Why Does "Everyone" Have Food Allergies Now?

I was with an old friend at a fall festival, and we were catching up on life. I can't remember how the subject came up, but we started talking about food allergies.

She sarcastically said, "Why does everyone have food allergies now? I never heard about that when my kids were little!" Then she rolled her eyes.

We have more awareness about food allergies

I told her there may not be more people with food allergies now than years ago; it's just that there's more awareness about them. In fact, we get information on a variety of news topics online. Quickly checking our phones can give us instant access to news on weather disasters, sports, car accidents, political campaigns, and much more.

When my kids were little, I mainly learned about healthcare, development information, or other problems raising kids through parenting magazines. I read them cover to cover each month when they arrived in the mail.

That's probably why I didn't realize I was allergic to seafood until I was in my mid-20s. "Back in the day," there weren't any education or awareness campaigns about food allergies.

My son's diagnosis: allergies or something else?

My middle son was very colicky when he was a baby and not much better when we started him on solid foods. He would throw up all the time. I took him to the pediatrician, who said my son was just "a picky eater." The pediatrician never mentioned food allergies to us!

Sensory disorder diagnosis

I learned later that all 3 of my kids have Sensory Integration Dysfunction (sometimes called Sensory Processing Disorder). The only way I found out about that was through my sharp-eyed sister-in-law, a long-time Developmental Psychologist. She visited every summer and saw symptoms in my kids that were consistent with a Sensory Integration Dysfunction diagnosis.

She told me to talk to my pediatrician. So we went back to his office again. He still said my son was just a picky eater.

I read a book about sensory disorders and decided to have my son evaluated at a pediatric rehabilitation office. As my sister-in-law suspected, my middle son had a sensory disorder. We started occupational therapy to help him process various sensory issues.

We were sure that's why he was throwing up – because he didn't like the feel, taste, or texture of certain foods.

But one day, things were different

One day when we were at grandma's house, my middle son was eating a piece of French bread. He started complaining that he didn't feel well and then threw up. I knew it wasn't a sensory issue for him since the French bread had a smooth texture.

I was perplexed and wondered what else it could be. I asked him where he got the French bread. He showed me a plastic bag with French bread - and a few stray chopped walnuts in the bottom. Hmm.

Consulting the allergy doctor

I called our allergy doctor, who told us to come right in. I'm unsure why he didn't ask us to go straight to the emergency room.

The allergy doctor treated my son and then later did a food allergy skin test. He had already had skin tests for allergy shots and 5 years of allergy shots at this point, so the skin prick test wasn't too bad.

The results showed he was allergic to tree nuts.

Now there is more information about allergies

All this time, we thought he was just a picky eater when he might have been throwing up because of food allergies!

My middle son is 28 years old now, and I wish there were more information and awareness on various topics to help me raise him. He could have been diagnosed sooner with his tree nut allergy. And I could have been diagnosed sooner with my seafood allergy.

Parents of kids with food allergies now have social media pages, support groups, foundations, counselors, etc. I don't believe there are so many more kids or adults with food allergies now; we just know more about it and can properly diagnose it.