Allergy diagnosed people are increasing at an alarming rate and allergies are regarded by the WHO as one of the major emerging health issues all around the world. Allergies can lead to death but they can also be a precursor to diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, etc. At the same time, they are not yet perceived by most societies as serious diseases and some patients - especially kids - are being bullied.
Allergies/intolerances are often self-diagnosed, they start with careful self-observation, willingness to do a lot of reading and self-learning (thank God we have access to the Internet!), food/chemical elimination and/or reducing the quantity of the products used, keeping a diary, experimenting and then double-checking the self-diagnosis by a physician (but not necessarily, some tests being inefficient). Their treatment requires a lot of time, patience, self-discipline and some emotional support. However, people often underestimate healing and recovery time or don't receive the support they need. The short film "More than an Inconvenience" produced by AllergySafeTravel looked exactly at the emotional issues allergic people face when travelling with airlines while the aim of the production is to promote a change in the airline policies with respect to allergic clients.
I've read hundreds of pages on a number of food and chemical allergies and intolerances, and physicians often add one simple phrase at the end: "Don't worry if you feel alone. This is normal".
But how can it be normal? Is it 'normal' just because most people diagnosed with allergy feel this way despite the support they receive from their close ones? But then, what is the explanation for feeling alone? Is it a personal fear based on the overload of information and the thought of theoretically life-threatening outcomes? Is it the lack of knowledge/information and general education on allergies in a society/culture which results in mistrust towards allergic people and even a feeling that they may over-exaggerate? Is the lack of support just a matter of personal propensity for empathy or maybe loneliness is due to a very personal psycho-physiological state (a combination of biological and emotional factors) which cannot be translated and shared?
What are your thoughts on these issues? Do you consider this perception - that it is all right to feel alone - as a mainstream one? Have you read any recent research on the emotional support of allergy/intolerance affected people?
Dear Hristina,
Being a non-medic/psych, perhaps I shouldn't comment...but then temptation IS something, isn't it?
Allergy, in the first place is a psycho-somatic reaction. Actually, it contains both psychological and physical portions in varying proportion, depending upon the object that caused the allergy. Psychologist/psychiatrist help may be needed to address the psych portion and a medical practitioner's help would be needed for the somatic part.
A person facing this reaction to his/her environment is obviously alone - the people around are not psychologically or physically reacting to the object causing allergy even though they are equally exposed to it. That precisely is why the person incurring the allergy feels 'alone'. His/her reactions are something not common enough to escape notice.
It is important therefore that the person incurring the allergy recognize that while he/she is alone in incurring it, actually they are are any different from others. It could as well have happened to someone else. If this recognition is gained, then there is hardly any need to feel 'alone' or 'estranged'. Let us take a simple case of influenza or common cold. The person contacting is definitely uncomfortable, but he/she should know that there is nothing uncommon about common cold. It can afflict anyone.
The immediate family and friends have a huge role in mitigating this feeling of loneliness. A psych alone is not good enough. We need to reinforce the person that it is alright to have an allergy; it is just that earlier he/she was one among millions. Now he/she is one among hundreds, so long as the allergy lasts!!!
Hope this helps. Merry Christmas.
Thank you for your input. For all those of us who have had the shaking experience of the anaphylactic shock (just the idea that it could be the last one) and the shock of having to consume only a limited number of foods, diet and health are definitely not a joke. Unfortunately, most people don't get it, no matter how close they are to us. As a matter of fact, I was myself unable to imagine to what extent food is important because I had access to so much more before, and now it is the ''what you lack'' that makes the ''what you can eat'' so vital.
That's why there are support groups - communities for people who have personally experienced the same situations and can share what works and what doesn't.
One thing physicians can do is to recur to these as well instead of trusting their textbooks more than the patients they are supposed to treat. My own self-diagnosis was mistrusted on several occasions. It is only after they understood that I was right - after examining the medical evidence - that they changed their minds and to some extent their behaviour. As a civic duty, I am always going back to report on what happened after a physician referred me to other tests or even if they didn't - it gives them information which I hope they can apply to other patients in the future. The truth is that many medical experts and physicians are not accustomed to looking at the "whole" where new or less visible signs may be, they are not accustomed to listening and recognizing the suffering. They stick to the symptoms they are familiar with. But trust and communication are also a work in progress.
In other words, the closeness to death and the lack of trust justify the feeling of aloneness. Then, there is the psychophysiology - how we feel and how our bodies interact with the illness because in allergies and intolerances people may have very different symptoms and many different and ranging in severeness reactions, not to mention that they change over time.
However, there may be other reasons and factors that contribute to this type of patients' aloneness.
A slightly different take... Although I don't research food allergies, I do a lot of research into the psychosocial impact of Coeliac Disease. There are a lot of parallels between Coeliac Disease and food allergy.
In Coeliac Disease, people are also told that it is normal to feel alone. After conducting interviews (far too many of them), there are a group of people with Coeliac Disease that do feel very isolated. In our world, food is used to unite people and bring people together (Birthdays, Christmas etc.) and these situations are quite challenging for individuals with a food allergy or Coeliac Disease. They have to either highlight their difference and describe their food allergies to those preparing the meal, or simply not eat.
Even for those who do eat at these events, the concerns about cross-contamination can be very high. Some individuals just feel more safe not taking part in these social activities that revolve around food. As a result, they are effectively isolating themselves from their friends and can feel very lonely.
Of course, in todays world, allergies are more recognised and we can cater for them. So theoretically, an individual with a food allergy should be able to engage in these social events that involve food and become a part of the community again. Interventions need to challenge the beliefs that "it is not safe to eat outside the home" or "eating in my home is safe" to allow those with food allergy to build up confidence and reintegrate into society.
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