Name: How do you date when you have a severe allergy? | BBC Ideas
Uploaded: 2024-12-31T14:55:12.000Z
Duration: 5 min 7 s
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It does frustrate me quite a lot that people don't know much about allergies because you get a lot of people that think it's a joke or something.

It shouldn't define you and I don't let it define me but it is a matter of life and death.

The whole big allergy is sigh, like it's such a bore, it'll be more of a hindrance to me than it'll ever be to you.

So I was always terrified of kissing, so I didn't have my first kiss until I was 18.

I remember seeing it on the news, there was this girl at university who had kissed her boyfriend she was dating at the time and he had a Snickers bar and she passed away from that.

And I was always terrified, I was like, you know, what did they drink that day, what did they eat in that day?

The first day I met my boyfriend I spoke about my allergies.

From that point onwards he very willingly educated himself.

He's made it a part of our relationship, it's not an issue, it's just how we work.

If you've got someone who you love who has an allergy, do the little things, you know, see how you can help them and that makes a really big difference.

An ingredient which caused an allergic response.

I have a life-threatening severe nut allergy.

I'm also allergic to kiwi, grapefruit, prawns, pink peppercorns and coconuts.

I'm decontaminating it, I've got my own little ritual to make it safe.

First week it did feel quite lonely but then it's also nice to have that place that's your own algae-free zone.

I'm a second year media production student at the University of Lincoln.

I could go into anaphylaxis from having milk or nuts so the seriousness is very high and so it only takes a little bit of it.

Food is such a big part of socialising at any age.

When I came to university it was so nice to talk freely with people my own age about how I was feeling.

It sort of gave me a new perspective on what friendships are meant to be.

I'm a 16-year-old ski racer and I race for the Team GB children's team.

I've got a nut allergy, it's quite a severe one at that.

Yeah, I probably need to go check what they've got and all the ingredients and stuff.

You've got more just responsibilities, you need to make sure what you're eating is the right thing.

However exhausting this constant vigilance is, it is entirely necessary.

I start educating myself more and more and more because that's how I feel safest.

Before I came to university I was researching the hell out of alcohol and alcoholic brands, trying to figure out what would be the safest option for me.

Do you like drinking in a place like this, which is like a pub instead of a bar?

Yeah, some bars, they mainly do cocktails, gins, liquors that I can't really have.

The first time you go out on your own, it is quite scary.

I will take a bag with me that will have my EpiPens and Peritone in it just for the case that something did happen.

If I ever did sort of go into an anaphylactic shop, what you'd do is you'd use this thing that's called an EpiPen.

I remember you telling me that it was blue to the sky, orange to the high, and I know that you'd prefer it on your right side if possible.

Allergies aren't just a singular thing, it comes with the anxiety, the high and low moods, this sort of isolation.

I find it quite motivating that you can just do all this stuff.

Yeah, like an allergy doesn't have to hold you back and define you as a person, you can still live life.

It's made me very thick-skinned and very persevering.

A 13-14 year old me would have shaken going into a restaurant with my parents, but they were always like, you know, you have to say your allergies, you have to communicate it, we won't always be here to do that, and that really helps me.

Because of the education I've put myself through and the experience that I've had, I feel way more confident, way more independent, and that's really shaped me into looking at my allergies differently.