You are not alone, millions of people suffer from allergies every day, get to know their own allergy stories…
Name: Jen Geller
Age: 16
Type of allergy(ies): Food allergy
The one that comes to mind at the moment is the first one. I was 16 and as yet unaware of any food allergies. We were on a family vacation in maui, and went to Moose McGillyCuddies for nachos at lunch. As a good order of nachos should, it came with guacomole, sour cream, salsa and had tons of cheese sprinkled with green onions, and ground beef too. It was fantastic. (the beef, salsa and guac probably all had onions in too, I now know).
So back in the car we went and a while later. “Um…I need a bathroom.”, 5 minutes later, “OK, I REALLY need a bathroom. Now!”
Pulled into a shopping mall and literally ran to find one. Barely made it in before the floodgates opened. 4 1/2 hours I was stuck there, never sure which end needed to be pointing downwards, sweat rolling down all of me, and on the verge of unconciousness. There was no moving. So Mom kept giving me Immodium every 20 minutes, and my Dad and sister waited out in the mall. Nothing I could do about it.
This also happened the next year at a restaurant. I had french onion soup for an appetizer. Before the main course arrived I was in the bathroom, and never made it back out again. We were boating at the time and had taken the tender into the restaurant. They had to all but carry me back to the tender to get back.
We started referring to it as my “thing” because we had no idea what it was. Food allergies and their symptoms were not well known at the time, so we didn’t clue in for years, and neither did the doctors. Happened on a first date once too, but that was soy rather than onions. Same reaction.
Then in my twenties, I developed more food allergies. The reactions got worse, and I would react on exposure rather than just ingestion. My last roommate left chopped onions on the counter and left for a long weekend. I didn’t see them because I was stuck in the bathroom for 3 days. It didn’t stop until I managed to find and get rid of them. I haven’t lived with anyone since.
Original story link here
Name: Megan Green
Age: 12
Type of allergy(ies): Food allergy
One day last school year, a teacher brought in cookies to give out as a sort of congratulations on our good testing scores. When he brought them by my desk for me to pick one out, I saw one type that looked and smelled like a regular sugar cookie. I was familiar with the bakery they were from, and knew them to be good in avoiding peanut cross contamination, so I asked the teacher if they were in fact sugar cookies. He took a peek and swiftly replied that, yes, they were, so I took one and headed off to lunch with my friends.
I was the first to take a bite, and immediately my mouth started tingling. I turned to my friend and said “Shit there’s peanut butter in these.” He got really concerned and offered to keep an eye on me to make sure I didn’t start getting hives. We thought about going to the nurse, but I had skipped giving her benadryl for my allergy that year because I had never had a problem a school before. Both of my parents were stuck at work. I resigned to just tough it out.
My lips were numb, my mouth burned, and my throat swelled just enough to be uncomfortable. As time went on, my back started to ache. All from one little bite.
At the end of lunch, I had to go back to his class. I was highly ticked at his misinformation and told him that I was allergic to peanuts and feeling sick. He laughed. He didn’t believe me. And when he finally did, he laughed again.
His ultimate pet peeve was people sleeping/not paying attention in his class, so as my little “fuck you” statement, I laid my head on the desk and closed my eyes for almost the entire last half of his class. The rest of it I spent in the bathroom wishing I would throw up because I thought it might help.
Looking back, it was really lucky that it wasn’t someone with a worse allergy/my reaction wasn’t worse. But I still get pissed as hell remembering him laughing.
Original story link here
