Asthma Frustration

It started today when I was outside with the kids at recess. I could see the pollen floating in the air, and felt my lungs tighten while my breathing became mildly constricted. "Ugh..." I thought as I waited impatiently for recess to end.

When I was first diagnosed with asthma, it was only sports induced. It happened my freshman year of high school. I was, and still am a runner. I started having difficulty catching my breath though at cross country practices. That is when I got my first inhaler. Unfortunately, my asthma has only progressed from there.

I am trying to get the flu shot in Italy. Everything takes much longer here! Having asthma scares me. In more recent years, I have had some scary experiences with my asthma, and the thought of getting sick is frightening. Asthma is such an out of control feeling. My albeterol inhaler helps, but I still have scary moments where I feel very uncomfortable and very afraid of the lack of control I have. I take the lowest dose of advair twice a day, Flonase, and Singulair. (I have lots of environmental allergies too.)

Two years ago I came home from grad school to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family for the long weekend. We had our Thanksgiving dinner at our house, and during it I kept feeling more and more restricted. My dad end up having to rush me to the ER when my albeterol inhaler did nothing for me! It really scared me! I had never had that happen before. I was really stressed out at the time and I hadn't spent time at home most of the fall, so I had't been in our house or around our dog, which didn't help! After that they put me on Prednizone for a week, I felt better.

I have a student in my class who has asthma and every time she is having trouble my heart goes out to her because I know that feeling. She has an inhaler, but we have had to call her mom before because she has left it at home. The other day she was playing outside too, and had trouble, took her inhaler, and still didn't feel better. I felt so bad for her! It is such a scary feeling!

There also seems to be a lot of dust where I live in Italy. I am in a brand new apartment, yet the dust accumulates so quickly! I have heard other teachers I work with say the same thing about their apartments! Everyone smokes cigarettes here too! I hate it! Smoking is so gross! It makes me sad to see all these 11 and 12 year old kids already starting to smoke cigarettes. It is such a cultural thing here, that no one seems to be bothered! It is unbelievable to me with all that we know about cigarettes, that it is still such a significant part of the culture here! Yuck!

Hopefully this week I will find the flu shot! Wish me luck!

Traveling to Italy

Although I thought I was all set and ready to go, I spent the last few minutes before we left for the airport throwing things in bags! It is very difficult trying to figure out what to pack when moving to another country for the year. The one thing though that I made sure that I had packed ahead of time was all of my medication, doctor's notes and records, and my Italian Medic Alert bracelet. Those were most important!

I was flying Luftansa and called about my allergies ahead of time. They will not fly nut free though, which I actually remembered when I called from past flight experience. I asked when I got to the terminal to be the first to board, so that I could wipe down my seat. I had to be a bit insistent, but I was in the first group of people boarding. Instead of flying nut free, they were actually handing out bags of nuts...helpful! It did certainly give me some anxiety. I ended up being very lucky though, because I was bumped up to business class, where I had more room then I knew what to do with! I always wipe down the seat when I first get on the plane, so I did that and then got comfortable. I brought my own travel pillow and blanket, so that I didn't have to worry about that either.

The plane flight was va bene (okay)! In business class, they serve all sorts of tasty looking foods and drinks. I didn't have anything though, of course! I barely like eating the food that I pack on the plane. I would never even consider eating anything provided by the airline! The flight went by pretty fast. It was a short flight anyway for me, compared to all my travels back and forth to Australia!

I had a layover in Munich, so I sat at a table in the airport and ate some of the food that I had packed. I felt more comfortable eating it on solid ground, than on an airplane flying over the ocean.

My last flight was on this teeny, tiny, ity, bity, thirty-seater! I am not a huge fan of small planes, so I didn't really enjoy it, but it was short, which made it okay. I asked before the flight if they were serving a snack, and they said that they weren't. I ended up falling asleep, but I did realize that they were passing out a snack, which luckily was not nuts! Phew...

All in all, my travel experience went well. I am used to airlines not being nice or flexible about my allergies, so it is something I am always prepared for. I will have to write about the numerous times I have had them say, "Maybe you shouldn't be flying if your allergies are that severe. You should find another way to get there." Clearly that is an easy solution to places where flying is the only option! I will explain more about this in another blog...

Back from my hiatus- Life in Italy

I am sorry to all of you who follow my blog on a regular basis and have been disappointed by no new or recent updates! I still appreciate your support, and hope that you will continue to read, now that I am back to blogging!

I have been in Italy now for a month. I love it here and feel very lucky for this opportunity! I am teaching 25 fourth graders with Italian accents! They are very sweet and a lot of fun to teach (most of the time)! :)

I definitely have a lot to share about my allergy experiences since I have been here. I have not had any major problems, and have actually had a much easier time than I was anticipating! I will start to share these experiences in the next few blogs! I just wanted to let everyone know that I am back and will be updating on a weekly basis!

Thanks again,
Miss Allergic Reactor

My Summer Trip to the land of Bears and Moose- VERMONT!

My boyfriend is from Vermont, so we planned a trip to go visit his family there. I am a city girl, so I was a bit hesitant of visiting Vermont, but I ended up loving it!

I had never stayed with his family before, so I was a nervous about how it would be in general, never mind with my allergies. Luckily, his parents are amazing, and were so wonderful with my allergies! They double checked all ingredients for our lunches and dinners together, while also making sure that there was plenty of food in the house that I wasn't allergic to, so that I could always find something to eat! They also understood the severity and being careful with cross contamination.

We had some fabulous meals all together, and there were no allergies issues the entire week! It was so nice to be able to feel relaxed, and be aware but not worried about what I ate! The only real concern that I had while I was there, was that the nearest hospital was a good 40 minute drive away. To feel more comfortable I brought plenty of Epi-pens and Benedryl, and stayed aware of what I ate.


My boyfriend and I at the Ben & Jerry's Factory

Since we were in Vermont, we HAD to go to the Ben & Jerry's Factory. I LOVE ice cream! Ben & Jerry's has some of my favorite flavors! We did the tour around the factory. At the end, they give you a complementary scoop of ice cream to sample, which has already been scooped and is ready to eat. They had another flavor option if for some reason you couldn't eat that one. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat either flavor! I went up and asked our guide if I could get a different flavor because I was allergic to both options. Instead, he gave me a coupon to go get a free cone after the tour. I thought that was a nice gesture, and worked out very well! I asked him also about cross-contamination, and how they keep their nut free ice creams separate, and he explained to me their entire process. It was interesting to learn about!

My week away in Vermont was a wonderful escape from the fast paced life I am used to, and a positive allergy-free trip! :)

Trusting babysitters

Trusting anyone with your child, whether they have allergies or not can be difficult. For parents who have children with food allergies, this becomes even more terrifying!

I asked my mom what her experience was when I was little. She told me for the first few years they used my aunt and my grandparents as babysitters. My mom told me that the first babysitter that she left me with, ended up giving me a piece of candy one time that she had with her. Luckily I wasn't allergic, but she didn't check with my mom or anything! My mom said that after that they were even more careful. My parents were lucky because my grandparents and aunt weren't too far away.

Once I started going to nursery school, I used to go over classmates' houses for play dates. My parents always sent me with my own snack and the same snack for my friend. My parents made me responsible at a very early age, so although they could get nervous, they usually felt okay sending me places (remember, I was the only one in any of my schools that had any food allergies, so it was extremely rare). My parents were great about educating everyone who was around me about what they needed to do! My parents were also able to become close with my best friends' parents, so they were all like second families to me. I always felt very safe going to any of their houses.

As I got older we had more babysitters. In my second year of nursery school, my teacher would sometimes babysit me, and she stayed with me when my parents were in Europe for a few weeks.

It really comes down to educating. People are now becoming more and more aware of food allergies. If you can educate them and feel like they "get it," then that is great! It is also very hepful having close family and friends who you trust to care for your children!

Dessert? Do You Mean That There Is Something That Comes After Dinner?

"People actually order that?" I asked my friend. Since I never order any desserts when I go out to dinner, I forget that many people actually do! I work at an Italian restaurant once a week, and when people are done with their meal, I have to remind myself to ask them if they want any dessert. I find that I am always shocked when people actually order something.  

My surprise is due to the fact that I never go out to eat and order dessert afterward.  Almost all desserts involve something I am allergic to, and in the rare case that a server tells me otherwise, I would never be willing to take the risk!  Desserts are just something that aren't worth messing with!  It is the same with any bakery items.  Bread is the rare exception I occasionally make. Otherwise, nothing I eat ever comes from a bakery!  There are too many nuts, too much cross contamination, and too many unanswerable questions. 

Recently, I visited a few of my favorite places from childhood.  Each place conjured up a happy memory involving food! The first place I visited was a historical village where I had my birthday party and went to summer camp.  I thought back to the simple foods we were taught to make at camp, and the birthday cake for my birthday.  The food though, that stood out in my mind, was the chocolate chip cookies that we always bought at the general store/bakery. At the time when I was there for camp, they only made fresh batches of chocolate chip cookies, and the ingredients were safe.  I didn't have to worry about cross-contamination, because they didn't make anything with nuts.  Sadly, when I went back for a visit, there were many more options, including peanut butter cookies.  Clearly this was a risk I couldn't take!  My solution: go home and make my own chocolate chip cookies! 

                                         
They may not have been the exact same recipe, or taste quite as good as I remember the ones I used to eat tasting, but they were still good! 

Another place that I visited was the old bakery in the town that I went to elementary and middle school in.  My mom became friendly with the owner and staff at the bakery, and they could always tell us every ingredient, and make sure food was cross-contamination free.  It was wonderful, because it was a place that didn't have many foods with nuts, and they were always extremely nice and accommodating.  I could eat focaccias, breads, cup cakes, cookies, and cakes without worrying.  Going there, was always a special treat, because I knew I could eat safely.  It has been years since then, and the ownership has changed.  I couldn't eat anything there anymore.  I'm glad that when I was younger, I was lucky enough to find a place like that!  

  

My last reminiscent excursion was a visit to the ice cream stand from my childhood.  I would always get a chocolate and vanilla swirl with rainbow sprinkles.  This is the ONLY place I was ever able to have the sprinkles!  They would take sprinkles just for me from a new box that hadn't been used before.  That way, there was no concern for cross-contamination.  It was quite a treat!  

Looking back, I feel lucky to have had all these places that catered to my allergic needs!  It was not a common request, and finding people who were understanding was never easy.  A tip for parents: It is important to find special places like these, where your child can safely enjoy foods that they may not normally be able to take a risk on.  These places are becoming more and more difficult to find, but forming relationships with people will always help! 

School Restrictions

Since I am a teacher and have spent a lot of time in schools, I have noticed how differently each school and district handle food allergies.  Below is a list of some of the guidelines that I have noticed when being in a school.  Does your child have any of these same guidelines?

-Pictures of students on the cafeteria wall with list of allergies
-Specific rules/guidelines in classroom, like everyone wash hands before/after eating
-No food or eating in the hall
-No child can share food with another
-A policy of no food or backpacks brought inside the classroom, and everyone who enters must use a handwipe first. 

-One-on-one classroom aide for the allergic child
-Classrooms with PAL posters on the wall

-Signs outside the classroom that say "Allergy Aware Classroom"

-"Nut-free" lunch tables

How do people feel about these guidelines?  Does it help your child feel safer? Do they feel singled out?  When I was in elementary school, I was the only one in the entire school with any allergies.  My teachers were certainly aware, but it was nothing like the way elementary schools are handling it now.  I have a lot to say on this topic, but I would like to hear what you as parents have to say about it?  I look forward to some comments!