Talking Allergies

Please, share all your best stories with us. Other stories can be read on "ignorant people"

How about the waiter who told me that there was no milk in the curry sauce. Luckily he elaborated that there was cream in it.

Well, that's the "stupid person" award for sure.

We attended a bitrhday supper at my mother in laws house for my husband and his brother ( not twins ) in July. I offered to bring the cake ( so unsafe cake was not spread everywhere) as well as all food for my kids. I brought the cake so that my kids were included and so that their cousins age 1, 3 and 5 would not be eating messy, milky cake. My mother-in-law made a second cake (not part of the original plan to keep my kids safe ) but she said that it was safe too.

"The cake has no milk or eggs" she said. "It was a mix and I bought the one that you only have to add water to." (read the ingredients!) "and I used icing from a can that should be safe too!"

"I've never come across safe icing in a can" I said.
She replied "It is cream cheese icing."

What part of "cream cheese"did she not recognize as milk. Was it the cream...or the cheese?

We ate my safe cake, the unsafe cake was spread everywhere by by niece and nephews so we went home immediately, never to return again.

(I have too many great stories, I'll only post the best ones )

This one was back when I was still eating at restaurants. I don't remember what exactly I ordered but it came with a "special sauce", so before saying "no sauce, no nothing except the food I ordered", I decided to question that special sauce (it sounded good ), so the waiter, after I told him of my deadly fish allergy, started to list all of the ingredients that they put in the sauce (made directly there, so he knew exactly what was in there ). Sure enough, anchovie sauce was in there... so I asked why he told me there wasn't any fish in there than... what does he think anchovies are if not fish???? "but we only put a few drops in, if you can't taste it, you sure can't react to it!" So you are telling me there is only a little fish in the sauce, so it should only kill me a little then? He wisely replied "it either kills you or it doesn't, you can't be just a little dead!" (duh!) so I then asked my question again: "if I have a deadly allergy to fish, would you recommend me to take the "special sauce" with that? He replied really quickly "of course not, it could kill you!!!!!"

It's been over 10 years and I still remember his face when it finally clicked in his head that no matter if I can taste it or not, I could still react. I met him a couple of times after that when I was there for drinks and he said that over the weeks that followed, he did some extensive reading on allergies and even trainned the restaurant staff about allergies as he found out that allergies are a lot more than just a few neezes and it is very serious!

Mylene, you may very well have saved someone else by getting through to that waiter, people can be so very dense sometimes, but a little patience on our part can go a long way.

And duh to the mil with the "cream cheese".

I have one----when my mother would leave me in the church nursery (this was many, many years ago) she would tell whoever was down there not to give me anything to eat because of the allergies. She says she always got the feeling that they just thought she was paranoid or something. One Sunday one of the women down there gave me a cookie even though my mother reminded her before leaving me in her care. My mom figures that this woman didn't really believe that allergies were serious and didn't want me to be left out when other kids got treats. Projectile vomiting immediately ensued. Luckily my throat didn't close up or anything since no one would have thought to give me medical attention.

I have had a conversation with one other person who told me that at one time in her life she simply didn't believe that peanuts could kill someone. She changed her mind when she saw her niece....or maybe it was her nephew...go into anaphylactic shock.

I had a very good friend of about 10 years. Around the time my kids were diagnosed with allergies, she started hanging around another lady who I do not like ( she is really bitchy, and has a really negative attitude ).

I found that dealing with the allergies, primarily the milk one, meant that I had to make everything from scratch. Bread, cookies, muffins, basically all prepackaged foods were gone. One day, my friend called, and I was making perogies. She knew that I baked a lot, but hadn't bothered to clue into why ( even though I had told her). She had an attitude and said "why don't you just buy it at the store like everyone else, or do you think that you are too good for regular food." and she was serious. She continued to tell me how I had turned into "Bree" from desperate housewives. "you always cook everything from scratch. Are regular foods like what my family eats just not good enough for you anymore." She was extremely rude. I told her that ALL of those prepackaged foods contained milk, and I couldn't even buy bread that was safe. If I didn't make it from scratch we wouldn't eat.

She felt bad. She admitted that her friend and her had been making numerous "Bree" jokes about me behind my back, and that she was SOOOOO sorry. I was really hurt that she would be so mean behind my back. I have talked to her since, but it is not the same.

We had always done something together on our birthdays ( mine is today ) and hers is next week. She didn't even call me.

Oh how sad!! I'm so sorry she hurt you like that, sounds like her "new" friend is the jealous type.

My dear friend who has many sensitivities and eats a very restricted diet things food allergies are, "no big deal" and she said two years ago she would make her son's birthday party with "all foods safe for your son." Well, we get there and it was potluck, first of all, and pretty much nothing that anyone else brought was safe for DS, not that I would let him eat food made by others anyway. And then she pointed out a bunch of things that she made that were supposedly safe and a punch that was "dairy-free." A while later my husband brought a cup of the punch for our son to drink. I *almost* let our son have it but at the last second snatched it up because it just looked too cloudy to me and I suspected it had dairy after all. I went to ask my friend who said, "Nope, no dairy, I used *sherbert*."

I said, "Sherbert *is* dairy!" She said, "no, sherbert is dairy-free!" Then walked away. I was dumbfounded. Her mother took up the coversation, "no, sherbert is dairy-free. She took out the container from the freezer and said, "see?" I quickly turned it over and pointed to three different words that mean 'dairy' on the back including the word 'dairy.' !!! The mom just said, "oh" and walked away.

Then later my friend served cupcakes that she had promised would not have frosting and would be simple but turns out they had frosting and candy on them and DS wanted them and cried when he had to eat his special treat instead.

And *then* she brought out the ice cream and then said, "Oh, I have special soy ice cream just for your son!" She had made a special trip to the store the previous night *just* to buy the soy ice cream. It was soy ice cream alright but it was *peanut* flavored. (DS is allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts, treenuts and sesame.)

That day was one of the big reasons we avoid potlucks, etc and never let anyone but my mom cook for DS.

Oh how awful for your son!
Why do people think they are experts about food allergies?!!
In your case, with the sherbert, they didn't even need to pretend to be experts, just knowing how to read would have helped!

I guess that's why some people say that children with food allergies tend to develop *very* strong friendships, because they require, and their friends are willing to give them, a level of trust and respect the average person just doesn't understand.

So far we have not had a crying scenario with my son being denied a certain food. But it breaks my heart when I hear about others. People can be so insensitive!

The relative who knew about my son's peanut allergy and put a big bowl of shelled peanuts on the table. When we pointed it out, she laughed it off and said she only associated his allergy with peanut butter.

My step grandmother at a Christmas party told me her cake was milk free. After taking the first bite she said, "well, there is condensed milk in it, but that is not real milk...." I got very sick and she was mad at me for it. Errrrrrrr
My father-in-law bought my son macaroni-n-cheese saying he didn't think there was milk in it. His wife thinks milk allergic still means it is ok to eat yogurt. duh