nuts

(@Young_healerss – 7 years old)

My husband had allergies as a child, but I was completely new to it. My daughter developed allergies at age 2, and my son at 6 months old. Before that, she used to eat everything. She’s allergic to dairy, eggs, nuts, sesame, strawberries, coconut, and all citrus fruits. My son has similar allergies, with the addition of all lentils.

My daughter struggled with allergies and eczema from age 2 to 7. She started methotrexate last November, and her skin has been doing well since. My son is also on methotrexate and doing well too. We still avoid all their allergens and are hoping they can outgrow their allergies over time.

We found Facebook groups for kids with eczema through Google helpful along the way.

We used methotrexate, folic acid, and fexofenadine medications.

Michelle (18+ years old)

I was 6 or 7 when I ate a Ferrero Roche and started to struggle to breathe. Prior to this I had no issues with nuts. I ran to my mother, and she fixed it but I don’t remember how. After this I went to the allergist who said my allergies were off the charts.

We didn’t have access to resources back in 2001-2002.

Laia Cañadas (18+ years old)

I first figured out I had food allergies when I was 5. We were at a normal family dinner and we had beans. I had never reacted to them before but on that occasion I had a rash all over my skin, I had trouble breathing and I vomited all over the place. I was diagnosed with allergies and for the next day 3 years I kept developing/discovering new allergies (including dust mites, which I overcame after getting vaccinated for 4 years).

Nowadays I still have the same Food allergies: dry nuts, pepper, cheese, soy and beans (of any kind). Fun fact they are all deadly for me. At the beginning I only had slight reactions, but now I have to be extremely careful because any of them can cause me an anaphylactic shock.

~The story of my life~
And also I did research on my own for a project at school to explain what allergies are, and I grew fond of FARE’s website, highly recommend it ^^

Y’s story (5 years old)

When he was 1 year old he ate dessert with nuts I didn’t know what anaphylaxis is so I was shocked. I knew something was wrong because of what he ate. I searched the internet and found about food allergies & epipens. When he was about 2 years old he was diagnosed with tree-nuts allergy by the only allergist in Bahrain.
When he was 4 years old I registered him in a learning center that accepts special cases. They promised they can take care of him, but he had a severe anaphylaxis & they didn’t even call me or his allergist and didn’t epi him!
He is now in an international preschool that is really expensive, but it is the only safe place for him to learn and have friends. They know how serious food allergies can be.

We used FARE (foodallergy.org) and red sneakers for Okley.
My native language is Arabic, but there are only little information about food allergies in Arabic. That is why I created my instagram account to share the information in Arabic & spread awareness.