You are not anaphylactic!

You might be reading this thinking, yes I am! What does she mean?

Well you’re not. At least not most of the time anyway.

It’s a lesson I learnt from Frans Timmermans, President and CEO of the European Anaphylaxis Task Force, who I met many years ago in Copenhagen at the The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI ) annual conference.

Interviewing Frans Timmermans of The Anaphylaxis Strategy Task Force

He told me that I needed to reframe how I viewed myself. To completely rethink how I perceived this condition that I had.

This Anaphylaxis!

He said, “You’re not anaphylactic, you’re just at risk of anaphylaxis if you eat certain foods, the two statements are very different.”

And he’s right!

It’s something I discuss in my book, The Reluctant Allergy Expert – How to kill the fear that anaphylaxis could kill you.

99.9999% of the time I’m successful at avoiding my trigger allergens. My last serious reaction was in November 2018 and I hope I can avoid having another ever again.

100% of the time I’ve been successful at surviving the reactions I’ve had and only a fraction of my life has been spent having these reactions.

Yet I’ve spent far too many hours, months and even years feeling fearful, angry and confused about how to live with what often felt like a life sentence and a terrifying prospect.

It’s all about reframing things. About seeing them differently.

It really does help to put them into perspective, for me anyway.

He went on to say. “You do live with restrictions, but your life is not restricted!”

By taking control back and reframing life, it becomes easier to deal with.

I could be feeling down that I can’t just eat out anywhere without planning… Instead I choose to believe that I can afford to buy fresh, exciting ingredients locally and cook myself safe, healthy meals. It’s taught me to explore in the kitchen, to be adventurous, try new things and get creative. It’s also given me a much greater understanding of nutrition and what my body needs to be healthy.

I could be cross and depressed that I can’t eat certain foods… instead I am excited to try all the thousands of different fruit, vegetables, grains and pulses out there. There is a whole rainbow of foods just waiting to be discovered.

I could bemoan that there is never a holiday from allergies and that’s a big one for me. Even holidays can mean extra stress. But for now, for me, I choose to believe that there are many, many places that I can visit, with careful planning, and taking as much safe food to fall back on if needs be. I choose self catering because that gives me back the control.

And right now no one can go on holiday anyway! So let’s embrace the staycation and self care at home, which can feel like you’ve had a mini holiday if you do it right!

I love this life. It’s challenging at times and especially at the moment, but it’s amazing. It’s incredible. There is so much to learn, see and explore.

I am not going to let me allergies hold me back. I can do anything… just not eat a snickers bar!

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