Food Allergies and the Anaphylaxis Campaign

I was pleased when I saw a title involving food allergies on those clips you can get across the top of gmail. But then I opened the link and was shocked to find the title 'Food can affect your health'. That to me is obvious and everyone should already know that. It is so important, it can lead to life and death situations. You could argue that it is good that awareness is being raised, and I agree, but i'm shocked at how little some people know about these allergies.

I'm the lucky one out of my siblings in that i do not have any known allergies to food, although i have my suspicions about intolerances. My brother is severely allergic to peanuts, a 6 on the scale, which is the highest you can have, and is slightly less allergic to other nuts. He used to have severe allergic reactions from feeding my hamster peanuts (this was obviously before we knew he was allergic- we don't let him do that now, would be hard I don't have a hamster anymore).

My sister has been allergic and had intolerances to food since she was a baby. These include milk (cow or goats), citrus fruits (including tomatoes), eggs, soya, wheat, nuts of all types... Just consider what restrictions that has on her diet. She is very good, when she was 3 she was offered an ice lolly whilst playing at a neighbours and told the offeror that she was on a special diet and so couldn't accept it. My mum organises for her to take her own food to school and to parties, everyone who looks after her has to be aware that she carries an anapen and that they might have to use it. My brother carries an epipen with him everywhere.

(My grandad has also recently been diagnosed with an allergy to gluten and wheat. This leads to extreme weight loss and general illness but not anaphylactic shock in his case.)

Although those working in school receptions are now trained in the use of this emergency adrenaline (epipen and anapen) to treat anaphylactic shock I wonder how many of those who work in cafes would know what to do in these situations. Food labelling with warnings has become much more prolific in the last few years, with alot of credit due to charities such as the Anaphylaxis Campaign who are consistantly raising awareness! The problem now is that many companies label everything they make in order to cover themselves from liability if they make a mistake. This almost limits the food that can be consumed in the same way that no labelling originally did. The Anaphylaxis Campaign also have run sessions where you can learn more about allergies and how to use anapen and epipen on someone who is having a reaction. I attended one of these sessions and found it very useful.

Sarah Reading, a 17 year old girl, died after eating a lemon meringue pie in a well known department store in 1993. The desert had contained peanut. Something Sarah, like my brother, was fatally allergic to. The Anaphylaxis Campaign was begun by a group of parents who had faced similar experiences and included the father of Sarah Reading. [more information about the campaign]

It is important that people in positions where anaphylaxis shock (the reaction caused by allergic reactions of this type) is likely are aware of what should be done both to protect people from the risk in the first place and how to react in a situation where accidents occur. Staff who are not told what is in ingredients of freshly baked cakes, or what is in meals on menus are not helpful and should know. It's not their fault, it's the fault of those who fail to recognise this is a problem. When my family used to eat out we'd have to check with the waitress what is in each sauce and coating, cakes for desert etc. This often lead to bags being brought to us for us to check the ingredients, and sighing as they considered that we were being difficult. This has lead to us changing tact. We now simply ask for plain (whatever meat my sister has decided she wants) and my brother tends to by habit avoid anything that looks like it might contain nuts (nut labelling is much, much better with chain restaurants often making it clear on their menus along with what is vegetarian). This is generally more well recieved with a short sentance explaining why, than an enquiry about specific ingredients and leads to a much more enjoyable evening.

Action must also be taken by those who have allergies. I used to have a friend at college who frequently failed to hand in medical forms and rarely carried his epipen. I considered this reckless and he should have been forced to be more careful, but its hard to make a 20 something male listen to reasoning when they don't want to know.

News:
Anaphylactic Shock (BBC NEWS: Death of champion hurdler Ross Bailliee)

Links to Blogs:
Anaphylactic Shock (Doctor Julie)
Anaphylactic Shock (Parenting a child with a food allergy)
Anaphylaxis (Textbook reading)
Bad Reactions (Reactions from proximity rather than actually consuming)