Some people are born with an allergy, some discover it in childhood, and some- like me- live a completely normal childhood only to discover an allergy later in life. I was 21.
From my sophomore year to my senior year of college, I discovered unknown allergies to penicillin, wasps, and soy (in that order). The first two are pretty manageable- don't take penicillin, don't get stung. It's easy to say "Ok, don't eat soy", but if you have a food allergy, you'll learn that avoiding it isn't as easy as it sounds.
My background:
Firstly, I'm not a doctor, and don't claim to give medical advice in any way. I'm just a girl who's life got more complicated, and I find a lot of the information out there insufficient or not entirely relevant for me. My allergy manifests through hives and tummy troubles- not anaphalaxis. As of yet, it's not going to kill me.
How I discovered my allergy:
I've never been a particularly great eater, and when I went to college without my mom to make sure i got all my food groups, lack of nutrition became pretty obvious. By my senior year, I was 21. Everyone said how great soy is for you and how it's full of good protein, so I tried soymilk. I vaguely remembered not really liking soymilk, so I tried a chai flavored one and it was delicious, my healthy indulgence. Every few weeks or so, I'd break out in hives without knowing why. It was my mom who figured it out since our conversations usually consisted of "how are you eating?" "I'm ok, mom. I'm drinking soy milk". I stopped drinking it and all was well...for awhile. Then I got hives from buttered popcorn (FYI movie theatre butter is pure hydrogenated soybean oil that's melted with a heater). Then protein bars, then chinese food, then a sandwich with mayo on it, once a spoonful of peanut butter. By the time I was 23, I was getting hives on a multi-weekly basis. Up to that point, my allergy had been an annoying inconvenience, but now it was something I couldn't ignore, and I started doing some research. I challenge you to read the labels in your cupboard. Most articles agree that over 60% of all pre-packaged American foods contain soy.
Facing a new life:
Suddenly, I was facing the challenge of removing soy from my life. I'm not all the way there yet, but if you're reading this blog for someone else or are new to your allergy, here's some of the things I'm not supposed to eat (from a store):
-Bread
-Crackers
-Pretty much any prepackaged carbohydrate, including cakes, cereals, and snack mixes.
-Margarine or buttery topping
-Mayonnaise or salad dressing
-Most types of peanut butter
-Technically chocolate and candy(though i don't usually have a problem with chocolate)
Things I've learned:
-Alcohol in conjunction with a soy food item is more likely to give me hives than the food item alone.
-You don't always get hives all the time from something. A lot of things come into play; how much you've had to eat that day, what types of things, how much soy you've taken in, and the state of your body in general. I get hives most often on days where all I had to eat at that point was something with soy, if i had an alcoholic beverage with a soy item, or during that time of the month.
-Some things give me hives more readily than others. Pure soy items (soy milk, hydrogenated soybean oil) affect me more often than dilluted or cooked items (like crackers). I've never gotten hives from soysauce. Why? Because food allergies (actually most allergies) are an allergy to a protein. Your body marks that protein as a threat (not because it's actually harmful, but because your body thinks it is) and send out histamines to fight the threat resulting in a reaction (for me, hives). Soy sauce is fermented, and the protein is broken.
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