My food allergy kid

Hey everyone. This isn't a cute and funny post. I am going for more of an informational route for all of you that spend a lot of time with my Dylan.

I attended the Food Allergy Conference & Expo put on by the AFAA over the weekend. I learned a lot about food allergies. It is suppose to "take the fear out of food allergies." I learned a heck of a lot but it made me even more nervous for my little guy to navigate his way through life. Teenage years will be the scariest because that is when he will really have to start taking care of himself. 

I guess the best thing that I can do for him is give him the tools and confidence to speak up, ask about ingredients, and pass up yummy looking treats if he doesn't know what is in them. Educating family, friends, teachers, etc. is also a big key factor in Dylan being safe:) I know there are a lot of people looking out for him out there:)

Here are some things I learned and may also be of interest to you while you are with my man:

• The most common presentation of an anaphylaxis reaction is HIVES (Dylan will get these- he had them after he ate cashews). 
• You do not need to wait until more symptoms appear before giving him the Epi-Pen once hives or other anaphylactic symptoms start. Give him the Epi-Pen immediately. The doctor described it like this...a person is standing on an icy rooftop sliding to the edge and the closer and closer they get to the edge, the harder it will be to bring that person back up to the top with you. After Dylan ate a cashew, his symptoms came on like gangbusters! 
• In the past, I have been told to give Dylan Benadryl if I think that he may have eaten an allergic food. Benadryl takes 45 minutes to start working!!! So, if you know he has eaten something and symptoms start showing up, give him the Epi-Pen. Do not "wait and see." Dylan's symptoms will come on immediately so 45 minutes is an eternity. 
• If you think that Dylan may have eaten a food he shouldn't have and you think that he may be showing signs of an allergic reaction but you aren't quite sure, it will not harm him in any way to give him the Epi-Pen. 
• After an Epi-Pen is injected, he will look more pale, he will be shaky and his blood pressure will increase. It will seem like you just shot him with 10 Mountain Dews! He will be hyper and probably happy (it's weird). This is all ok and normal. Call 911 and he will need to be taken to the hospital immidiately. 
• How to administer an Epi-Pen
• FYI- Dylan cannot have anything that "may contain tree nuts or peanuts" or was "processed in plant that also processes tree nuts and peanuts."
• Why do we hear of so many more food allergies these days? Didn't get an answer on this one this time around. I did hear a doctor talking about it may be linked to our immune systems- which totally makes sense. 
• Research seems to be making progress in this area so that is exciting! 

I plan to attend this conference in the future. There are definitely days where I say to myself, "Damn, why does he have to deal with these allergies?!" I walked away from that conference feeling pretty lucky. There were people there that had children with multiple food allergies. The founder of the AFAA, Nona Narvaez, listed about 10 things her kid is allergic to. I can't even imagine. Take a look at a label once and you will see what I mean...think about not being able to eat peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, milk, soy, wheat, chicken, pork, etc. 

I also walked away from this conference with a pretty cool book, The Bugybops. It's aimed at kids who have friends and siblings with food allergies. Dylan and Jacob LOVED it. I can't wait to go read it to his class soon:) I also got to meet the author so I was excited about that! 

Thanks for reading! And thanks for supporting us on this.