All in my head

One thing (out of many) that I find frustrating in my life is that I love food (loooove) and I have multiple food allergies, of multiple degrees. On my must-avoid-cuz-I-get-hives-or-possibly-worse list are peanuts, shellfish, and coconut. On my I-really-should-avoid-but-I-won't-die list: wheat (that's a tough one), eggs, dairy, strawberries, tomatoes, and corn. It's tough. I carry an Epi-pen and Benadryl at all times. I'm not perfect, but I don't have a death wish. 

 

Today, I had a cup of Alpine Punch tea from DAVIDsTEA, started to feel a little itchiness in my mouth, checked the ingredients on the label, found nothing to be concerned about, checked the website, found out the tea contains coconut which is not on the label, went WTF?, poured the rest of the cup out, had a Benadryl, and emailed customer service.

 

I normally hate to make a fuss about my allergies. Not everyone is understanding; some people still think allergies are "all in your head" and a sign of weakness (like my friend's mom who keeps trying to feed me shrimp, or this poor woman's aunt). Or at the opposite extreme, they think all food is going to kill me (like my mom). But in this case I checked the label and asked the in-store staff before I bought, so I did all that I could, and I felt I should say something about it.

 

Customer service called me, apologized, came up with some lame excuse about there not being enough room on the label to list all ingredients (um, maybe they'd have room if they edited the ridiculous story about Swiss furry little men with long beards), said they're in the process of changing all their labels to include full lists of ingredients, and promised I could exchange huge offending tea with something non-allergenic.

So anyway, perhaps a few lessons learned here. I can never be too careful, and I shouldn't be afraid to speak up.

And since this is primarily a personal style blog, here's what I was wearing when this happened today.

Jacob sleeveless top | J.Crew Jenna's Cardigan | Ayala Bar necklace | Anthro Liquid Acres Skirt | Wolford Satin Opaque Tights | Michael Kors heels