Allergies

akya

My hasband was diagnosed with ceoliacs disease 2 years ago. Also our two and a half year old son is allergic to eggs, nuts, peanuts & beef (he has an epipen). We dicovered them one Sunday morning after my husband & I had bacon & eggs for breaky. Our son was only about 6 months at that stage & just through the process of me having cracked the egg into the pan, rinsed my hands under water (not washed with soap) & then an hour later apply cream to my sons full body (he had ecsema) he came out neck to toe in hives. His arms and face were fine only because the reaction was so quick that I stopped putting cream on. Long story short, a visit to emergency, a few visits to a specialist, a scratch test & we found out about the nuts peanuts & beef (thankfully all before he'd started on those foods).
It's a constant worry, as the specialist put it, an accidental exposure happens on average once every year or two. Family & friends have to know how to use the epipen properly incase of emergency & we're not there, not to mention that a grocery shop can take 2-3 hours (by the time you've read inredients list) & often cost twice as much (cheeky manufacturers know that you don't have much of a choice other than to buy their product!)Between my husband & my son, making a family meal that everyone can eat is a bit of a nightmare but we're getting there!
As for allergies getting worse with each generation, our specialist said that 10 years ago he'd see around 7-10 kids a week. Now he sees that a day! He said that the next gen will be even worse due to the fact that by the time kids of this gen pair up & have families it will be common that at least 1 parent will have allergies, making it likely that will be passed to their children. Two parents with allergies & you're all but guarenteed!