In getting ready to go to my cousin’s wedding, I sent her an email about bringing my own food to the reception, since I wanted to enjoy the wedding and not have any drama with an allergic reaction. I had not kept anyone up to date on how severe my allergies had become and was worried that they would try to accommodate me with a special meal when all I wanted was to bring my food so that I could safely enjoy their special day. Her emails back to me were quite a surprise. I’ll let you read for yourself...
From: "Corn Allergy Cousin"
Subject: Re: wedding
To: "Bride to Be Cousin"
Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 7:25 PM
Hi B,
Our RSVP is in the mail and we are planning to attend!!!! We wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Please count us in and put A. down for the Prime Rib selection. As for me, I sent a note about my menu issue with the RSVP and have been planning to call your mom about this as well, but haven’t had 5 min, to myself lately. With my corn allergy, which has become really severe, I was hoping it would be okay if I brought something that I knew was safe for me to eat so I don’t chance having a reaction during the reception.
I spent some time researching the best way to handle this and found that most people with food allergies and either asked the catering staff to put it on a plate for them so it is served with everyone else or just have an empty plate at their seat and serve themselves. This corn allergy is so crazy, it is much safer for me to just take my own food. (You would not believe the stuff that corn is in, like regular table salt!) Please let me know if this is okay.
Love,
C
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From: "Bride to Be Cousin"
Subject: Re: wedding
To: "Corn Allergy Cousin"
Date: Thursday, July 3, 2008, 4:14 PM
Hey C,
I'm so glad that you and A will be able to attend. That is no problem; let me know which way you would prefer so I can email my wedding coordinator at the club. I don't want you to get sick and not enjoy yourself.
I was telling your dad that I have a lot of stomach issues and it makes me wonder if I'm not allergic to something too. It seems to run in the family because M. [note: my younger brother who is gluten intolerant] has a food allergy too.
Sometimes I feel like I have an 'attack' of some sort and I’m doubled over in pain. Recently I had an ultrasound done on my gal bladder and I am scheduled for a scope of my stomach this month. Which I had before and my problem was not solved. I asked my allergist a while ago about a possible food allergy. I'm surprised my stomach Dr. never sent me for testing.....oh well....
Well, I'm glad that you and A. will be at our wedding!!! Just get back to me ASAP about how you would like to be served dinner. Also, I know you will be traveling far, so you are more than welcome to refrigerate your food at my house during the ceremony and I know that all of the hotel rooms have a fridge.
Love,
B
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From: "Corn Allergy Cousin"
Subject: Re: wedding
To: "Bride to Be Cousin"
Date: Friday, July 4, 2008, 7:26 AM
Hi B,
Thanks so much for being so understanding and helpful, food allergies are a pain. For serving dinner, I’d like to do whatever is easiest for the caterers so there is a minimum of hassle and fuss. I’ll bring something simple in an insulated bag with a ice pack and keep it easy to deal with — I just want to avoid a reaction on your big day!
I didn’t discover my food allergy till I had trouble breathing from a reaction, but my allergist and I think I have had it at a low level my whole life since I used to have horrible stomach pain and headaches several times a week ( I never left the house without Tylenol & Tumms) as well a odd bouts of dizziness. Now that I don’t eat corn or corn derivatives, I don’t have the headaches or stomach pain anymore.
My allergist suspects that my mom, and maybe Grandmom too, may have had low level food allergies since the three of us were always hitting the Tumms for our “bad stomachs” but were probably self medicating for a sub-clinical allergic reactions. Try to avoid being allergic to corn, since it is in everything from perfume to wax on fruit and is a real pain to avoid! I’ve gotten more sensitive over time so now I have to carry epi-pens and be very careful, it is considered a life-threatening allergy.
One thing that was helpful for me was to keep a food diary so I could track what I reacted too, but it took a combination of the skin tests and the food challenge diet (you eat just one food family for 3 days to see if you react to it) to determine what I was allergic to — but we got several false positives because of cross contamination with corn and for a while we thought I was allergic to corn, dairy, wheat, nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers), rice and apples but that was due to cross contamination from corn during the test.
I have WAAAAAAAY too much information on food allergies and testing, if you need more. Are they doing the scope and a biopsy to check for gluten intolerance?
We can’t wait to see you!
Love,
C
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From: "Bride to Be Cousin"
Subject: Re: wedding
To: "Corn Allergy Cousin"
Date: Friday, July 4, 2008, 10:37 AM
OMG! So I'm NOT crazy!!! I have trouble breathing too at times after eating AND I always have headaches AND I have had small dizzy spells. Everyone thinks I'm crazy and “it's all in my head.'' My purse is loaded with Tums and Advill too!!!
I'm going to tell my doctor about the family history, I had no idea. Hopefully this will solve it. I THINK they are going to test for food allergy. I have been trying to eat some organic foods lately thinking that I may react to pesticides non-organic foods have.
I will talk to my wedding coordinator about your meal. I will see if they will plate it and bring it out with the meals at your table. Thanks for the info! Talk to you soon
Love,
B
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From: "Corn Allergy Cousin"
Subject: Re: wedding
To: "Bride to Be Cousin"
Date: Saturday, July 5, 2008, 6:00 AM
B—you are SO NOT crazy!! We need to talk! Our symptoms are so similar and I hope I can save you some time with a diagnosis if we have the same issue! (I really hope you don’t have a corn allergy though, it sucks!) If you have trouble breathing after you eat, your allergist needs to take this very seriously! Do you have Benadryl? It is a good idea to carry some in case of a serious breathing problem!
I eat mostly organic food since I react to the trace amounts of corn in pesticides. Call me when you are free, my cell is 555 867-5309 What is your cell #? We can talk tomorrow.
Some other problems that had just shown up in the years before the diagnosis were severe joint pain and needing to nap after eating, I don’t have these problems anymore either. It got so bad that I would feel drugged if I ate something that had corn syrup in it, like cake with frosting, so I thought the problem was sugar. When I was in grad school I actually went sugar free for a few months, till I had a cookie at a Thanksgiving dinner!
Love,
C
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The wedding was amazing, more about that later, but at the reception I discovered that another cousin's 15-month old baby has a severe dairy allergy. This is all on my mom’s side of the family. Just 7 years ago none of us knew a thing about food allergies.
We talked about her taking some Benadryl on her honeymoon, just to be safe since they are going to the food paradise of Italy. But, on the good news side the breathing difficulties after eating may be due to newly diagnosed hiatal hernia, which can be treated. So, I hope that our common symptoms don't indicate allergies after all, but they are so similar I still wonder. She is going to talk to her allergist about food allergies as she has had some other issues with breathing and I think some swelling of her tongue, so I hope she will find out soon.
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