I think it can be really hard to explain what food allergies are like to people who don't live with them daily. It can be especially hard to explain the emotional toll that they take on us. Sure, food allergies only show real symptoms when we have a reaction (which for some of us is more often than others) but they effect us constantly. For those of you with out there who don't have food allergies, here is my best shot at trying to explain what living with food allergies is like. But before I do so, I want you to play a game of pac-man below. Bear with me, I promise it has a purpose.
Imagine life with food allergies is like the game of pac-man you just played. In pac-man there are 5 fundamental rules.
Now you are probably pretty lost to how a simple arcade game relates to the lives of people with food allergies. Let me explain. Just like pac-man keeps moving, our lives keep moving. Just like in pac-man, where the game revolves around food, our lives revolve around food. Most social events, family dinners and holidays all involve food which can sometimes make us feel left out or unsafe. The colored ghosts are like food allergens. If pac-man "eats" the ghosts or the ghost touches him, he will die just like if we eat or touch a food allergen we could potentially die. The ghosts move everywhere and Pac-man has no control of which way they will go. Like the ghosts, we have little control over our exposure to our allergens. The big dots are like our friends and family who help keep us safe. Just like in pac-man where they remove the threat of ghosts, our friends and family can help remove the threat of allergens and make it safe for us to eat and take advantage of life. The cherries in the game are like epinephrine; they are truly lifesavers and without it, if we are exposed to an allergen, we could die.
Now I want you to play the game again. This time I want you to pretend like you have bet a million dollars on winning the game. In order to win you have to get all of the little yellow dots. Go for it, play the one million dollar game!
- Pac-man keeps moving
- The main goal in pac-man is to "eat" the yellow dots to gain points
- You want to avoid the colored ghosts
- You want to eat the big dots because they make the ghosts safe
- Cherries are your lives, the more you have the better
Now you are probably pretty lost to how a simple arcade game relates to the lives of people with food allergies. Let me explain. Just like pac-man keeps moving, our lives keep moving. Just like in pac-man, where the game revolves around food, our lives revolve around food. Most social events, family dinners and holidays all involve food which can sometimes make us feel left out or unsafe. The colored ghosts are like food allergens. If pac-man "eats" the ghosts or the ghost touches him, he will die just like if we eat or touch a food allergen we could potentially die. The ghosts move everywhere and Pac-man has no control of which way they will go. Like the ghosts, we have little control over our exposure to our allergens. The big dots are like our friends and family who help keep us safe. Just like in pac-man where they remove the threat of ghosts, our friends and family can help remove the threat of allergens and make it safe for us to eat and take advantage of life. The cherries in the game are like epinephrine; they are truly lifesavers and without it, if we are exposed to an allergen, we could die.
Now I want you to play the game again. This time I want you to pretend like you have bet a million dollars on winning the game. In order to win you have to get all of the little yellow dots. Go for it, play the one million dollar game!
That was really stressful right? You were probably a little (or a lot) more focused and cautious this game. Maybe you tired harder to find the big yellow dots that would help keep you safe and tried harder to run away from the ghosts. Did you enjoy the nice break you got when the ghosts turned blue? You probably were a lot more methodical and maybe tried to plan how you would attack the game before you started. That is how we food allergic individuals approach life. We look for those who will keep us safe and we work really hard to avoid what we are allergic to. We often try to plan out our days in advanced to make sure we will be safe; being spontaneous can be really difficult and dangerous for us. We always make sure we have our medication just incase something happens because we know how serious food allergies can be. What makes us smile and helps us enjoy life is when our friends help protect us and keep us safe so that we can relax and take a short break. If you are a big yellow dot in the life of someone with food allergies I hope you realize now the true amount of impact you have on their life. Thanks for being an ally!
