Oral Allergy Help

What is Oral Allergy? In short, it's a reaction to food that is localized to the mouth. It's not the kind of thing that causes shock or a full-body reaction (although clarify all of your symptoms with your doctor).

Sometimes, when I eat bananas or avocado sometimes I develop red patches on the skin around my lips. Every time I eat them my gums throb and burn like I swished acid around my mouth. Sometimes this happens when I eat apples. I avoid bananas and avocados all the time. Washing my apples really well before I eat them seems to help.

Since we can't always control what gets into our food, I always carry two things: an EpiPen and Benadryl. We know the EpiPen works, but here's a different way to use Benadryl. My doctor told me in the event of an oral allergy response, just put a bit of liquid benadryl in my mouth, swish it around and spit it out. Genius! I'm asleep within 10 minutes of an ingested Benadryl dose, so I only take it if absolutely necessary. The "swish and spit," I can do.

To make it even easier, I found these pre-measured single dose packets, which are much easier than trying to lug around bottles of liquid Benadryl. Also, liquid is generally faster acting than pills, so if I do need to ingest a dose, I like having these around.

I heard at one point these were recalled or discontinued, but I have seen them around. Walgreens and CVS sell store-brand versions as well. I ordered a large supply from drugstore.com when I got mine, just in case.

New to Food Allergies?

Visit the FARE website and download "Your Food Allergy Field Guide."

Food Allergy Awareness Week

Food Allergy Awareness Week Starts Tomorrow. Head over to the FARE website for profile images, banners and shareable fact images. Spread the word, raise awareness! 

Learn more at FARE

Eat This Regular Food: Breakfast Burritos

This is not exactly a recipe of the purest ingredients, but it's extremely helpful in my house. It feeds The Six without gluten, soy, or dairy contamination. I use soft corn tortillas, and everyone else uses fajita size flour tortillas for theirs. These packets of potatoes, sausage, and scrambled eggs are in the freezer, ready to grab and reheat. Use veggie sausage, turkey sausage or traditional pork if you like, even substitute egg whites in place of whole eggs if you prefer.

Cleaning Done Right

I used to be on Etsy. I loved Etsy. The things people made from ordinary items were marvelous. There, I stumbled upon Chase Street Soap Co. and two of my all-time favorite products. She sells bar soap for dogs that soothes the skin and helps release loose fur, and also repels insects. My other favorite is her laundry detergent. She calls herself the Soap Lady. Making all those soaps, one day she found herself with a heap of soap shavings going to waste. Why not mix them into a basic laundry detergent, she thought. Thank you Soap Lady! By the way, she has moved to a new website, away from Etsy. 

The original appeal to the detergent was that I only needed a tiny bit per load. The Bentley Six generate a lot of laundry. Additionally, my daycare babies and toddlers spit up, poop, and dump food on themselves. I wash a lot of washrags, sheets, and baby clothes on a daily basis. Originally, the basic formula of this detergent was alluring only second to the cost. I have an H.E. washer, so 1/2 TBSP does a whole load and everything gets clean, every time. I pay $18 plus shipping, and I buy it about 4 times a year. Take a minute to do even the most basic math and it's way, way cheaper than store-bought detergent no matter how you add it up. 

Sometimes I procrastinate. A few months ago, I put off ordering more detergent until I was completely out. No worries, Soap Lady ships Priority Mail, so I just had to get through a few days. Spoiled by her cost-effective product, I bought the smallest box of the cheapest powdered detergent I could find, just to get us through. 

Then the itching began. Three days later, still itching and now my skin was burning and I had trouble sleeping with the sensation of bugs crawling all over me. I swore I had mites. The detergent arrived after a few days, and I rewashed my clothes. A day later, no more itching. Now I have a new appreciation for cleaning products with minimal ingredients. 

I scoured the Web for more information and I found this great list of 10 cleaning products you can make with 10 regular ingredients. Bonus, it's inexpensive. 

I primarily clean everything with a mixture of vinegar and water these days. I can spray it on the windows, the toilet, my stove, and the kids' table. It's safe and effective. Yesterday I mopped all the floors and gave the floor cleaner recipe a try. I love it! 

My only words of caution are to try these things in small proportions before diving in. The bathroom cleaner worked great but wasn't something I want to deal with again, and for laundry detergent I am going to try a soap bar called Fels-Naptha instead of Ivory. I hear that Ivory has trouble dissolving in the wash, and since I always wash with cold water I'm sure Ivory won't work for me. I'm still a loyal Soap Lady customer, but I've learned my lesson about not having things on hand. 

Lastly, the Soap Lady also sells essential oils if you're interested. I was very happy with an orange scent I purchased a while ago. However, I like to keep things basic so I don't even mess with essential oils. 

This list is from a website called Living Well and Spending Less. If you're looking for products with minimal ingredients, pay attention to savvy shoppers and thrifty housewives, er, house managers. To download your own 8 1/2" X 11" copy, click on the image below and then scroll toward the bottom of her page.

Green and Thrifty Cleaning Products at LivingWellSpendingLess.com

Eat This Regular Food: Cereal

Eating around food allergies does not have to be complicated or expensive.

I haven't yet heard of a rice allergy. Try some Rice Chex for breakfast. If you can tolerate fruits, add some sliced banana or strawberries, or toss in a handful of dried blueberries if they're more agreeable. Dried blueberries are also a great substitution for raisins in oatmeal cookies. I get mine at Costco.

Allergy Alert Bracelet Option

This is an easy-to-wear, waterproof, comfortable bracelet. In the event of an emergency, medical staff will know what not to give me. Prepping for back surgery, my anesthesiologist said one of the things he'd be giving me had soy in it. He never did tell me what it was, but he had to give it to me. I itched all over for about a week afterward. At least he talked to me about it first. I also have to ask for the flu shot without neomycin. I never thought mentioning that was necessary. List absolutely everything before you accept an injection of any kind. Be very, very thorough.

I ordered this from Road ID. They have a large assortment of sizes, bands, and types of IDs. They are intended for athletes, so we don't have to carry ID when we run, swim, bike, etc. I considered labeling my youngest with our contact information, just in case.