So I’ve been reflecting on yesterday’s post, the 10 things only an allergy kid would understand, and I’ve been thinking a lot about my number one spot, “there is so much more to you than your allergy.” When people meet me, one of the first things they learn about me is my allergy. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I suppose it’s good that people know this about me, because it keeps me safe. However, a lot of people think of me as “the allergy kid” instead of just a kid with allergies. My allergies are a part of me, yes. However, they don’t identify me.

Let me tell you a bit more about myself so that you too can think of me as more than just an “allergy kid.” My name is Gary, and I am 15 years old as of July 31. I have the same birthday as Harry Potter, and a lot of people say I look like him too. I am about to start my sophomore year in high school.  I love to read, play video games, and perfect my chess skills (or lack thereof). I play tennis, like to swim, and am a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do. I will test for my red belt in December. Disney is probably my favorite place on the planet.  I love math. Love it.  Everything about math makes sense. My dad and I consider it “the language of the universe.” I love food.  Especially dessert.  I love puzzles and mysteries.  My favorite food is steak. My favorite book is Treasure Island, but I also love Mad Magazine.  When I grow up I want to be a doctor so I can help people.

I have a little sister who I absolutely adore. I have two wonderful parents. My mom is the sweetest person ever, and my dad is probably the funniest person I ever met. I wouldn’t trade my family for the world, because they mean everything to me.

I am more than just an allergy kid. I am a kid who just so happens to have an allergy. Remember, readers. You are SO MUCH MORE than the first thing people notice about you.

Until next time!

Gary

10. You have a scripted speech ready for every time you go to a restaurant detailing your allergy.

9. When you buy food at the store, you check the label before you check the price.

8.  You treat your epi-pen like your child.

7.  Your favorite part of Disney is not the rides, but the fact that you can eat whatever you want.

6.  You know how to spell anaphylactic.

5.  You have a deep appreciation for any dessert that you can actually have.

4.  You know without a doubt that the  most exciting phrase in the English language is, “The bread is safe.”

3.  Adults ask YOU about the latest food recalls.

2.  You know that it is important to include everyone in activities.

And FINALLY……

1. There is so much more to you than your allergy!

Until next time!

Gary

Hey everyone!

I am planning to post later today about my favorite thing for school lunch, but I wanted to do a quick update this morning.

I am so excited that so many of you found my blog interesting and helpful. The response has been kind of overwhelming considering that just a few days ago, the only frequent on my blog was my grandma. I have received a lot of requests to be able to subscribe to my blog, so I added a few things to help. First, I put a way to sign up to a newsletter on my blog. It sends you an e-mail every week about that week’s posts.  I will also be linking my new blog posts to my Facebook page. So please like me on Facebook, so you can see when I post. If you have any questions or suggestions for things you would like me to write about, please leave a comment.

Until next time!

Gary

School is literally one week from now and I’m getting nervous. I’m just trying to brace myself for the homework, responsibilities, and stress that comes with it. Of course, with school also comes new allergy worries as well. It’s hard to wrap one’s mind around the danger of allergies at school. Most kids worry about getting bad grades at school or something. Me, I worry about literally keeling over and dying.

I guess it must be really weird for other people, but I ponder my own mortality constantly at school. I have to. It’s like a safety mechanism, my own survival instinct. Of course I’m not perfect, so I also have to prepare for the event that something goes south. That’s why my family and I have the teachers trained in how to administer an epi-pen.

Epi-pens are kind of like my lifeline. If I ever were to accidentally digest peanut or nut proteins, I would go into a potentially deadly anaphylactic reaction. My body would kind of go into a panic mode, and start shutting down. The epi-pen administers a burst of adrenaline to the body, halting the reaction for about fifteen minutes, usually enough time for an ambulance to arrive, so its imperative that I receive an epi-pen when I react.

It’s really hard to describe how to use an epi-pen in words, without actually showing it, so I found a great video that demonstrates it perfectly. I will post the video below.

Its extremely important to learn how to administer an epi-pen, as it can mean the difference between life and death for someone with an allergy. If you wish to practice using a practice trainer epi-pen that doesn’t have any medicine in it, you can order one for free by simply filling out the form on this link.

https://www.epipen.com/en/resources/order-a-training-device?utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=training%20epipen_phrase&utm_content=epipen%20trainer&utm_campaign=epipen%202015%20-%20branded&utm_source=bing&gclid=CIna39T7ss4CFYbZMgodLF8AUw&gclsrc=ds

Until next time!

Gary

I’m sure a lot of you have already noticed, but this summer has been really crazy when it came to recalls. The great majority of them had to do with flour. Kellogg’s and General Mills had lots of recalls involving peanut protein and E.coli in their flour. Of course, most of it has died down now, but when all of the recalls had started, my family was kind of in panic mode.

We were basically afraid to buy any new food for a while. We weren’t sure when the next in a large chain of recalls would come up again.

If you ask me, I find recalls especially scary. Usually (USUALLY), you can do pretty well at avoiding something you are allergic to by checking the label of whatever product you are buying. With recalls, this can’t happen. Companies don’t plan recalls, they are an accident, so if you get a recalled product, there would be no way of knowing that it isn’t safe!

My mom checks for recalls on www.foodsafety.gov, www.fda.gov, and www.fsis.usda.gov and if she is still unsure if something is safe she will call the company directly.

This is precisely why my family always checks the internet for any news of recalls. If you or a friend have allergies, I encourage you to do the same, because it could really be the difference between life and death. However, even if there isn’t a recall on something you are eating, always be prepared for the worst. Let’s face it, recalls are scary, but caution and awareness goes a long way. Always have your epi-pen with you.

Until next time!

Gary

Hello!

The intention of this blog is to educate people about the seriousness of allergies, and while I try very hard to inform people, I understand I’m still learning myself.

If you are interested in learning more about allergies of any kind, I recommend using the FARE website. FARE stands for Food Allergy Research and Education. It is a non-profit organization devoted to researching allergies and educating people about them. I love to use this website, as it has a lot of information, even for someone who has lived with an allergy for ten years.

Check out this infographic I found on their website.

Food Allergies in the US Infographic

Cool huh? If you like the infographic, pass it around and show it to your friends! Besides, there’s a lot more where that came from on their website.

http://www.foodallergy.org/

Until next time!

Gary

I have more than one epi pen case that I use at school. I really like the Kozygo pouch for regular everyday Epi-pen carrying. I really prefer not to have an extra belt around my waist.  However, whenever I go to gym class and have to wear sweats, I can’t clip my Kozygo on because my sweatpants don’t have any belt loops on them. My solution is the SPIbelt.

The SPIbelt, like the Kozygo, is a pouch I use to carry my medication. As the “belt” in the title suggests, all you have to do it strap it around your waist–and since I have tried many packs in the past ten years, I will say if you need one this one is very lightweight.  I actually forget it is there.  My SPIbelt holds my two Epi-pens, Benadryl, and emergency contact info in case I am unconscious. On top of that, it’s pretty much invisible. After you strap it around your waist, you simply put your shirt on over it and nobody can tell its there.

On top of it being a belt for medicine, it is also designed to carry things needed for fitness. However, since I’m far from a lover of fitness, I just use it to carry medicine.

This is the link for the SPIbelt website https://spibelt.com/, and below, I posted a picture of a SPIbelt.

This is the Large Pocket SPIbelt, which is what I use as it holds more medicine. While the pouch may look small, it is made of a material that stretches to fit a surprising amount of stuff in it.

I hope you enjoyed part three of my Gary’s favorite things series. If you have any questions about any of the products I mentioned in my post, feel free to leave a comment.

Until next time!

Gary

Yesterday I talked about the safety sack, but now I’d like to talk about another product that helps keep me allergy safe at school. The Safety Sack is good for storing medicine with the office as an added precaution, but I never leave home without a personal set of epi-pens that I carry myself.   Because epi-pens don’t exactly fit into my pocket, I like to use the Kozygo epi-pen cases.  They are made to order and you can choose whether you want a belt pack or one with a carbineer clip.  I prefer the clip–but stay tuned for my next review where I will address gym class/sports activities.

They are really convenient. I simply attach a clip to them and clip the pouch to my jeans. It allows for easy access to my medication no matter where I go. I kind of feel naked without it to be honest.

This is the link to their website if you are interested.

http://www.kozygo.ca/

I really love these cases, as they can hold two epi-pens, a whole bunch of Benadryl, and still have room for other medication too. Of all my allergy safety products, this is my favorite.

This is a picture of the pouch, taken from the Kozygo website.

Until next time!

Gary

School is coming up really fast. I start school in less than two weeks, so back-to-school shopping is a must. Besides the pencils and notebooks and stuff like that, people with allergies like mine also have to bring in some other stuff to keep them safe. For my next few posts, I’ll be showing the products I bring to school to keep me safe (Note that I am not being sponsored by any of these companies. I mean really? I’m only 15. Sheesh).

The most important thing an allergy person has to have with them is their medication, and while I usually have mine on me, it’s always good to have a back-up. So, I give extra medication to the office. However, to make sure the medicine is both easy to access and self contained, I put it in a product called a Safety Sack. It helps the office keep track of my medicine and has room for two Epi-pens, Benadryl, and my emergency action plan. It also has a childproof lock, so that when I was a little kid, I wouldn’t accidentally take the medicine or administer the epi-pen on something.

This is the link to their website http://www.safetysack.com/.

If you have little kids and need someone to hold their medication, or just like to use it to help the office keep track of your medicine, this is a great product.  My mom also uses them when we travel to keep everything together and easy to view in the airport.

I’ll continue to talk more about my allergy friendly tools in the coming days, so keep an eye out!

This is a picture of the Safety Sack, taken from the Safety Sack website.

Until next time!

Gary