Allergic Living writer - Food allergy and marital stress?

[Carolyn Black]

Hi folks,

Some of you may remember me from PA.com as "Cayley's Mom" - Cayley is now 15-years old but was only a toddler when I first started posting. Wow, time flies! Cayley is PA and we recently found out she's allergic to a few tree nuts as well. When she was first diagnosed my husband was convinced I was over-reacting and I turned to the internet for support (thanks and a huge shout-out to all those guys and gals from pa.com way back when!). What changed his mind and saved our marriage (okay, not really but at least it smoothed things over) was his own visit to the allergist where he could hear firsthand the seriousness of what we were dealing with. I recall he turned white as a sheet when the allergist demonstrated the Epipen trainer...

Anyway, if you have a story about your own marital stress that you'd like to share (not here - only through PM or email) please click on this link to find out more about the kind of information we at Allergic Living magazine are trying to gather: http://allergicliving.com/index.php/2012/11/15/food-allergy-marital-stress-whats-your-story/

Thanks so much for your help and I look forward to hearing from you. If you want to send stories directly to me I'm at mcarolynblack@rogers.com or you can PM me. I will only be contacting folks I'll be interviewing and then we can discuss things like whether you want to use your real name or not. Totally understand that this could be a touchy area for many folks.

Cheers,
Carolyn

EDITED TO ADD: I need American as well as Canadian stories, just to clarify - thanks!

[SilverLining]

Hi Carolyn 

I just want to say I've read some of Carolyn's previous articles, and I would definitely be willing to send her a story from my experience if it fit into what she's writing in this article.  (Since I'm the one with food allergies, it's a bit of a different world then parents of kids with fa's sometimes.)

[eragon]

only american and canadian ?......

marital stress? me? of course not, am british, stiff upper lip and all that!

[momma2boys]

 

[Carolyn Black]

Hi Silver and Momma! 

Eragon; thanks much for the offer but we're just doing American and Canadian stories this round.

Cheers,
Carolyn

[CMdeux]

   Hi, Carolyn!  It's great to see you. 

[candyguru]

Hi Carolyn!    

It's great to see you again too.  Your daughter is 15 now?   Time really flies!!!!  (this is Erik from PA.COM)

[Carolyn Black]

Great to see you both, too!  Love these new emoticons that actually move - didn't have those back in the day. 

Cheers,
Carolyn

[twinturbo]

I know you're asking for more qualitative personalized stories rather than structural analysis yet I'm submitting my two pennies.

Is it really about marital stress from food allergies OR is it about food induced anaphylaxis suffering a credibility issue as a bona fide (autoimmune) disability because it is 'hidden', episodic, and cannot currently be mediated by any medications meaning it's all about playing defense 100% of the time.

Due to those factors and how men and women handle or accept the vulnerability/disability as it plays out medically which requires some socially awkward negotiations. Once accepted as a credible medical disability does it cause about the same stress as other disability that requires as much parental involvement quantitatively?

[Carolyn Black]

Hi twinturbo,

You've posed some good questions and that's exactly why we need stories; to present them to experts so they can offer potential solutions or - at the least - explanations about why dealing with a food allergy can impact the dynamics in a marriage.

Cheers,
Carolyn

[Carolyn Black]

Hi folks,

Now that Thanksgiving is over maybe you'll find time this week to send in your stories. We have several stories from women but we're also looking for input from men for some good balance.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Cheers,
Carolyn

[twinturbo]

Hi twinturbo,

You've posed some good questions and that's exactly why we need stories; to present them to experts so they can offer potential solutions or - at the least - explanations about why dealing with a food allergy can impact the dynamics in a marriage.

Cheers,
Carolyn

Then I've unsuccessfully challenged the underlying premise and methods.