So, we're into July and my allergies only kicked in a few weeks ago. This is almost unheard of! I have had some fairly chronic urticaria (big painful hives) of late, but my antihistamine keeps it in check. A couple of years ago my Dr moved me over to Fexerfenedine from Cetirizine and changed my nasal spray to avamys and the combination has meant I am much better. I am currently sitting in my lounge with my door open to the garden and I can still see and breathe.
In the Summer allergies have a bit more choice- my healthy snacks are cherries and raspberries. But my absolute favourite snack is a Haagen-Dazs sorbet. They are stupidly expensive at £7 for 4! But every other sorbet in the world seems to have a nut warning on so Haagen-Dazs I love you!
Friday, 7 July 2017
Saturday, 19 November 2016
Breakfast of Champions?
Hello. At this time of year, eating healthily can be a right pain, especially if like me, you have suffered with your autumn/winter transition asthma attack. This year, mine has been particularly bad, and I have been ill a lot. I had a cold, then a virus, then a chest infection, then tonsillitis, all of which has played havoc on my lungs. My only solution is to get well, then get fit, then ensure I start eating healthily. So I am going to give up caffeine, reduce my alcohol intake (which I have already done and feel a lot better for), reduce my Coke Zero intake and eat more fruit and veg. But which meal is the hardest when you have allergies like mine? Breakfast. Most of the allergy friendly choices that aren't high fat and don't take a long time to prepare are boring and not necessarily that healthy. This is what I mostly eat:
Breakfast:
- Baked beans on a crumpet
- Cornflakes with soya milk
- Bacon and Baked Beans
- Rice porridge
- Occasional treat- Those croissants that you bake that used to be Pillsbury Dough Boy ones.
- Sometimes homemade pancakes
It needs work eh? More fruit, more choice, more excitement. Who knows what the answer is to that!
Breakfast of Champions?
Hello. At this time of year, eating healthily can be a right pain, especially if like me, you have suffered with your autumn/winter transition asthma attack. This year, mine has been particularly bad, and I have been ill a lot. I had a cold, then a virus, then a chest infection, then tonsillitis, all of which has played havoc on my lungs. My only solution is to get well, then get fit, then ensure I start eating healthily. So I am going to give up caffeine, reduce my alcohol intake (which I have already done and feel a lot better for), reduce my Coke Zero intake and eat more fruit and veg. But which meal is the hardest when you have allergies like mine? Breakfast. Most of the allergy friendly choices that aren't high fat and don't take a long time to prepare are boring and not necessarily that healthy. This is what I mostly eat:
Breakfast:
- Baked beans on a crumpet
- Cornflakes with soya milk
- Bacon and Baked Beans
- Rice porridge
- Occasional treat- Those croissants that you bake that used to be Pillsbury Dough Boy ones.
- Sometimes homemade pancakes
It needs work eh? More fruit, more choice, more excitement. Who knows what the answer is to that!
Tuesday, 18 October 2016
An Essay on the principles of allergies and ailments.
One of the key parts of having allergies is getting them diagnosed, monitored, and medicined. This can be tricky if unlike me you don't have a) a mother who won't quit, b) a lifelong ability to talk until someone gets bored and c) a Dr who understands. When I was a baby, I was very quickly diagnosed with a diary allergy. Then egg. Then nuts. Then animals. Then an assortment of other allergic bits and bobs. But throughout I was given excellent care. I think this is mostly because my mother (don't tell her but she really was amazing at the medical stuff- I don't want her to get a big head one anything), refused to let things lie, and researched and researched to make my life as good as possible. Not only did she mail order toffees and chocolates that were safe, but she edited the family menu so that I didn't go without, and she ensured I had got the care and attention I needed. She put her own health and well being to the back of her mind and looked after me constantly. How can you tell someone you are grateful for that and them understand? My Dad was awesome too because I didn't have to explain because he had it too. Other people, even in my family, were more challenging though- they didn't, couldn't or wouldn't understand that I couldn't eat things if you put mayonnaise on them!
The most bothersome thing to me as a child was actually my acute eczema. It hurt, itched, burnt and irritated. It bled, and I was bandaged. But our GP got me referred at a young age, and I went to a variety of specialists about my eczema, asthma and allergies. I think I might have even gone to Great Ormond Street at one point. My eczema didn't ease much at first, and to be honest, it only got better with age and a regimen of Diprobase, Vaseline DermaCare and basically being greasy until I was about 15. Again, if you didn't know I had ever had it you wouldn't know I ever looked as bad I as I did, and thanks to digital photos not being invented until my skin was healed, many don't even see it in photos. The tell tale signs are that I am really shiny in most pictures and wore a lot of alice bands. One subsequent hang over of eczema is that my skin still hurts- it looks fine but people touching me can send me do-lally! I feel every bit of clothing on my body, and I hate being hugged because people do it wrong and it irritates my skin. My husband hugs me kind of bear hug style which I like because it doesn't itch- softly softly hugs are the worst! If someone were to stroke my hand it would be horrendous because I would just itch.
My asthma was also a constant- very quickly, I was on a nebuliser at home, which my mum bought because the NHS didn't provide them. They did provide the nebules though, and this made my asthma significantly easier. Being sat on it 8 times a day- less so. Obviously my case is extreme- I have much worse asthma than most people (possibly except my Dad), but because of this my asthma is pretty well controlled. I had an assortment of medication- inhalers, the nebuliser, a capsule tablet where little balls fell out, little blue pills, little red pills, antihistamine- all sorts. I think I could swallow handfuls of tablets before I was 6. It used to annoy me that they used to offer me liquid medicine. I know what I'm about, son, and I can swallow the tablets damn it! (Side note- I am a huge Ron Swanson fan- its becoming a problem). As I got older, I didn't need the nebuliser anymore and just used inhalers, I controlled it better, and used a combination of medicines well. But I do get asthma attacks still. Maybe 2-4 a year. These are extremely tiresome because I think they actually come from being knackered, getting a throat infection, then getting a chest infection. The same thing happens to my Dad except he moans much less than I do. And if you are reading this Dad, you know that I speak the truth!
My allergies were a different story though. Every passing year bought new allergies. I went for testing from a young age at Addenbrokes in Cambridge. There, my Dr's put a drop of some sort of clear liquid purporting to be a specific allergen, stabbed me with a razor edge, and made me wait while my arms doubled in size. I then was party to but not involved in the argument between my mum and the Dr about how much hydrocortisone he could use without risking the thickness of my skin. Each time the test would say I had more, and each time I went into the world outside of my house, I saw evidence that this was true. I would get hives everywhere. Once, I had to go to hospital, because I spontaneously broke out into hives (or Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria) all over my body. The hospital saw me quickly and sensibly. From this I learnt that I basically have urticaria all of the time, and possibly inside as well as outside which is why everything hurts. A side effect from growing up with eczema I guess. Today I went to hospital about something unrelated and saw the size of the file that follows me everywhere I go in the NHS. The person I spoke to knew all of my history, having read it and studied it at length. She was kind and respectful, and I was a nervous wreck, because it turns out that when you spend a lifetime ill, you become fairly anxious about it. Not being ill- I am top at being ill, I just live in constant fear about what disease, aliment or illness is round the corner, and how much I put my husband through by being useless. He has watched while I have asthma attacks, and allergy attacks, looked after me when I am ill, seen me, of course, had numerous labour based complications, and allowed me to be ridiculous around him at all times. He is great though, and I definitely don't appreciate him enough.
So, to wind up this madness, to survive with allergies you need people. You need someone like my mum and some of my friends (many of whom won't even realise I hold them in such high regard) for looking after me in restaurants, on planes, and out in the world where people with allergies have a scary time and hate anything to do with eating. You need someone who will fight for you at the GP's, or stand by you for support while you fight to get what you need, you need people who will put moisturiser on you when your a kid, and distract you while you cry because it stings so much, you need a spouse/life partner/mate who lets you be your very worse self, and finally you need yourself to just chill out a bit, because having all of these little things wrong with you, while not life threatening can eat away at you, and you just need to allow yourself to sometimes not be your best self, to allow your best self to appear majestically like a unicorn dancing over a rainbow.
The most bothersome thing to me as a child was actually my acute eczema. It hurt, itched, burnt and irritated. It bled, and I was bandaged. But our GP got me referred at a young age, and I went to a variety of specialists about my eczema, asthma and allergies. I think I might have even gone to Great Ormond Street at one point. My eczema didn't ease much at first, and to be honest, it only got better with age and a regimen of Diprobase, Vaseline DermaCare and basically being greasy until I was about 15. Again, if you didn't know I had ever had it you wouldn't know I ever looked as bad I as I did, and thanks to digital photos not being invented until my skin was healed, many don't even see it in photos. The tell tale signs are that I am really shiny in most pictures and wore a lot of alice bands. One subsequent hang over of eczema is that my skin still hurts- it looks fine but people touching me can send me do-lally! I feel every bit of clothing on my body, and I hate being hugged because people do it wrong and it irritates my skin. My husband hugs me kind of bear hug style which I like because it doesn't itch- softly softly hugs are the worst! If someone were to stroke my hand it would be horrendous because I would just itch.
My asthma was also a constant- very quickly, I was on a nebuliser at home, which my mum bought because the NHS didn't provide them. They did provide the nebules though, and this made my asthma significantly easier. Being sat on it 8 times a day- less so. Obviously my case is extreme- I have much worse asthma than most people (possibly except my Dad), but because of this my asthma is pretty well controlled. I had an assortment of medication- inhalers, the nebuliser, a capsule tablet where little balls fell out, little blue pills, little red pills, antihistamine- all sorts. I think I could swallow handfuls of tablets before I was 6. It used to annoy me that they used to offer me liquid medicine. I know what I'm about, son, and I can swallow the tablets damn it! (Side note- I am a huge Ron Swanson fan- its becoming a problem). As I got older, I didn't need the nebuliser anymore and just used inhalers, I controlled it better, and used a combination of medicines well. But I do get asthma attacks still. Maybe 2-4 a year. These are extremely tiresome because I think they actually come from being knackered, getting a throat infection, then getting a chest infection. The same thing happens to my Dad except he moans much less than I do. And if you are reading this Dad, you know that I speak the truth!
My allergies were a different story though. Every passing year bought new allergies. I went for testing from a young age at Addenbrokes in Cambridge. There, my Dr's put a drop of some sort of clear liquid purporting to be a specific allergen, stabbed me with a razor edge, and made me wait while my arms doubled in size. I then was party to but not involved in the argument between my mum and the Dr about how much hydrocortisone he could use without risking the thickness of my skin. Each time the test would say I had more, and each time I went into the world outside of my house, I saw evidence that this was true. I would get hives everywhere. Once, I had to go to hospital, because I spontaneously broke out into hives (or Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria) all over my body. The hospital saw me quickly and sensibly. From this I learnt that I basically have urticaria all of the time, and possibly inside as well as outside which is why everything hurts. A side effect from growing up with eczema I guess. Today I went to hospital about something unrelated and saw the size of the file that follows me everywhere I go in the NHS. The person I spoke to knew all of my history, having read it and studied it at length. She was kind and respectful, and I was a nervous wreck, because it turns out that when you spend a lifetime ill, you become fairly anxious about it. Not being ill- I am top at being ill, I just live in constant fear about what disease, aliment or illness is round the corner, and how much I put my husband through by being useless. He has watched while I have asthma attacks, and allergy attacks, looked after me when I am ill, seen me, of course, had numerous labour based complications, and allowed me to be ridiculous around him at all times. He is great though, and I definitely don't appreciate him enough.
So, to wind up this madness, to survive with allergies you need people. You need someone like my mum and some of my friends (many of whom won't even realise I hold them in such high regard) for looking after me in restaurants, on planes, and out in the world where people with allergies have a scary time and hate anything to do with eating. You need someone who will fight for you at the GP's, or stand by you for support while you fight to get what you need, you need people who will put moisturiser on you when your a kid, and distract you while you cry because it stings so much, you need a spouse/life partner/mate who lets you be your very worse self, and finally you need yourself to just chill out a bit, because having all of these little things wrong with you, while not life threatening can eat away at you, and you just need to allow yourself to sometimes not be your best self, to allow your best self to appear majestically like a unicorn dancing over a rainbow.
Friday, 24 June 2016
McDonalds- more allergy friendly than you think.
McDonalds. So often, friends say that they just want "a dirty burger" and they go to McDonalds. I had always thought this meant a burger van on the side of the road. People are always surprised that my son and I can eat in McDonalds when we can't eat in Nando's, GBK, Five Guys etc. But the truth is, that yes, McD's does sell deep fried, and therefore, fatty food. It does sell a limited amount of vegetables, and yes it does accessorise everything with fries. It is also true though, that it sells hamburgers and coated chicken without egg, and kids meals without soya in, and dessert that people with allergies can eat. Do you know how rare it is that my son and I can ever have dessert when eating out?? We can sit, my son with his McFlurry, and me with my Apple Pie, and we can delight in the treat that it is. In the Marks and Spencer's ready made lunches I can eat one thing. Yes it is a delightful duck wrap, but that duck wrap pretty quickly becomes a tiresome thing. My son can eat one sandwich, and yet in McD's we get choice!!
If you have allergies, what can you eat in McD's?
If you are allergic to soya, eggs, nuts (like my son), you can eat fish finger, chicken nuggets, chicken selects and the wraps with alterations. You can also eat the salads. For dessert, you can eat McFlurries with Crunchie, Dairy Milk and Smarties but not Oreo, the little Caramel Sundaes, and Apple Pies!
I am allergic to dairy but not soya as well as eggs and nuts, and I can eat Hamburger, Quarter Pounder (no cheese), Chicken Selects, Fish Fingers, plain Filet O'Fish.
Having said all of this, I fully accept that if you are allergic to gluten this is harder. Years ago I followed the South Beach Diet, and I avoided gluten. To this end, in McDonalds, I used to have two hamburgers without buns and fries. It was messy but it did the job. And you can have McFlurries which I am told is the best thing about McD's.
Tonight I am eating in Bills. As I cannot have the chips in Bills, because they have never thought about having two fryers (one with chips only and one with deep fried cheese etc), we will see how this goes.
If you have allergies, what can you eat in McD's?
If you are allergic to soya, eggs, nuts (like my son), you can eat fish finger, chicken nuggets, chicken selects and the wraps with alterations. You can also eat the salads. For dessert, you can eat McFlurries with Crunchie, Dairy Milk and Smarties but not Oreo, the little Caramel Sundaes, and Apple Pies!
I am allergic to dairy but not soya as well as eggs and nuts, and I can eat Hamburger, Quarter Pounder (no cheese), Chicken Selects, Fish Fingers, plain Filet O'Fish.
Having said all of this, I fully accept that if you are allergic to gluten this is harder. Years ago I followed the South Beach Diet, and I avoided gluten. To this end, in McDonalds, I used to have two hamburgers without buns and fries. It was messy but it did the job. And you can have McFlurries which I am told is the best thing about McD's.
Tonight I am eating in Bills. As I cannot have the chips in Bills, because they have never thought about having two fryers (one with chips only and one with deep fried cheese etc), we will see how this goes.
Friday, 18 October 2013
Susie's Apricot and Orange Rock Cakes
My mum (the Susie in the title) makes the best recipes. As I have so many allergies she has been inventing recipes all my life. And now my son is allergic to soya (the one thing I can eat and live on) she has come up with even more. Her rock cakes are amazing! So here's the recipe:
8oz plain flour
4oz Vitalite or similar
2tsps baking powder
3oz caster sugar
1/2tsp mixed spice
4oz snipped apricots
Juice of a large orange
Method:
1. Mix flour, baking powder and marg to make breadcrumbs.
2. Add sugar and combine.
3. Add orange juice and apricots and mix to a fairly thick but not smooth mixture.
4. Heap onto a paper lined baking sheet. Tip: if you have never made rock cakes before, they should be 'lumpy' and not smoothed out or you'll have cookies).
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 200C.
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