemist; I have to buy products for my eczema. I spent $100 dollars in the space of an hour on my skin... Steroid creams, Moisturiser, Soap Free Wash, Antihistamines. That didnt even include the other creams I usually buy!

If I tallied up everything I wanted to buy/should buy for my skin, I would probably be looking at $200-$300 per week.

So how on earth can we make this more affordable? Well, the answer is not simple at all... in fact I dont think I can make it more affordable for myself! I already buy my moisturiser where it is cheapest, and I have a health care card so that my prescriptions are cheaper, but it still adds up to a lot of money each week!

I am a uni student with a casual job, so it can be super hard to afford stuff that I would really like to buy, when I have to spend so much on my skin. The frustrating part is; it doesnt even work; my skin still flares!

I know we are all in the same boat, spending so much money every week/month on the eczema and the allergies, making sure we take care of ourselves/our kids. How on earth does everyone else manage it? Any tips?

I just thought the other day, that I am going to have to do this for a long long time... Let's hope they come up with a cure fast!

Have a lovely day :)

PANCAKES!

Nearly everybody I know loves a good pancake! But when you have allergies, some recipes can be hard to find or adapt.

My mum has been making these pancakes for me on a sunday morning for as long as I can remember! And as soon as I could, I was learning how to make them myself! I wanted to share this recipe with you as it tastes amazing, is easy to make and is not only great for breakfast! They can be taken in lunchboxes or eaten for afternoon tea! 

These are Dairy, Egg and Nut Free and can be adapted to be Gluten Free and Soy Free as well! 

Ingredients

1 tsp No Egg

1 tbsp Water

1 Cup Self Raising Flour (Or your GF alternative)

1 Cup Soy Milk (or your preffered alternative)

1 tsp of Raw Sugar

Method:

1) Whisk together 1 tsp No Egg and 1 tbsp Water in the bottom of your bowl. 

2) Add Raw Sugar and whisk until combined

3) Add half of the flour and milk into the bowl and whisk. 

4) Add the remaining flour and milk into the bowl and whisk until completely combined. 

Cooking: 

1) Preheat pan and use oil/butter to lubricate

2) Pour some of the mixture into the pan

3) Wait until the top of the pancake is no longer shiny/ has tiny bubbles popping on the surface. 

4) Flip the pancake

5) Wait until the edges are brown and then your pancake is cooked!

6) Repeat until all of your mixture is gone!

Serve with whatever toppings you enjoy!

NOTE: You can add things such as chocolate chips to the batter before cooking for an awesome treat!

           - You can add more sugar to the recipe if you desire, I use less as I prefer them with a lower                   sugar content but if you think they need more sugar, add more!

Comment your pancakes below or on the facebook page! :D

What causes allergies?

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

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

Back to School!

With Back to School tomorrow, I thought I would give all the nervous parents out there a bit of relief!

School is a tough but fun time! Kids learn new things, make new friends and have some great fun playing with their friends!
However for parents it can be a little bit nerve racking! Leaving your kids in an environment you cannot control, especially when they have allergies isnt easy! But there are some things that make it a bit easier for you to relax and know that even if something did go wrong, they are in good hands!

Firstly: Make sure your child understands the allergies they have, what it means and how they should approach situations involving food (e.g. lunchtimes) Ensure they know their signs of a reaction, big or small, and how they should deal with it! Steps are a good idea e.g. For a small external reaction. 1. Wash the area 2. Find a teacher etc

Secondly: Ensure your child takes all necessary medication to school and that the school has some on hand! Make sure the school has copies of your child's action plan!

Thirdly: Chat with the school to make sure they understand your child's situation and how to manage reactions, lunchtimes, activities involving food and any other issues you want to raise. Don't feel like you are being an annoyance to the teachers and staff: Your child is the #1 priority!

Finally: Take a deep breath and relax! As long as the school and your child have all the necessary equipment and information to care for your child if any reaction should occur. School is fun! Don't let your stress impact your child as they may then fear going to school.

Take a deep breath and remember that if you have provided everything you can, there is no more you can do!

Have a great school year everyone! :D