Eggs

My name is Anna and I'm 12 years old. Something that's always been a huge part of my life is my egg allergy. My parents found out about my allergy when I was a baby, but they weren’t really concerned. My sister was allergic to soy, but grew out of it by the time she was 3, so I guess my parents thought I would too. I did not.

My parents consulted a specialist and started testing me with the allergy ladder really early, but I didn’t make any progress. While my reactions weren’t severe, I would get rashes all over my forearms and the skin around my mouth would get inflamed. For most of elementary school, I couldn’t eat anything with eggs in it. I always had to check ingredient labels for eggs, egg whites, and proteins like albumin and globulin. Everyday meals were pretty manageable, since my mom packed my school lunch, but I had to be very careful with anything that wasn’t homemade. Something I had trouble with when I was younger was the “may contain eggs” label. The risk of cross contamination always seemed so small, so I would ignore those labels whenever my parents weren’t there. Looking back, it seems selfish of me, but at the time I just wanted to eat like everyone else and not feel left out.

By the time I was 9, I passed the first step of the allergy ladder (food with eggs baked in a flour matrix). I could finally eat normal cake, cupcakes, banana bread, and cookies. I was really excited (a bit too excited), and I decided to try hard boiled eggs. I ended up vomiting all night. Even so, this milestone was very important to me. Before that, I’d thought that I would never grow out of my allergy, that I’d have to live with it for the rest of my life. Reaching this step didn’t just unlock new food—it gave me hope and a sense of progress.

I kept improving. The summer before 6th grade, I passed the second step of the ladder (all other baked products). I could eat pancakes, waffles, sausage, and fresh egg pasta. With these milestones, my most inconvenient dietary restrictions were gone.

While I still haven’t outgrown my allergy, my life is a lot easier than it used to be. I can eat at most restaurants without worrying too much, and I don’t have to bring my own cupcake to every birthday party anymore. I still can’t eat things like scrambled eggs or omelets, and I always carry my allergy medication just in case. But compared to when I was little, it feels like I’ve come a really long way.