I think the issue is that we now know that for some people allergies get worse after each exposure. So now we treat all minor allergies as life threatening because for a segment of the allergic population they are. So are people overreacting? Meh, your risk tolerance level is your own business but I do think that the most major of drama queens are the ones least likely to need accomodation.
So a real doctor told you husband he is allergic to 13 different foods, including vinegar?
I usually do have something with me, enough for about two treatments. If I’ve been out all day, though, and I’ve gone through those two treatments…I have to make a choice of having the low sugar episode, or eating something that will cause a reaction later on. If I’m traveling, I try to take more than two treatments with me. I’ve also learned to grab a bunch of sugar packets and dump it in a glass of water or tea, if that glass comes in a reasonable time. In some restaurants, getting a drink seems to require government approval. Most importantly, I’ve learned not to inject the quick acting insulin until my meal is in front of me, and I’ve checked it out. I used to go into the bathroom and inject while I was waiting for my meal, or I’d inject while I was still in my car. Nowadays, I inject at the table.
Look, I don’t LIKE having low blood sugar episodes. They are scary and quite unpleasant, and I haven’t had a serious one in years, because of what I’ve learned to do and not do. Fortunately, I’ve never passed out. I’ve come close, but never actually done it. I dislike having low blood sugar episodes so much that I’m willing to eat something that I know will cause me problems later on.
This goes for other sensitivities too. I can eat a very limited amount of pepper, but I never know how much will be too much. So I avoid all the pepper I possibly can. Usually this means that I don’t get to eat what I’d really like to eat. I would LOVE to eat that pepper crusted ribeye. But I know that both the pepper and the fat are going to come back to haunt me later on, so I ask for an unseasoned chicken breast. And then I bitch if it turns out that the chicken is preseasoned, but the server didn’t bother to inform me of this, or possibly didn’t know about it.
I don’t know if it has any relevance to this discussion, but apparently a severe mold allergy can make you react to vinegar, among other things.
Then you’re not properly prepared, and you’re not taking responsibility for your own health. Instead, you want to dump that responsibility onto others.
You know that’s possible, right?
There’s a condition where people, made of 70% water themselves, can be allergic to water, or at least things commonly associated with water. It isn’t an immune system reaction to water. Just dermal hyper sensitivity to water that manifests with with symptoms associated with allergies.
In light of that, I think it is possible to need to avoid almost anything. Heck pale dietetics have to avoid sweetness and light.
If a server says they can tell you everything that is in a dish he/she is probably lying. Less expensive restaurants will use a variety of pre-prepared ingredients, each of which may have half a dozen or more ingredients.
At a high-end restaurant the chef isn’t going to tell the person making the salad exactly what to put in the dressing, nor may he know what greens were fresh at the market that day. He certainly won’t know what the pastry chef put in the desert and the pastry chef may well have already gone home. The bread is probably made off site.
Just for giggles, here is a list of ingredients from what I made last night at home for dinner: potatoes, chicken, green beans, cheese, butter, sour cream (cultured cream, skim milk, whey, modified corn starch, cultured dextrose, gelatin, sodium phosphate, guar gum, caraggean, sodium citrate, calcium sulfate, locust bean gum), my home made rub (turmeric, nutmeg, clove, ginger, paprika, cumin, sugar, salt, mustard seed, thyme, oregano, garlic, coriander, black pepper, cayenne, ancho), olive oil, flour, cocoa, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, and coffee. I’m sure I’ve left a few things out. Do you really expect the sever to recite that to you? Do you expect the chef to make up a list like this every night?
I expect a chef to know if a dish contains shellfish or peanuts as they are really common allergens and people that are really allergic can die from consuming them. Beyond that you are just being a pest.
My father refused to come to our wedding rehearsal dinner because it was being held in a Thai restaurant. (Which he announced 24 hours before, when it was too late to change anything.) I called the restaurant and they assured me that the only MSG_containing item was the oyster sauce used in one dish of the 100-some on their menu, and all he had to do was either avoid that dish or request that it be made with the other brand of oyster sauce, but that wasn’t good enough for him. And instead of just coming and not eating and maybe eating before or after, he basically blew it off.
He was tested when he was in third or fourth grade since he’d been getting sick a lot. They found 7 allergies. Then for his 18th birthday his parents let him get tested again, hoping he had outgrown the 7. They added 6 more. Doc said it’s the most allergies he’d ever seen a person have with such a mild reaction. His allergies are not life-threatening, but the cumulative effect makes him sick. He gets flu-like symptoms, congestion, vomiting. He can cheat here and there on certain ones (like garlic and pepper, which I use sparingly in our meals) but even a little bit of soy, dairy or tomatoes will wipe him out.
I don’t know if you realize how insensitive people can be to others with allergies. How many people have basically just told him to tough it out. He hates eating at restaurants because you never know what’s in the food, no matter how careful you try to be. It’s not like he’s making himself sick on purpose. It is a real struggle for him to find stuff that won’t make him sick. I don’t know what else to tell you.
Honestly, with that many allergies it’s probably smart for him to avoid restaurants. And also, it’s not really “gentlemanly” to eat something you know will make you sick. He should have declined.
I have a friend with a corn allergy. It sucks. Corn is in every-fucking-thing. She basically never eats at restaurants because she doesn’t expect restaurants to be able to cater to her very unusual and extreme food restriction, nor IMO should she.
And if you’re prone to low blood sugar, it’s your own damn responsibility to have enough snacks with you to get you through the day and I say that as someone who has been on insulin in the past.
I’m pretty much with the OP 100%. I’m more tired of hearing at great length about everyone’s gluten-free or locavore or paleo diet than I can express in words.
I only eat meat that doesn’t involve killing an animal. It brings joy to me (and also the animal) knowing we can both enjoy his flesh while he still scampers about. My menu is small, but delicious.
I just wish pigs could re-grow their asses—I really crave a pork butt roast with gluten and peanut sauce.
Yeah, we don’t eat out much.
The case where the meal was made special for him was on a cruise ship. The times it really becomes a problem are when he’s travelling. I think we tend to be pretty understanding that it’s impossible for a restaurant to cater to all his allergies. Same thing with friends - but our friends actually do make it a point to cook something he can eat. Because we have good friends.
Why not? By the time the allergist was done with me I had a list of 135 items, some foods and many not foods that I had varying degrees of allergy to. I got shuffled off to the allergist after pennicillin made me react strongly. [yes, I suppose you could call anaphylaxis strong] so I noticed a correlation between certain things and the state of my health. And over the years as we messed around when I was ill with different antibiotics to replace penna I developed sensitivities to them. And I have had enough issue with medications my doctor prefers me to have my first dose of anything in the office and to sit around for an hour. I have a medicalert USB stick bracelet that lists all my allergies and I keep a laminated typed out card of them in my purse. I keep a typed out list of my food allergy [mushrooms] and sensitivities [coconut, palm, tropical oils, shellfish] though I did find online you can get your allergy/sensitivity list card translated to various languages to handle traveling in non-english speaking countries.
I don’t think you’re eating peanuts correctly.
The problem in a catering scenario is that all of the meals (for a “served” meal, as opposed to a buffet) are prepared and plated before anything is served. So, to use round numbers, let’s say the group is 100 people, 20 of whom declare themselves vegan/vegetarian, and eat accordingly for the first few meals their group has. That final dinner comes along and we prepare 80 steaks (plus maybe 5 extra, just in case) and 20 vegan/vegetarian meals. But if 10 of those v/v’s decide they want the steak instead, we suddenly don’t have enough steaks for the people who actually ordered them.
That sounds just like what happened to my dad when he was a young man, though it was clams that gave him that reaction. He turned out to be allergic to all shellfish, except oysters. So growing up, we never had shellfish in the house, and I never developed any taste for the stuff (I’m told I make an excellent clam chowder, but I have to take people’s word for it because I’ve never tasted it).
this still makes zero sense to me. just how many low blood sugar episodes are we talking about here? if you are regularly needing to treat a low blood sugar more than twice a day, you are either not taking proper care of your diabetes, or you need to see a doctor to have your dose adjusted. that said, i still don’t get why the choice is eat something that will you will react badly to or pass out. if you’re in a restaurant, take the sugar packets and just put the sugar on your tongue, or flag down a server and explain your sugar is crashing and could they please bring you a soda? i’m sure no one would take an issue with that. either of those things will get you by until you get some food in front of you that you can eat.
all that aside, why can’t you just carry a tube or two of glucose tablets? they don’t take up much room and they contain enough to treat several low sugar episodes. they even make them in different flavors so they taste like candy! win-win.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rachelellogram
She decided she was allergic to gluten a couple months ago, ostensibly because it gives her a reason to be the center of attention. uuughghugh
I’m guessing it was a kind deed.
Well, I’m allergic to white pepper, black pepper, red pepper, green pepper, bell pepper, tabasco pepper, cayenne pepper, jalapeño pepper, habanero chili pepper, Dr. Pepper and Salt-N-Pepa. If exposed to even a smidgeon of any of those I would be literally dead in virtually no time at all. I know, because it’s happened before. A half smidgeon? No problem whatsoever, I just have to portion my pepper properly.