Ignorance And Allergies: The Battle Continues

Now before anyone protests the title of my story(ies), yes many places are now educated about the dangers of allergies, and chefs are trained to be both knowledgeable and willing to work with special requests by Custys. I don't argue with that. My main complaint is that ignorance is still horrifically rampant.

My mom is allergic to peppers (bell, jalapeno etc--not black pepper, that's a different kind of 'pepper') and bananas. Apparently there's one enzyme or protein in those two that Mom reacts to. It's not as severe as some allergies out there. A taste is generally not enough to cause real problems, but it can still result in a hospital trip if she gets too much, and she carries an Epi Pen with her at all times. 

The first headache resulted from a trip to Disneyland. We went into the Blue Bayou restaurant by Pirates of the Carribean and a look at the menu revealed that almost all of the lunch items came with peppers in some form. Seriously, even the steamed vegetables, side salads, and mashed potatoes had peppers in them... My aunt just told mom, "Oh don't eat the side dishes then or scape it off the top."

(Odd... I swear I just heard a chorus of RHUers scream "NO!" for some reason. Could it be that many of you also know just how far that statement fails?)

Dad and I argued with her for 10 minutes about how that wouldn't work and the park really didn't want to have an ambulance incident. Fortunately for us the waitress was very quick on the uptake and, having overheard us, vanished into the back with barely a flicker of her eyelashes.

We were just finishing up educating my aunt when a chef came out, introduced himself to us and began to discuss at length with mom the various menu items and either confirming or denying the presence of the presence of peppers. When it became apparent that finding something Mom COULD eat on the lunch menu would be difficult, he promised that he could deliver.

He would pull out a dinner menu item that was not cooked with peppers at all, if she was okay with eating beef (I forget the dish, some sort of filet mignon or something). When Mom assured him that was fine, he also promised to thoroughly clean his station so that cross contamination from the peppers wouldn't be a danger. The allergy isn't THAT strong, but it's good that he was taking great care of Mom.

My aunt still didn't seem to understand, but at least she stopped arguing.

-------------------------

The second headache was more serious. While exploring through a local mall, a Hagen Daas popped out a fresh faced young Retail Slave (I swear, he was probably legally old enough to work by a day) with a tray of little cups. He offered us a sample.

As is habit and a cautionary survival trait, we asked what he was offering. "German Chocolate Shake" we were told. Obviously one of those names meant to be a play on "German Chocolate CAKE" in a "SHAKE" form. I took a sip, and my immediate internal response was, "Holy SHIT that's got BANANA!"

I spun to mom and said frantically, "Don't drink it!"

"Too late." Mom said.

Because it was supposed to be a chocolate cake derivative, it never occurred to any of us that banana would be one of the ingredients. Naturally not  occurring to mom, and being the chocolate lover she is, she downed it in a single swallow.

Now take a breath RHU, Mom's okay.

When I told the Hagen Slave that Mom was allergic to banana and that there was banana in his sample, the poor kid went dead white. Obviously they never told HIM about it; they just shoved a tray in his hands and told him to offer the stuff to passing Custys. A quick confirmation with the slaves behind the counter and he reappeared with a phone in his hand, offering to call 9-1-1. He was more upset than we were, probably because he was terrified that he had just killed someone, and he was very apologetic.

We declined the ambulance, but accepted a glass of water to dilute it and to wash the sticky banana laced coating out of her mouth and throat. With many reasurrances that we were okay and that we weren't upset, we continued on our way.

Thankfully, Mom's allergic reaction was mild. Her mouth tingled, and her throat swelled a little. Breathing became a little difficult, but didn't cut off completely. We dug up the Epi Pen and kept it in easy reach, but the reaction subsided. In the end, her body simply screamed "Bad!" and flushed it through her system as quick as a laser beam.

There probably would have been an incident report had a manager been alerted, but we barely stayed two minutes. I suspect though, that the poor slave spends the rest of his days asking exactly what is in everything they give him. Poor kid got a mini trial-by-fire.

May all your customers be nice,

Comments

[The Last Archimedean]

As someone who has allergies [fortunately, not horrible ones that can cause me to go into shock] I feel very sorry for your mom.

Incident #1: Your aunt needs to grow a brain that works [scraping it off doesn't help -- cross-contamination], and the chef displayed absolutely top-notch customer service -- bravo to him.

Incident #2: Thankfully, the reaction wasn't very severe. Not the kid's fault, he had no idea, but he's learned a lesson in a productive way.

Best wishes to you and your mom, and may she never have an allergic reaction again.

[CoG]

Oh, man. I kinda hope you commended those two slaves to their bosses. That chef showed awesome service and willingness to go above and beyond for a customer, and that kid was right on top of it with an offered phone call for an ambulance and some water. Glad that not everyone is as dismissive as your aunt.

[LittleWriter]

Disney food service has been meticulously trained--if you tell them it's because of an allergy, they know exactly what to do. I am also allergic to bananas, and the last time I was there, I asked for a particular item, without the bananas, because of an allergy. No problem; they even asked questions to confirm that the rest of the dish was okay. I can't say enough good things about them.

And that poor kid (and poor mom!). This is why companies have got to prepare people for stuff like that. I wouldn't have guessed banana in a German Chocolate Cake kind of thing, either.

(FYI: I recently found out--not first-hand, thankfully--that if you're banana-sensitive, you can also have issues with kiwis. Use caution.)

[Jane]

I'm sorry, but what's "ignorant" about either of these stories? Case One seemed like exactly how you'd hope any experience with food allergies would transpire. In Case Two, there's an implication of negligence (they just shoved a tray in his hands) that's totally unfounded.

Maybe I'm being insensitive, but isn't the obligation with the allergy sufferer to not make assumptions about unknown foods and to confirm their ingredients? You know, just like you did in Case One? If you had asked "does this shake contain bananas or peppers" and the kid misinformed you, that'd be a different story altogether.

[Jami]

@Jane - It was the AUNT who was ignorant, not the chef.

I have these issues too. I have a LOT of allergies and at one point a coworker actually claimed it was all in my head. (I'm allergic to bell peppers too, though not other kinds of peppers. Which is a good thing as I love it when my food is so spicy I cry.)

It's amazing how many people actually doubt my allergies. I'm allergic to pork for instance and people will stand there and tell me there's no way that could be true.

But the best story - when I was little and forced to go to church there was a rainy day when I was at Sunday school. They brought in hot chocolate for us but it was sugar free. I told them I'm allergic to artificial sweeteners and the teachers told me I was a liar and bullied me into drinking it. An hour later I was in the hospital.

[photoslave]

This is EXACTLY why my gas station has a binder of nutritional information for all of our prepared foods and fountain drinks.

[Nobody]

@Jami - You're not alone. I also am allergic to pork (and several other foods that people look at me funny when I tell them I'm allergic).

[geekzyllah]

Allergic to peppers. It's the one allergy of mine that people are consistently confused by. Either they disbelieve, or they conveniently forget, or, oddly, can't seem to correctly identify a bell pepper. Weird.

[Spritzy]

I'm allergic to cayenne pepper...though not too terribly,...still an unpleasant experience if I eat something with it...mostly my digestive system goes into a angry revolt against me and my skin gets all blotchy and I break out in a cold, dizzy sweat.
People can be allergic to all sorts of crazy things, not just the common stuff like nuts, dairy, eggs, or gluten.
@Jami ~ That teacher was a bitch for calling your allergy a lie and forcing you to drink the cocoa. Did she get reprimanded or anything for doing that since you ended up in the friggin hospital for it?

[Alica]

I'm allergic to something in curry....we're not sure what, but I've tried different types of curries from different places, and every time afterwards I've thrown up. I now avoid curry, but the amount of people who don't understand that is amazing.

[Theresa]

I'm allergic to tree nuts (not peanuts, they are a legume ) and allergic to all products that come from a cow's udder (milk, cream, butter, whey, etc.). People still don't believe me. Once they see me projectile vomit, break out in hives, try to scratch my own tongue when it swells, develop a horrible migraine they understand. My MIL actually gave me something made with cream soup (containing, surprise!!!! CREAM) she still didn't understand why I vomited. UGH.

[Bored at the Bookstore]

I certainly understand how frustrating the "scrape it off" people can be. My dad was allergic to tomatoes, of all things. Even the smell of them was enough to send him running for the bathroom). I didn't smell or taste pizza or spaghetti until I was grown up and out of the house! People were forever telling him, "For heaven's sake, just take the tomatoes off the salad!" or "Scrape off the ketchup - it'll be fine"; this was back in the Olden Days of Yore, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and allergies were completely misunderstood and seldom seen.

Me, I'm allergic to prunes. Giant hives. Horrible. And, of course, cats and dogs, horses and hogs, dust, mold, mildew, and all spring, summer, and fall grasses. You should see me at the bookstore when someone brings in a bag of books stored in the cellar for a year and nested in by the family cat! it ain't pretty.

Thank goodness the chef was a true professional and the Haagen Daas kid was quick on the uptake. This is why, when I make baked goods for a group (as i did last night for the ockey team) I always, but always, include a list of the ingredients.

[Jami]

@Spritzy - My parents were pretty POed at all the Sunday school teachers because it was more than one who got on me. Telling me my allergy was "impossible" and all that. When they came into the church to get my parents mom said to them, "If Jami tells you she's allergic to something, she's NOT lying!"

I don't know if anyone else chewed them out, but I know my parents gave them what-for.

Sadly, like with the pork allergy, it's still one of those ones people want to disbelieve. They seem to think just because I'm fat I'm trying to have an excuse to use real sugar instead of the fake stuff.

Humans can be jerks.

[Bored at the Bookstore]

Ummm. I just noticed that I left the "h" off "hockey". I don't think anybody actually plays ockey anymore, excepting places where they drop their "h's"...

And I left off an allergen in my litany - copper beech trees! Which diagnosis explained, finally, why I always had breathing problems at Roger Williams Zoo in Providence RI... The place is a forest of copper beeches.

Sorry for the errors - that's what I get for posting when I can't sleep in the wee hours of the morning. Or any other time, apparently.

[McScrewYou]

I don't suffer from allergies myself, but I have family that gets strong reactions to environmental allergens so I know that there's nothing 'in your head' about it. Even when I brought homemade foreign dishes for my grade 6 'around the world' project, I made a special placecard with all of the ingredients and an 'IN CASE OF ALLERGIES' title in bold. If there's one thing I'm paranoid about, it's accidentally killing someone.

Couple years ago when I invited a friend to my birthday, I made sure to double check what she was allergic to, and it was a damn good thing I did! She had a few different alergies, some of which were new to me, and I couldn't remember them all (shellfish and mushroms were on the list, I know, along with grass/pollen and latex). I knew she was allergic to tomatoes, so I was planning on making pizza with pesto sauce. Turns out the tomato allergy was quite mild, but she had much more serious allergy to pine nuts. Serious as in, pesto could kill her. I think we ended up using a mango salsa or something... whatever it was I think still had a bit of tomato, but she said that allergy was so mild she wouldn't have a reaction over so little.

[Framed]

Disney staff is always REALLY good with allergies. Pretty much any of the really big theme parks have a reasonably well trained staff in 'making it work,' but so far I've found Disney to be the best. My mom is allergic/highly sensitive to way too much food including dairy, gluten, peppers, bananas, cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro... it's hard to find food for her. We always plan a little extra time for meals so she can find something or have it made for her. For my parents anniversary though, they made a reservation at the Brown Derby in Hollywood Studios. When making the reservation, they ASKED about any allergies. Finding out about the litany of things to avoid, they scheduled a time for a phone call with the chef a few days in advance to make sure everything would be in order.

I am actually really allergic to weed (Mom is too). I had a boyfriend who decided he really hated going outside to smoke it and having to wash up when he came inside, so he decided it was all in my head. I woke up from a nap on the couch with him opening my mouth and touching a damn nug to my tongue. Now, according to him, because my throat was swelling up, not my tongue, it was definitely all in my head. After I did what I could to counteract the reaction, well, he didn't last long, and I make it clear to potentials that I don't care if you do it, but if you do, we won't be dating.

[NC Tony]

I think some people like to confuse "allergic" with "don't like". As in, you're not really allergic to say, bananas, you just don't like them. Some people just don't understand how bad allergic reactions can get. For example, I'm allergic to seafood. If it's on the menu at Red Lobster I can't eat it. My wife won't even kiss me after eating a tuna fish sandwich. I remember years ago when I went to summer camp, the kitchen served fish sticks, I couldn't eat it so I just had a couple of pb&j sandwiches. Someone started getting on my case about it, basically calling me a liar and a coward for not wanting to eat the fish sticks. I said, "Well I would eat them, but I'm also allergic to dying." That shut him up.

[Nocturnesthesia]

Ugh, my mother is one of those "allergies are psychosomatic and no one had allergies in the 50s" people. I randomly developed a peanut allergy as a teenager and she used to sneak peanuts into my food all the time to "prove" I was lying, then accuse me of making myself vomit when it made me sick. But then this is the same woman who told my doctor I was a hypochondriac faking for attention after a series of kidney infections so I shouldn't be surprised. Thankfully I'm not one of those people who is allergic to Fucking Everything or I wouldn't have survived childhood.

Alica - Could it be coconut, possibly? Coconut milk is in a lot if curries, but then they contain so many spices it's difficult to pinpoint which ingredient affects you.

Jami - Do you know which artificial sweeteners affect you? Allergies to aspartame, saccharin, xylatol and cyclamates are pretty common but there aren't really any studies on Stevia or sucralose allergies yet so I'm curious. (Though most sugar free products mix several types of fake sweeteners so avoiding them is probably a good idea.)

[McScrewYou]

NCTonyy: Oh GOD that's a whole nother category no one's menioned yet. The 'allergic to things that taste bad' people. Maybe people wouldn't BE so ignorant about allergies if everyone and their mother didn't decide "Oh, I fucking HATE sprouts, so I'm gonna tell everyone I'm allergic so no one will make me eat it!"

Dgrdyfjgrhhdkkys..... I had a friend like that, and she would even pull that shit on ME to try to get me to trade meals with her, when she knew damn well I knew she was full of shit. Once I even had to deal with my brother screaming at me for being 'insensitive to her illness' after I wouldn't give her my last pack of beef noodles when she decided the shrimp wasn't up to her exacting standards and started pulling the 'allergy card' when demanding my food didn't work. I will actually have a physical reaction to tomatoes that will make me start dry heaving, and even still I don't try to insult people by passing it off as an allergy. It's a very strong dislike that will make me gag; that's it.

These people CAN and WILL scrape off the offending ingredient, all the while telling everyone who will listen that they will DIE if they eat it. So naturally, people unfortunate enough to actually associate with such selfish individuals would have some misconcepions when it comes to an ACTUAL allergy sufferer.

It's insane how much I hate these people.... they just make me SO FUCKING MAD pretending to have a potentially life-threatening condition just because their prissy little mouths are so fucking sensitive the DESERVE to be treated special. It may not be a completely accurate comparison, but to me it seems like faking you're paralyzed because you feel too lazy to walk that day, and why even bother walking if people will go out of their way to assist someone the think actually needs the help. Honestly, next faker I meet, I might just punch them on principle. It infuriates me when people who arw not even part of a denomination uses their sense of entitlement to fuck everything up for the people who are. Honestly, they make me sick.

[Angela]

I understand the whole allergy thing. I am allergic to anything the comes from a flower including oils, ie: sunflower oil. It really sucks because sunflower oil is in a lot of foods because it is a healthy alternative to other oils. It is even in deorderants! The one allergy that I have that everyone questions is Loratadine which is the main ingredient in Claratin (an allegry medicine). I have even had a nurse at the hospital tell me that they didn't believe me and try to make me take it.

[Alica]

Nocturnesthesia - I'm fine with coconut. Which is good, considering how much I like chocolate Bounty bars :) that is the problem though - curries contain so many spices that narrowing it down is going to be a total pain. When you throw in the fact that it will at some point make me throw up, I've decided avoiding curry is just easier ^_^

[Nomnom]

@Alica - maybe you could have a scratch test or something done with all the spices in curry. (Do scratch tests work with food allergies?)

I'm allergic to Ceclor, which is an antibiotic. I also used to be mildly allergic to cats when I was little. As in being near one would make my nose get stuffed up (nasal swelling?). Many a night would I lie awake feeling my body switch nostrils to breath through after taking Dimetapp. (Seriously, if anyone knows how to mix a drink that tastes like grape Dimetapp please tell me!) But thankfully I grew out of my allergy to cats and I am able to keep one inside now.

As for no one having allergies in the 50's, my grandfather was born in the 30's and has an allergy to shellfish. My dad also had allergies he eventually grew out of. And my mom is allergic to cockroaches (among other things). You can develop and grow out of allergies at any time and can be allergic to anything.

[Jami]

@Nocturnesthesia - I'm pretty much allergic to all fake sweeteners. Especially whatever is in NutraSweet and Equal. Stevia I've never had a reaction to though I hate the taste.

[northern kelpie]

Elderberries... I am allergic to elderberries. I get hives if I even touch them. Guess what is in everything fruity now :P

[Chefnutmeg]

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/basic-curry-sauce/
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-curry-powder.htm
Hope those might help narrow it down