Do you know what a food allergy looks like???

My daughter has a red dye allergy.  Any contact with red dye sends her to the bathroom usually to spend the next 20-45 minutes with severe stomach upset, cramps, bloating, gas, and you guessed it diarrhea.  If we are lucky I can get it to stop there with a couple of Benadryl and she sleeps it off...if not she then starts throwing up and that's when I have to get out the big guns...Epi-pens are not our friends, but they do save lives.   This reaction isn't the one that people hear about so often...they hear about the mouth swelling and the tongue itching.   Well the reality is this is the same thing it just take my daughter's body a little while longer to register an allergic reaction than most...and this is pretty typical of someone who has an allergy that is progressing to anaphlaxis.  The same thing is happening to her...it's just further down in her body.

 Catie has lots of know allergens.   We had allergy testing done a year and half ago to determine what she was truly allergic to.  Unfortunately there is no test for dyes and chemicals.  She has over and over again had reactions to red dyes.  We have used elimination to  determine this allergy.
Last week after Easter Catie was upset with me because I got a bag of jelly beans.  She was well and truly pissed at me that I brought this poison into  the house.  She then begged me for a green jelly bean.  I saw no harm in giving her a green jelly bean.  So I told her to get one.  I watched in horror as she got two green and one yellow and popped them in her mouth.   She then trotted out of the house as if nothing was wrong.  An hour later she came home home complaining that she was hot and cold at the same time.  Her face was bright red and her cheeks we puffed up.  She had two hives on her face.  She started to complain almost right away  that she  her stomach was hurting.   So two Benadryl later she was ready to sleep through dinner.   I do wish she would listen to me.
 We have had since had Alex tested and he is also allergic to many things.  He is doing very well since we found out he has some allergies.   We have both of the kids doing allergy shots and they both seem to be improving.  Catie is on maintenance and Alex is on build up.

I want everyone to have the access we do to free
 Epi-pens https://www.epipen.com/copay-offer/

UPDATE: This link has been revised! 

Or if you use Auvi-Q  https://www.auvi-q.com/affordability/

This link was added.

The Generic Epinephrine Injection is also available now...from Mylan
https://www.my-generic-epinephrine-auto-injector.com/
You can get a discount card for the generic injector at almost all pharmacies now.  CVS makes it very easy.  They were the first to roll out this program and have since remained the top in the market to keep it affordable.  

Since this was first published my son has since been diagnosed with a shellfish, sage and cinnamon. I have also been diagnosed with a milk allergy.  It has complicated our lives in ways I could never have dreamed of...but I now know what was wrong all those years ago when my daughter would throw up for no reason after eating in the backseat on the way home from dinner.  I have a better understanding of why my son breaks out in hives from head to toe and we have no idea why.
Catie is done with allergy shots.  Alex is on maintenance and doing well.