|
I get you are speaking broadly and with apparently quite an opinion already (eg, is that common, really? or just your caricature view of an allergic person?), but I can only offer you my/our perspective. Daughter, highly allergic to peanuts since infant. Had a couple of anaphylactic reactions. This causes your whole system to want to f** you up, as violently and as quickly as possible. Rocket vomiting, throat swelling, asthma constricting your airways, intense feeling of heat and sweating and rashes. And anxiety deluxe, since you feel like you are gonna die, since that's literally what happens. It's a cascading system fault, which will lead to organ failure unless you stop it quickly. You do that with an Epipen, which is bug effin needle that hurts (I've taken one), and leaves you shaking from the adrenaline. And you'll be so full of anxiety and stress so you can't take one yourself, you need someone to give it to you. So you hope that adults around you know to recognize what's going on, and know where your shots are, and know how to administer one. But you are still not safe, since that might not be enough, you may need another shot within perhaps ten minutes, or six hours from rebound effects. And you know, that due to all this you can't just "take a shot and chillax the rest of the day", you'll need an ambulance and stay under observation for those hours, then you'll be tired like after running a marathon, for several days. Now consider what that does to you, when just a tiny tiny slip-up from someone is enough to send you down that funnel, and you constantly need to be sure you have your shots with you, anything you eat is safe. It's a constant state where you can't just relax and eat snacks with friends, or a million other things you take for granted. We as parents do what we can do, and try our hardest to not let her get stuck in thinking about it. She should not have to be responsible for those things working, she should just be another kid to the fullest extent. Then, as mentioned, a reminder comes in the form of school lunch messed up and the teacher that found her panicked on the thought of giving her that needle, so they gtfo out of there. Final thoughts. I understand, there are those parents who think that their little angel is the most tender fragile thing in the world. I don't know how warranted that is, perhaps there is a real risk for their child, perhaps not. People take risks differently. I can only offer another perspective and hope for better understanding. |