Living with Food Allergies, 2013 and on

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ajasfolks2:
Have been thinking about this for quite awhile, but am just spitballing this post, so it may not be perfect. Thinking more as I type . . .

And please excuse the Intro & preamble, but I must include . . .

My family's history:

Pre-kid I already had some preservative-induced asthma and allergy -- mostly sulfites . . .
1st child had what are now understood to be OBVIOUS signs of serious food intolerance and allergy (extreme colic, breastfed, serious excema, obvious reax to what I ate, reax to some legumes in early solids). Then child had massive BIPHASIC ana reax to first KNOWN ingestion of peanut butter at 11 1/2 months old. Child is now age 14+ and is ana to peanut, tree nuts (nearly all), plus possib garbanzo and mango. Also has latex allergy. There have been reactions over the years, to varying degrees, to include skin-contact anaphylaxis and many "mystery" reactions.

2nd child diagnosed with peanut and (some) tree nut life-threatening allergy, but does not have the history of the ana reax. Also has OAS to many fruits (cherries, peaches to name a couple). NOT having the ana reax history may be attributed to the vigilance and avoidance . . . or this child may not be allergic to ALL that are diagnosed and/or in the same manner as child #1.

~ ~ ~

Once upon a time on a board far, far away we (this group of posters and MORE) had an entire board section dedicated to "Living with Peanut Allergy" . . . (with bow down and thanks to csc . . . )

Many of us are now into our second decade (or longer!) of LIVING with Food Allergies (plural as may of us are dealing with multiple food allergies) . . . so perhaps we've forgotten how hard it is to be newer (or "newbie" to this life).

Once upon a time MOST of us posted in that "Living with Peanut Allergy" section a WHOLE LOT (or elsewhere with related worries, concerns, challenges, questions). And now many/most of us "oldbies" have the luxury of having settled into a more routine life with LTFA (life-threatening food allergy) and perhaps have fewer day-to-day challenges.

And, yes some facets of life with FOOD (not just peanut) allergy HAVE changed for the better:
> Food label laws with some rules and regulation, however demonstrated and enforced;
> ADA amendment and 504 OCR rulings as well as 504 knowledge for school-age;
> Food allergy awareness in the food service sector;
> Increased awareness in the public sector so far as basics as to LTFA;
> Massive increase in information (ranging from accurate to crap) availability, what with Internet expansion and social networking.

BUT I keep coming back in my mind and my heart to a NEED for a thread or discussion that is just about the day-to-day . . . that might generate a dedicated thread to a particular topic, but that also just allows for mulling and brief discussion with links to send folks to related in depth discussion, if needed.

A place to vent sometimes as well, but not necessarily in Off Topic.

Because, for gosh sake, LIFE THREATENING FOOD ALLERGY venting is ON TOPIC here.

So.

Here's my proposal:

Let's have a "Living with Food Allergy" thread in MAIN and then have it dated and split if needed into some kind of increment -- monthly, yearly, whatever seems best.

But *I* believe this is needed by the community at large here -- not just the oldbies, but the many newbies who are looking for NON-Facebook musings and discussions.

Whew.

There, I've said it. Perhaps with verbosity.

But I felt it needed to be said.

And started.

Thanks for reading . . .

~e

PS -- This isn't just aimed at helping the newbies . . . many of us have perhaps fallen into a place of "coping" and COMPLACENCY. This life of LTFA is a STAGES type of endeavor.

PPS -- With everlasting thanks to my DH for around-the-table discussion on this topic . . . :heart:

TabiCat:
I'm not sure if this fits what you were envisioning for this thread but I'll start with a confession. I was thinking recently that as a family we have began to become TOO relaxed with living with food allergies. Yes I know that comfort zones change with our circumstances but I am not just talking about loosened comfort zone. We seem to be less AWARE and less intentional about food safety. That approach leads to a situation that is just flirting with tragedy.

So as a family we are reevaluating things and this time DS (now 7) is playing a roll in that process. One of the truely sad things is the realization that this situation has been causing HIM anxiety.

ajasfolks2:
Thank you, Tabi !!

Magnificent first post for this thread!

:smooch: