It’s not those flowers that are making her itch.
As I’ve said before and will say a zillion times again—food allergies are really ‘effing ‘effed up. While I myself don’t have a food allergy—well, my skin test did reveal a small allergy to wheat but the celiac disease kind of took care of that problem already—I do have a serious food issue that must be treated with as much care as a food allergy, just short of needing an EpiPen and being worried about anaphylaxis.
See how complicated that is? And I’m just one lady! Now that I’ve been digging around to see what might be bugging my daughter, well, it’s even more complicated. On this journey to find out if gluten is also going to be her bitch (or as she says “bench” ‘cuz she doesn’t know what I’m talking about yet) we’ve been exploring other causes of weird symptoms as well. And it seems like we’ve discovered the cause of her painful rash and skin cracking around her tiny lil’ mouth.
The kid is allergic to berries and citrus fruits. Not highly allergic, not EpiPen allergic, and not even “She must stop eating those at once!” allergic. But allergic enough that she needs a barrier around her mouth before she chows down on what just happen to be her favorite fruits in the world. And this makes me wonder—did her hoovering of Cuties by the handful contribute to this?
The mysterious world of food allergies is only beginning to be researched more fully and everyone and her dumb old dog has an opinion. But when I look around at my own family history (celiac, autoimmune) and my husband’s history (lactose “issues” along with shellfish and the random eggplant problem) I don’t see any strawberries or oranges in the bunch. I do see, of course, two parents who can’t eat every single thing at the buffet. Not that we don’t make every effort. We do.
So maybe that’s the inherited piece—just a general intolerance to delicious foods. Perhaps her citrus and berry problem was exacerbated by the fact that she consumes SO MUCH of those tasty fruits. Who knows? Not me.
And that, my friends, is why Food Allergy Awareness Week is so important, and not just a device to annoy people who don’t believe those of us with completely insane allergies to croissants with strawberry jam. I mean, it DOES sound ridiculous, right? But yes, there it is. Up in my croissant-less and jam-less house. And eggplant-less, but to be honest I’m much less upset about that one.
What’s your weird food allergy? Let your freak flag fly in comments! Oh, and happy Food Allergy Awareness Week! The saddest celebration, ever. At least we’re in it together.
Bake Sales Are My Bitch 