Three Food Allergic Girls

I am a parent of three girls, all of whom have food allergies. One is anaphylactic to peanut, allergic to dairy, and tested positive and minimally reactive to wheat and egg. She is now also reacting to other legumes. One of my twins is anaphylactic to dairy, and tested positive but non-reactive to egg, soy, and fish. My “lucky” twin is only mildly allergic to dairy.

For a while we were also gluten free, following the autism diet. My oldest also has asperger’s syndrome. She responded well to it, but as she got older, she wanted to have more “normal” school lunches. When we reintroduced wheat into her diet, her asthma, which had been under control, returned, and she is now using an inhaler. Aside from the fact that my daughter does not want to be gluten free again, I have to admit that the expense of that diet is a major stumbling block.

We’ve had many scares in our lives, but have been lucky only to have used an epi-pen once in our children’s lives. Most of our exposures have happened in restaurants, so we visit them infrequently. We have had a few lovely experiences in well-trained restaurants that keep us coming back, so I am thankful for the ever-increasing awareness of food allergies.

Even with fears and limitations, I have to see a silver lining. I attribute my children’s food allergies to our improved diet and heightened awareness regarding food production and safety. I’m convinced that we all eat better and are healthier for it. Also, having to modify recipes has been an outlet for creativity and ingenuity! So, in a way, we’ve been blessed. It helps to think of it like that.

Thank you for sharing your food allergy story, and we stand with you in finding the silver lining to difficult food allergies!