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

One of the scariest places for someone with an allergy to be is at a restaurant. This is completely natural, because it is a place full of potentially deadly things. To give you a better idea of what it is like, I’ll put you in my shoes.

You go into the restaurant, find a table and sit down. Depending on the restaurant, the server will likely bring out bread or something. Don’t eat the bread. It is usually brought from an outside facility that manufactures peanuts and tree nuts. So you watch as everyone around you eats their bread.  Let’s face it, bread is your favorite part of any meal, so you are bummed.

The waiter comes again and takes your order. You give him the whole allergy speech, telling him what you are allergic to and asking him what you can and can’t have. Likely, the waiter won’t have any idea and you ask him to call over the chef, who comes a few minutes later.

You tell the chef about your allergy and he tells you what you can and can’t have. You sigh as you realize the dish you wanted can’t be prepared safely, and you give him your second choice. The chef leaves and soon the waiter comes back with your specially prepared meal. Your sister offers you a bite of her sandwich, telling you its really good. You politely refuse, saying that since your meal was the only one prepared allergy safe, you can’t have anyone else’s. When the meal is over, you and your family leave.

As you can see, going to a restaurant, an allergy person like me has to follow a certain routine, and make a few sacrifices. But as long as it keeps me safe, its well worth it.

Until next time!

Gary

A lot of times, people like to pick on the odd one out in a group. Naturally, I’m usually picked for that because of my allergies. People have picked on me for having allergies. They have threatened to give me nuts whenever I got on their nerves. People have touched me after they had nuts and laughed. Whether or not they understand the seriousness of what they are doing doesn’t matter. They endanger my life and hurt my feelings when they do that, and I’m not alone. I know people with allergies who have been bullied, and it isn’t just kids.

http://www.gratefulfoodie.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Panera-Sued-for-Severe-and-Pervasive-Discrimination.pdf

This is a link to an article about a Panera employee who filed a lawsuit against Panera bread for unfair treatment with his allergy. Read the article, it is horrendous what these people put him through.

Until next time!

Gary

I am quite the frequent on allergy blogs and websites, and I always find a common subject in them is the debate about whether or not peanuts should be banned in schools. So, seeing as the topic is unavoidable, I figured I would weigh in on it.

So essentially the two sides are this: Some people say that peanut butter should be banned because it is unsafe for kids with allergies. Others say that the just can’t give up peanut butter for school because that is the only thing they will eat. Honestly, I think both sides are kind of ridiculous, especially the second one.

First, I don’t think peanut butter should be banned in schools. If people love peanut butter so much that they can’t wait eight hours until after school to eat something with nuts, who am I to deny them something they love that much. Besides, it just isn’t realistic to ban nuts in a school. Schools have hundreds of children, each of them bringing snacks, lunches, etc. It just isn’t realistic to be able to prevent all of those children from bringing nuts, because there are just so many products with nuts out there, and there are so many people to keep track of.

Second, come on. People die from food allergies. Do you really want to risk someone’s life for a stupid sandwich, or candy bar, or something? If the answer is yes, then by all means go for it. But seriously? Are foods with nuts really the only foods you can eat? I get by just fine without nuts. I don’t know, it just seems weird. It’s like giving a child something that could potentially kill someone because it is convenient, or because they like it. I just don’t get it, but I don’t get the other side of the argument either.

I suppose if I were to pick a side, I would go for something in between. Like I said, if you really want nuts that much, go for it, but eat it responsibly. Don’t eat it near someone you know has an allergy. Wash your hands afterwards. DON’T THROW YOUR PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH ACROSS THE TABLE BECAUSE YOU DON”T WANT IT (yes that has happened to me before). That’s all. Eat it, but watch out for your allergy friends.

Until next time!

Gary

The word allergy sort of defines me in a way. I am a child with an allergy, and my entire life is sort of built around the fact that I have such an allergy. However, I just don’t like the word. It just isn’t specific enough for me. An allergy can mean so many different things. If someone goes up and tells you “I have allergies,” you have no idea what they mean. When someone tells me they have an “allergy”, I typically find their “allergies” fall into one of three categories .

The first is just seasonal allergies. The weather changes, and people start to sneeze, or their eyes water, etc. These are just super mild reactions to one’s environment. The next is a food intolerance. When people eat what they are intolerant to, they get sick and barf and that’s about it. The final type of allergy is like what I have. If I eat nuts, my throat closes, my heart stops, and I will die if I don’t use my epi-pen.  I will have an anaphylactic reaction if I am exposed to peanuts or tree nuts. Anaphylaxis is a reaction over several systems that could cause death.  Anaphylaxis requires an epi-pen.

This is precisely why I don’t like the word “allergies.” It can mean so many things, from having a runny nose when going outside to literally dying within minutes of eating something. That’s why people always have to clarify. For example, I don’t just have any allergies, I have “anaphylactic food allergies.” But seriously? Half the people I come across don’t know what the word anaphylactic is and I have to explain my allergy to them. You know, the all too familiar: “If I eat this I die” speech.

There should be a general, easy to remember (and spell) term for my allergies. Like mega-allergies or something like that. It would just cause a lot less confusion, because right now, when someone tells me that their allergies are acting up, I don’t know whether to give them a tissue or a shot of epinephrine.

Until next time!

Gary

My mom is beginning to schedule a Disney trip for next year, and I’m pumped! I love that place, and it got me to thinking about what my favorite things about Disney are. I love the rides, the characters, and the food most of all. As a kid with an allergy though, I know that whenever there is food, you have to worry about your allergy. However, I feel so much more comfortable in Disney.

Whenever I am at a Disney restaurant, the chefs always come out to talk with me about my allergy and what foods I can have. They always prepare special allergy safe meals for me, which is great. Disney is awesome with allergies, and while I haven’t been there in a few years, I have been reading up and it just seems like they are getting better and better! Now, many of the restaurants there even have allergy safe menus for people with all different kinds of allergies.

This is great for me, because the food is so good! Even though I have an allergy, my love for food rivals my love for almost anything else. At Disney, I feel like I can really pig out and eat pretty much anything I want there (with a few exceptions of course), and you know how I said in an earlier blog post that I never get desserts in restaurants because they are almost never safe? Almost all the restaurants in Disney are notable exceptions to this! It feels really good to just have a place where you can feel a little bit more confident about your safety, and to me, Disney is that place.

To top it all off, I was looking up stuff about Disney a couple of days ago because I am so excited for my trip, and I came across a line of food products that Disney just began making about 10 months ago, called “snacks with character.” It is a group of food products sold in Disney stores that are safe for a laundry list of different allergies. I found a picture of one of their products.

Source: disneyparks.disney.go.com.

These are just a few of their products. They are safe for a whole bunch of allergies, including nuts, soy, and gluten. Some of their products are even okay for vegans. On top of that, they look absolutely delicious!

With a bunch of allergy safe foods and accommodations, Disney really is the most magical place on Earth!

Until next time!

Gary

Cross contamination is a big deal and is the cause of a lot of allergic reactions.

So what exactly is cross contamination? Well, imagine someone is sick, and they sneeze on their hand and use that same hand to open a door. Now the doorknob is contaminated with germs. If someone opens the door again and touches the germs on the doorknob, and then rubs their eye or something, now the germs are in that person’s system and they could get sick too.

It’s the same dynamic with cross contamination, except instead of germs, one is dealing with their allergen. Taking the door handle situation again, imagine someone eats a peanut butter sandwich and then opens a door, putting some of the peanut proteins that are on his hand and putting them on the door. Then, someone allergic to peanuts opens that same door, gets those peanut proteins on their hands, and rubs their eyes, or eats something using that hand. Bam! Allergic reaction. Allergies are a lot more complicated than just avoiding foods with your allergen.

One time, I ate at an Italian restaurant and had a dish with sautéed mushrooms. I had a reaction and later found out that the pan used for the mushrooms had also been used for sautéing nuts earlier and hadn’t been cleaned well enough. It just shows how you should never assume that you are 100% safe at any restaurant.

Cross contamination is the cause of many allergic reactions, and it’s always important to consider a possible cross contamination scenario when eating out. For example, whenever I order steak at a restaurant, I always make sure to request that it is made on a separate pan, because the grill that is used to cook the steaks could have peanut oil on it from the marinades used on other steaks. I always ask that they use clean utensils, because the same knife that cut a PB&J sandwich could be used to cut up my pizza, or spread butter on my pancakes, etc.

It’s always important to consider this when you, or a friend of yours has allergies. Always take that extra step to ensure your safety.

Until next time!

Gary

One of the most common questions I get from my friends who know that I have food allergies is “If you are allergic to peanuts and nuts, aren’t peanuts a type of nut?” Well, I honestly had no idea. So, I decided that for the sake of the blog, I would look into it.

Apparently, the name peanut is misleading, because even though it has the word nut at the end, it isn’t a nut (lost the bet on that one). It is in fact, a legume. Due to the fact that I had no idea what a legume was, I decided to look that up myself as well.

According to the internet, legumes are leguminous (figures), meaning they are a part of the pea family. This means that the peanut is actually closer related to a pea than it is to a nut. I suppose it does have pea in the title, but it isn’t like walnuts are closely related to walls, so I had no idea. A little lesson for everyone I guess, including me.

Until next time!

Gary