Living With Food Allergies? Be Prepared

CLEVELAND -- Sneezing, itchy eyes and coughing are sure signs of seasonal allergies, but they generally don't pose a serious health risk.

Allergies of another kind bring something much more serious to the table -- literally.

Jeffrey Smutek looks and acts like any other 9-year-old, but his short life has been a long battle.

"As soon as it hits his system, he reacted to it," said Elizabeth Smutek, Jeffrey's mother. "He went into an anaphylaxic shock. He turned red, got hives (and) was having trouble breathing. We called the doctor and they said he's having an allergic reaction."

Jeffrey was only 6 months old when doctors realized those reactions were to food -- nearly everything he ate, especially peanuts.

His symptoms were so severe that just being in the same room with a food to which he was allergic caused a reaction.

"I'd put him in the shopping cart and he would have this horrible reaction," Smutek said. "He would start with hives, vomiting and just having a horrible time because the child (who) was in there prior to him would've eaten a cookie, a cracker or anything that he was allergic to."

More fear set in when Jeffrey started school.

"Everybody would have peanuts and celebrate the home opener, they'd be dressed up in their Indians garb," Smutek said. "I said, 'OK, wait a minute, I'm not sending Jeffrey to school that day -- wait a minute, I'm not sending Jeffrey to school that week.'"

But as the Smuteks have learned, being prepared is the key to living a normal life with allergies.

"If that child starts having problems at school, it's very important that somebody can be able to give them epinephrine quite quickly," said Dr. Mel Berger of University Hospitals. "All that needs to be done is just take the cap off this and there is a pre-loaded spring-driven syringe inside this, and you just go (click, and) it gives the adrenaline, and that could save a life."

Allergic reactions come on quickly and strongly. Hives, a funny feeling on your tongue and a rash are all sure signs that something you ate is the cause, doctors said.

Doctors said that keeping track of those symptoms and your diet will help them determine what's making you sick.

"Obviously, if you bite into a banana and have a reaction, you know it was the banana," Berger said. "If you have an egg, you know it's the egg. But if you have some complicated thing with lots of layers or lots of ingredients or lots of things together, then it may be a little harder to recognize."

The good news is that some kids grow out of food allergies, while others, like Jeffrey, can eat the fun stuff -- just in a different form.

"Spaghetti and meatballs, rice noodles -- they're very comparable to wheat noodles, and I make my own meatballs, and he loved it," Smutek said. "And he just went to town on it, and I was sitting at the end of the table crying."