So my old allergist, a real old school guy, finally retired after slipping on some ice this winter. I have a new allergist, much younger, and qualification wise everything looks good (top of her class, excellent medical school, etc...) but she has very different views.
First off, I was getting allergy shots for ragweed for about 10 years now. I've been on a maintenance dose of once a month since forever. She basically told me that I was wasting my time and maximum benefit is achieved after about 5 years, and I could continue if I wanted but it really didn't make sense.
Then there's allergy testing. I've been under the severe allergy shroud since age 4 when I tested for eggs. More things have popped up since. In 2001 I tested negative for eggs (blood, scratch test, allergy challenge in office with eggs) and ate my brains out that summer (donuts, baked goods, etc.) getting hives at the end of the summer and then testing crazy high (I forget the IgE, 6 or 7 or something crazy high) and again completely severe. Other allergies developed over the years (some seasonal, pretty much all seafood, hazelnuts and pecans, mild to latex, penicillin).
Now my new allergist tells me I can probably not eat eggs themselves, but I likely
can eat them in proper baked goods because the heat denatures things. I mean, I guess it's not totally fantastic (my older brother and father are so allergic to some trees they can't eat the fruit, e.g. my older brother can't eat raw apples, but he can eat apple pie no issue), but after avoiding something completely (with one limited break) for twenty years, it just feels...unreal as a possibility. My last test was in late 2014 where the blood test was totally negative on the related proteins/compounds in eggs (0.00) but the skin test blew up to a size a little over a quarter. New allergist says things are different.
I go in for allergy testing tomorrow. I wrote a long post in this thread earlier about travel, and changes in my job circumstance make it look more likely that I will have to travel again. If the testing and results bear things out I would love to have increased flexibility while eating. At the same time, I don't want to go into anaphylactic shock in a city I'm unfamiliar with - or worse, have something just before I get on a flight and basically get screwed.
Speaking of, anybody know of a good place for ordering custom allergy cards? I'm hoping for something a bit nicer and robust than something laminated from the printer... I have had some close calls at restaurants in the past few months as well as one instance where the kitchen erred in a way that ensured cross contamination in food that was served with me. (They very briefly [seconds] fried plantains in the same fryer as seafood... one small component in a bowl where all other items were sauteed in a separate clean pan). Servers are usually pretty good but I figure giving them a card to take to the kitchen with the allergies and shared equipment/oil/blahblahblah warning on it would reduce risk.
On a more positive note, there's a really good local barbecue place near me and the owner recognizes my brother and I, I've dropped emails a few times and he's always really sensitive about allergies (e.g. he knows we can't eat the cornbread but family will, so they put it in a separate to-go container in a separate bag from our leftovers and don't let it near our trays). They fry seafood very rarely but the owner has offered to schedule the next deep clean/complete oil exchange of the fryer so I can try their chicken wings
Topic: Living with Food Allergies, 2013 and on (Read 390395 times)
