Hello everyone! Welcome to my newly created blog about all things allergen free. I am going to use this first post to write a little about myself and what inspired me to share my experiences living allergen-free with the internet.
I was the allergic kid in my family. My mom often had to drive me to Pittsburgh, Pa from the small town of Uniontown, Pa to go to the allergy and asthma specialists there. It all started out with severe allergies to pretty much every plant outside and anything with fur. You know those tests the allergy doctors do where they poke you with a needle and put liquid allergen on you to see if you react? I reacted to every single one.When I was a kid, although I had miserable symptoms, I made the best of my numerous doctor visits because it usually meant I got to miss a day of school and spend the day with my mom in the city. Fun, right? Right!
I grew up in a shellfish-free household because my dad was severely allergic. I had never eaten it because it just simply wasn't around. When I was in 7th grade, I was at a birthday party with a huge shrimp cocktail display. All of my friends were eating it so I grabbed a few and put them on my plate. After I bit into one, my throat closed, I got a fever, rash and threw up shortly after. I had no idea what happened. I immediately called my mom and she picked me up, gave me a couple benadryl, and told me that we were going to the allergy doctor first thing the following week. Sure enough, I was allergic to all shellfish. That was just the beginning.
It wasn't until 6 years ago that I had any other food-related reaction. I am a bit of a health-nut so I am really into working out and putting healthy foods into my body. At the time, I thought Naked Juice was the bees knees. I would have a work out and drink the Mango Madness or Green juice as a normal part of my day. As days progressed, every time I drank one, my throat would swell and I would just feel... funny. After a while, I put two and two together and stopped drinking the juices and my reactions went away. I didn't even think it would be food allergies because I had only ever been allergic to shellfish and I wasn't in the know about reactions to fruits or vegetables.
Fast forward to 2012. I was in school at University of Pennsylvania in their pre-medical program. This was a very rigorous program and I was having trouble keeping up for a number of reasons. Firstly, I felt "foggy" every day. I could never concentrate and often felt nauseous. Secondly, my joints always hurt, I kept getting rashes on my arms and face, and had terrible migraines. Every time I would go to student health, they assumed it was stress. I was very stressed, but I knew there was more to this. I gave up gluten and milk products and found some relief, but most of the symptoms still weren't going away. After enduring a year of increased symptoms, it got to the point that my tongue and throat were swelling at every meal. I started to get vertigo with blurred vision and even some vision loss. I knew that it had to be food allergy related. I immediately made an appointment with my allergist and got tested for a ton of foods. To my surprise, I was allergic to 8 out of the 14 foods I had been tested for, including: shellfish, soy, eggs, apples, bananas, onion, garlic, and zucchini/squash. I also found myself to be allergic to sucralose (Splenda) and aspartame (artificial sweeteners). As soon as I cut out all of the foods, I felt like a brand new person, however there were a lot of struggles with food labels and cross-contamination that I had no idea I would be in for. More on this in a later blog post!
Along with the allergies, I suffer from many food intolerances. I know what you're thinking: they aren't real. I can assure you they are and I have come to my own conclusions through independent research as to why I have these food intolerances, the main point being that I ate things I was allergic to for so long that I did damage to my intestines from the constant inflammation. I have done an overhaul of my diet and none of them seem to be going away, but I have learned how to still eat well and live well. That is precisely why I chose to make this blog. I want to share my knowledge and research with other people who are in the same shoes. I will be posting my favorite recipes, beauty products and other tips for living an allergen-free life. Welcome and enjoy!
