You Have Food Allergies? I Don’t Believe You.

Having food allergies can be a little nerve-wracking, from finding a safe restaurant to dine in, to inspecting food at office parties and church potlucks. One thing for sure is that I always have epinephrine auto-injectors with me.

And having severe food allergies is even harder when people don't believe you do.

Having food allergies isn't a choice

Look, I don't particularly enjoy having food allergies. So, the least my friends and family can do is believe me, support me, and try to look out for me.

A new seafood allergy

I was diagnosed with a seafood allergy in the '80s. I was surprised, but my doctor told me you could develop a new food allergy anytime, even to foods you have eaten your entire life without issues.

Food allergies weren't prevalent in the '80s. So my doctor told me to avoid seafood altogether. That was fine by me since I didn't like seafood anyway.

Skeptical friends and family

Shortly after my seafood allergy diagnosis, I told a family member that I was allergic to seafood, and he didn't believe me. His response was, "No way. I don't believe you. You used to eat seafood all the time when we were little kids."

My response back was, "Well, I can't now!" I was surprised and angry that he didn't believe me.

My son's tree nut allergy discovery

Years later, my middle son started feeling "funny" after eating a piece of bread at a family member's house. His throat was itchy, and he was coughing. I grabbed the bag and noticed chopped walnuts in the bottom of the bag. Someone had reused a plastic bag that had initially stored chopped walnuts and put the leftover bread in the same bag.

Allergy testing

I wasn't sure what to do, so I rushed my son to the allergist's office. The doctor knew us well since my son was already in his office twice a week for allergy shots. My son felt better when we arrived, so I relayed the incident to the allergist. He performed an allergy test, and we discovered that my son was allergic to all tree nuts.

What!? Yikes!

Another skeptical response

I returned to the house and told my family member that my son was allergic to tree nuts. That's why he felt funny after eating a piece of French bread that made contact with walnuts.

I thought she would understand because she was constantly complaining about her allergies. After all, she had seasonal allergies and a cabinet full of allergy medicine!

But she didn't believe me. She said that my son had eaten walnuts on her chocolate cake before, and he was just fine then. I stood there with my mouth open. I was so shocked; I couldn't think of what to say. I told her that you could become allergic to a food you had eaten for years!

I fished around in my purse for the report from the doctor. I showed it to her, and she begrudgingly looked at it and said, "Humph."

That was it.

Feeling like we can't trust our family

I was worried because I didn't feel I could trust her. How could I let her babysit my kids if she didn't believe my son had a new tree nut allergy?

From then on, I kept a close eye on my son when we went to this family member's house. And wouldn't you know it, she kept adding chopped walnuts to her chocolate cake. No matter how often we reminded her, she refused to believe that he had a tree nut allergy.

Food allergies are no joke

My son and I have had multiple allergic reactions from people who didn't believe we had food allergies or thought that food allergies "aren't a big deal."

I hold up my epinephrine auto-injectors when I get takeout to show them we have severe food allergies. And they can potentially kill us.

Have you known someone who refused to believe you have a food allergy? How did you handle it?