sigh
A peanut-allergic 15 year old girl died in Quebec after kissing her boyfriend who had eaten peanut butter. Article here.
I went to an allergist Monday, and had the gauntlet of skin tests done. Turns out I am not allergic to tree nuts or shellfish as my first allergist had us assume (he didn't want to test me for them, might have been cause I was screaming and hit his nurse in the face). But I am still allergic to peanuts, which I had hoped beyond hope that I outgrew since I haven't reacted since I was 4.
I am so disappointed. I really had thought that I outgrew it. Sno Caps, Kit Kats, 3 Musketeers, mint chocolate Keebler cookies. I didn't want to eat Reese's Pieces, I just wanted to eat the things I used to be able to eat before the new "may contain" labeling. I wanted to be able to eat at Applebee's, where I can't eat because they have a "thai peanut sauce". I wanted to try Chinese food and M&M's. I wanted to go to one of those cookie or pretzel places in the mall. I wanted to go to Baskin Robbins and just get ice cream without having them get a new scoop and open a new container, because the scoop that scooped the peanuts probably was dipped into the other open containers and contaminated them. I want to be able to work at a dog shelter and not have to worry about the dogs licking me after eating a peanut butter treat.
I went into the store yesterday to see what candy I can now eat because I can eat things contaminated with tree nuts, and everything said "may contain peanuts or tree nuts". I found a grand total of ONE thing that I can now eat. Small hershey bars. Big whoop, since I already can eat the normal ones. And people can develop new food allergies if they're already allergic to one food, so I'm scared shitless to even try the tree nuts or shellfish since I don't know if the next bite will be the one that will trigger a new allergy and send me to the hospital.
I had tried not to get my hopes up, but when you've had medical problems your entire life, the thought of finally being "normal" physically had me jumping off the walls. I was so estatic when I got my blood test results back with a low low positive, a test that gives false positives a large percentage of the time. The world revolves around peanuts. There's a peanut flavored everything, even a peanut butter milkshake at Steak n Shake, where I can no longer eat now due to the residue everywhere. Is it too much to ask to not have to worry about dying from touching a doorknob that someone touched after eating a PB&J sandwich?
I know they're working on a cure, they'll have one in ten years, but for now, I'm just sad.
I went to an allergist Monday, and had the gauntlet of skin tests done. Turns out I am not allergic to tree nuts or shellfish as my first allergist had us assume (he didn't want to test me for them, might have been cause I was screaming and hit his nurse in the face). But I am still allergic to peanuts, which I had hoped beyond hope that I outgrew since I haven't reacted since I was 4.
I am so disappointed. I really had thought that I outgrew it. Sno Caps, Kit Kats, 3 Musketeers, mint chocolate Keebler cookies. I didn't want to eat Reese's Pieces, I just wanted to eat the things I used to be able to eat before the new "may contain" labeling. I wanted to be able to eat at Applebee's, where I can't eat because they have a "thai peanut sauce". I wanted to try Chinese food and M&M's. I wanted to go to one of those cookie or pretzel places in the mall. I wanted to go to Baskin Robbins and just get ice cream without having them get a new scoop and open a new container, because the scoop that scooped the peanuts probably was dipped into the other open containers and contaminated them. I want to be able to work at a dog shelter and not have to worry about the dogs licking me after eating a peanut butter treat.
I went into the store yesterday to see what candy I can now eat because I can eat things contaminated with tree nuts, and everything said "may contain peanuts or tree nuts". I found a grand total of ONE thing that I can now eat. Small hershey bars. Big whoop, since I already can eat the normal ones. And people can develop new food allergies if they're already allergic to one food, so I'm scared shitless to even try the tree nuts or shellfish since I don't know if the next bite will be the one that will trigger a new allergy and send me to the hospital.
I had tried not to get my hopes up, but when you've had medical problems your entire life, the thought of finally being "normal" physically had me jumping off the walls. I was so estatic when I got my blood test results back with a low low positive, a test that gives false positives a large percentage of the time. The world revolves around peanuts. There's a peanut flavored everything, even a peanut butter milkshake at Steak n Shake, where I can no longer eat now due to the residue everywhere. Is it too much to ask to not have to worry about dying from touching a doorknob that someone touched after eating a PB&J sandwich?
I know they're working on a cure, they'll have one in ten years, but for now, I'm just sad.