When Food is Deadly

When Food is Deadly

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One year at Thanksgiving dinner all was going well. Dinner was finished and dessert was started. After my second bite of cake, I started to cough. Then my face turned really red and warm, which started several questions around the dinner table. Then I could feel my throat closing and tongue swelling. I knew then, there were high concentrations of soy in the cake. I took my epi-pen and 4 benadryl, however it was too late. I started to have extreme difficulty breathing. When the paramedics arrived they had to insert a tube into my lungs to help me breath.

The person that made the dessert, looked at the ingredient label, which only had soybean oil listed. Since it didn't say saturated or partially saturated the person thought it would still be safe for me to eat. July 2004, I developed a life threatening allergy to all tree nuts and saturated soybean oils. I don't eat out in restaurants unless I have spoken with the head chef and verified I will be completely safe in their facility. No matter where I go, if I am unsure how the food was prepared I do not eat it. If by any chance I may smell any kind of tree nut, I make sure I am protected with an N95 respirator mask.

So after several life threatening episodes, that have landed me in ICU for a couple of weeks I know to never take food for granted. If I have not prepared it or looked carefully at all the ingredients I am not safe. To make myself safe, I not only need to know all ingredients, but carry at least 2 epi-pens, a bottle of benadryl, medical alert card, and an N95 respirator mask.

Peanuts, tree nuts, and soy are very popular allergies. Those of us that are affected never want to be a victim. So if you know anyone with this allergy, make sure the area is safe for them. Always keep the ingredient labels on the packages around for someone to look at. If the food isn't safe, never feel bad that they are unable to eat the food. Remember you will feel worse if something life threatening happens to them.

Tags:

Food-Allergy, Peanut-Anaphylaxis

Posted By:

SaraAnn

1 Year, 4 months, 1 day, 18 hours, 1 minute ago

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