Food Allergy Anxiety: "Episode" 1

Food allergy anxiety. Oh boy oh boy I have a billion things to say on this topic, so I plan on breaking it down into smaller “episodes,” if you will.

To be honest I was hoping to post in May as I thought it would be fitting with mental health awareness month, but here we are on June 1st! Better late than never am I right?

Episode 1 will go a bit into my own experience with allergy anxiety, and from there I hope to expand in future posts on how to recognize it and some strategies I use to cope when I feel particularly anxious.

I’m also considering writing a piece on how to best alleviate stress from friends and family who might experience allergy anxiety - let me know if anyone would be interested in this!

So anyways, food allergy anxiety. What exactly is it?

Living With Food Allergy Anxiety Article!

This awesome article, “Living With Food Allergy Anxiety” by Allergy Insider, goes in depth about the difference between Food Allergy Anxiety vs. Generalized Anxiety Disorder, as well as how to deviate between anaphylaxis and anxiety symptoms.

I know I briefly mentioned this in my reaction story post, but one challenge I faced afterwards was recognizing when my mind was playing tricks on me - convincing myself I was experiencing an anaphylactic reaction when in reality it was mere anxiety.

When the symptoms of anaphylaxis include…

• Feeling light headed or faint

• Breathing difficulties such as fast and/or shallow breathing

• Increased heart rate

• Clammy skin

• Even confusion and anxiety itself!

It’s easy to see how the two may be confused, and how unsettling it may be trying to decipher between them.

Anyways, to summarize, food allergy anxiety is precisely what you would think it to be - it’s the fear of coming in contact with an allergen and/or experiencing an allergic reaction. This anxiety can range from being quite mild to interfering with a person's ability to function on a daily basis.

Looking back, I’ve experienced allergy anxiety for as long as I can remember.

When I was little it was birthday parties, friends houses, and snacks served at school.

My birthday parties, on the other hand, always slapped ;)

Most middle schoolers are beyond excited for the freedom of getting ice cream with friends, maybe going out to eat without parents for the first time, and experiencing that initial taste of independence.

I, on the other hand, did not share their excitement, and for much of middle school and high school avoided eating out with friends whenever possible.

High school brought a slew of other anxieties from musical lunches, to summer dance intensives (a whole other reaction story), to my first school trips, etc.

Honestly, there’s too many instances to name, but you get the idea.

The difference is although allergy anxiety has always been present in going out to eat at restaurants, eating in other people’s homes, traveling, and more, I was never really on my own.

My parents have always been by my side through these encounters, and largely carried the burden of allergy anxiety themselves for the majority of my life.

They are my biggest advocates, and while having food allergy anxiety is a personal challenge, I always felt safe and reassured with them.

This shifted a bit, of course, as I went off to college.

Last meal with my parents before officially being dropped off !! I've always had great experiences eating at Cheesecake Factory - it's definitely a go-to.

I don’t think I had ever really been aware that I was experiencing food allergy anxiety specifically, but boy did it hit when I first moved away from home.

For the very first time, I was not only without my parents, but also without my friends.

On one hand, college is exciting as it’s a fresh start in which no one really knows you, and everyone has kind of a blank slate.

On the other hand, college is terrifying as it’s a fresh start in which no one really knows you, and starting off with “Hi my name’s Katherine I’m allergic to…” isn’t exactly the smoothest way to make friends.

Not that I’m embarrassed or ashamed of my allergies, but it’s just not typically the first thing I tell new people, so for the introductory weeks of college I really felt alone in navigating my allergies.

As you can imagine, this added a whole new layer to the pre-existing anxiety.

Brand new food, at a brand new place, with brand new people.

Writing about it now, it honestly sounds like my worst nightmare.

With that being said, I am so super grateful to have since made wonderful friends who always look out for me and go out of their way to eat at places I can eat too, and I can confidently say that it does get better and the anxiety does lessen significantly.

There’s a billion and one things I want to say about my college experience thus far, so I don’t really want to get into all of it now, and think it would be best to split it up in future posts.

Soo that’s a bit of a general overview + my story/timeline, just one day short of fitting into mental health awareness month! ;)

As previously mentioned, I would love to expand upon this by writing both about how I recognize food allergy anxiety and some coping mechanisms that have worked for me, as well as possibly writing a post geared towards friends and family on little things that go a long way in lessening anxieties.

As always thanks for reading!!! Hope you learned something new and looking forward to continuing this series!