When you’re getting ready to go out for a night on the town with your girls, I don’t know about you, but my food allergies are the last thing that I want to think about. Regardless, they are always on my mind in order to keep myself safe. As long as you keep yourself in control you can still have fun with your friends and stay safe, even if you consume alcohol.
In my opinion, the most important thing you can do is ensure that your friends who you will be with know about your food allergies. From spending enough time with me, the majority of my friends are well versed on what my food allergies are and what to do in the event that I have an allergic reaction. At some point, I have given them all the lesson on what would happen if I did have a reaction and how to use my EpiPen®.
The ongoing joke with my friends is my constant struggle to find a small purse that is big enough to hold my EpiPen®. When going out, I like to find an over the shoulder bag that is small enough that it will not get in my way, but large enough to hold my EpiPen®. Over the shoulder bags are also great because their size makes them harder to lose.
If you choose to drink alcohol on your night out, I feel that the most important thing that you can do to keep yourself safe when you have food allergies is to keep yourself in control. It is easy to let peer pressure influence you to have a little too much to drink. When your judgement is impaired, the decisions you make regarding food may not be as well thought-out as they should be. For that reason, I always try to have a good meal before I go out so that I am not too hungry later if I find myself in a tricky food situation.
Another big thing to consider is the drinks that you consume. The content of allergens in some types of alcohol are much more obvious than others. Personally, I have peanut and tree nut allergies. I am well aware that liqueurs like Amaretto and Frangelico are tree nut-based. Unfortunately, some alcohols are not as obvious. I recently learned to my surprise that some brands of gin contain almonds! For that reason, it is a good idea to really look into the ingredients of liqueurs before going out. This can be challenging since many do not have an ingredients list on the bottles. Calling the company is the best way to accurately know if a product will be safe for you. To keep my life easy, I like to stick to a few drinks that I know will be safe. That way I do not need to question what will be safe and what is being mixed together.
With these things in mind I think it is very manageable to have a night out with your girls, regardless of your food allergies. Being prepared is the best way to stay safe, but always remember to have fun!
-Sara S.
Tags: Alcohol, Allergies and Drinking, auto-injector, Night Out, Sara S.