How to Stress Less: Food Related Anxiety and Kids

How to Stress Less Child making sour face at food

Having kids can be the most wonderful thing ever to happen to you. Parenthood brings unbelievable heights of love and wonder into your life; it can also be indescribably terrifying. Even if you have a kid without a life threatening allergy, it can be a harrowing experience. For those of us who have children with issues, it can be a daily challenge, one that can be both physically and mentally exhausting. It is still worthwhile and fulfilling, but raising a child with unusual sensitivities can exact a toll on both of you.

With roughly 15 million Americans currently diagnosed with food allergies of all kinds right now, it is a common enough problem. The severity of reaction ranges wildly between individuals, from simple sniffles to full-on anaphylaxis.

Food allergies can be particularly problematic: 90% of all reactions are caused by 8 very common items: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat, and soy. They can all elicit very strong allergic reactions in even the most minute quantities, making hypervigilance a must. For more on eating healthy and cheap, check out Natures Rise.

The adaptation of society

90 perfecnt of all reactions caused by 8 foodsThe Adaptation of Society

Luckily, modern legislation is in place to meticulously detail the Big Eight allergens found in processed foods, and make them simple and obvious on food labels. This goes a long way toward lending a sense of security, but other factors like incidental contact and the environment can sometimes throw a screwdriver in the works.

Schools and organizations have made things easier for those with food sensitivities over the past decade. Education and allergen training are now standard, with streamlined plans of action for potential problems. Also, it is now no big deal to get a note informing children that they have a classmate with a severe allergy, and to not bring in the problem food.

Children are intelligent, adaptable, and, for the most part, are rather blatantly logical about limitations like this. The same creative minds that imagine the floor is lava easily adapt to a food that must be avoided. Children want to play, they want to be inclusive and included, so rigid rules are an accepted part of the territory, whether they are about a game of tag or how to eat lunch.

This is not to downplay the seriousness of food allergies by any means, but children (no matter what their age) learn best through games. This works both with the allergic child and his or her friends, and it helps establish a sense of normalcy for everyone involved.

But what happens when this system breaks down, and an incident occurs? A serious incident can be frightening for everyone involved, the child, their friends, and the adults. A serious allergic reaction can be traumatic for a child, and sometimes a doorway to increased bouts of anxiety.

When Food Causes Fear

When Food Causes Fear

Child making disgusted face at vegtable on fork

Children with food allergies learn very quickly what their triggers are; experience is a terrible and unforgettable teacher. Unfortunately, in many cases, the resulting incident can have far-reaching repercussions on some children. Having a pleasant sensation, like eating or a birthday party, abruptly replaced by a frightening one, not being able to breathe, can take children from a state of healthy caution to one of overreaction.

To some degree this reaction is completely understandable and reasonable. Anxiety is only logical when an individual has to be on constant alert for potentially fatal stimuli. Kids with serious allergies have to grow up faster and take on responsibilities early in their lives. The fact that they have no choice in the matter and very little margin for error only increases their state of fear. This isn’t fair, when kids should be allowed to be just kids. Unfortunately, there is also nothing to be done about the necessity.

Allergys effect childs ability to socializeHere the physical issues blend into mental ones, where a fine balance between caution and confidence must be made in order to function in society. If an allergy interferes with a child’s ability to sleep, eat, or breathe normally, it will certainly interfere with his or her ability to socialize. Sometimes truly serious and adverse adaptations emerge, where a child will refuse to eat altogether, or will be too terrified to go to school.

At this level, professional intervention is recommended, and a whole branch of child psychology exists solely to help kids cope with their food allergies. The fact that professional, effective, and sympathetic help is available on many levels should not be discounted. Between skilled allergists and counselors, a sense of proportion and appropriate reaction can be established to help everyone involved.

When parents get caught in a feedback loop

When Parents Get Caught in a Feedback Loop

It’s true that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Some temperaments are predisposed to anxiety issues, and this is true for families. Our children learn everything from watching the adults around them, including how to react to their allergy.

If a parent reacts less than calmly to an incident, the child will assume that it is the proper and acceptable behavior. In this way, a child’s serious allergy can cause severe anxiety and depression in their caregivers. This anxiety and depression can then be picked up by the child, and the whole cycle can spiral and be perpetuated. So, if you are already a parent I suggest that you can take a Kava shot to lessen your stress stats daily when raising your kids and dealing with their behavioral changes.

This is not to diminish the pressure that parents and caregivers feel in these situations. Food allergies can be dangerous, and the consequences can be equally dire. It is up to us, as adults, to learn effective adaptive behaviors when reacting to these situations, and to help pass those behaviors on to our children.

Empower your kids to take control

Empower Your Kids to Take Control 

A great deal of fear comes from the feeling of being out of control. This is true of life in general, as well as with anaphylactic reactions and anxiety attacks. The solution to all of these is the same: be prepared and take control. This applies to the caregivers present and the child, who all need to team up (preferably with an appropriate health care professional) and hash out a plan of action that is both simple and effective.

Make a physical safety plan

Make a Physical Safety Plan

Happy person shopping for food

Developing a smooth plan for physical safety is the first step. Make sure that you, your child, and your child’s caregivers (like teachers and coaches) are aware of the allergy and its particulars. Ensure that they understand the severity of the reaction, and list the potential symptoms clearly. Early recognition and correct preventative action helps to make everyone more comfortable and less anxious.

To that end, setting up a compact go kit can be useful, stocked with necessary medications, phone numbers, and specific medical information. In particular, EpiPens should always be packed in easy-to-reach, obvious places, and both child and caregivers should be familiar in the administering of them. Kids of all ages take comfort in the fact that the adults around them, the ones they look to for guidance and support, are ready and able to help them in an emergency.

Preventatively, you should familiarize yourself and your child with reading food labels, and know what words may indicate a potential issue. Knowing when to stand up and ask questions is vital in kids like these. They should be unafraid to get intelligent answers from people about their food, whether from a chef in a restaurant or the host at a birthday party. Having the confidence to question their choices and make informed decisions is incredibly empowering to a child, and can go a long way in reducing anxiety by re-establishing a sense of control for which some doctors recommend the use of supplements like this cbd tincture for sale.

Just because its in your head doesnt mean it isnt real

Just Because It’s in Your Head Doesn’t Mean It Isn’t Real

The emotional and mental aspects of managing an allergy can be as problematic as the allergy itself. Anxiety can manifest in a pounding heart, shortness of breath, chest pains, or stomach aches. Emotional components further complicate the matter, with the fear of losing control in public or of dying. While anti-anxiety medication is available, it is often not appropriate for this kind of anxiety.

It is better, overall, to employ techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy to help manage and retrain inappropriate stress reactions. This can be as simple as transforming negative thoughts to positive ones (most social outings are positive and enjoyable, but it is easy to focus on potential problems instead). Both kids and parents can be guilty of this, looking for trouble even when things are safe and going well.

Remembering to play and have fun is one of the most therapeutic things that can happen to the whole family. Laughter truly is the best medicine, and one of the most effective curatives for depression and anxiety. As many positive experiences should be focused on as possible; and, while reasonable caution should give some framework to an adventure, it should not be center stage.

Deep breathing techniques are highly recommended for all people who deal with daily anxiety issues, and kids are no different. Inhaling deeply from the belly and controlling your breath has been proven to control and disperse anxiety attacks. Again, techniques like this help to empower your child, and gives them effective tools to combat their problems head on.

Use your words

Use Your Words

When educating your child about their allergy, it is important to consider what words and images you use to communicate. Depending on your child’s age and developmental level, an explanation can be a logical set of boundaries or a terrifying boogeyman.

Most small children do not have a clear sense of their mortality, nor would we want them to dwell on such a subject. Rather than framing a reaction with a word like deadly, it is much more age appropriate and clearer to say very, very sick, or that something would make it hard for them to breathe. It is possible to clearly communicate the severity of a situation without instilling a crippling fear, but some thought is required to frame the ideas in an age appropriate manner.

Age Matters

Age Matters

Keep in mind that the developmental age of your child can influence his or her potential for anxiety and depression issues. At around age 8 most children begin to grasp the concepts of germs causing sickness, and that bad things can happen in the greater world. This can trigger a sense of fear and insecurity that could escalate if not handled with sensitivity and care. A similar expansion of perception often happens just before puberty, when intense physical and social changes can evoke bouts of anxiety.

Because both these ages are times of accelerated learning and curiosity, they are appropriate times to introduce further concepts of control and preparedness into your child’s life. It may help for them to write (with proper help) their own social protocols to help reduce their anxiety.

For instance, while a basic precaution would be carrying an EpiPen, an advanced one would be scouting a potential social venue online or in real life before an important event. Removing as many unknown factors as possible establishes a child’s control over their environment and allows them to socialize with reasonable caution and confidence.

Join a group

Join a Group

Food allergies are twice as prevalent as they were 10 years ago, and, while this is a somewhat alarming statistic, it also means that there is more help available. More support groups exist now than ever before, giving both kids with allergies and their parents a built-in support system. With other experienced adults as a resource, managing a child’s newly emerged allergy can be simpler, especially when such knowledge is accompanied with a social network. Not being the only one with an issue can be encouraging for many families.

Fear Vs Fact

Fear vs. Fact

Child eating watermelon

It is encouraging that, though food allergies are more common nowadays, deaths due to them are still extraordinarily rare. Despite all the severity of these reactions, and the fears they engender, simple strategies can make life safe, comfortable, and fun. Reading labels, carrying an EpiPen, avoiding known triggers, and regular hand washing largely negate the danger of severe allergic reactions when in public.

Medicine has advanced in past years, also, with testing available to better identify those who may have or develop serious or fatal allergies. Knowing a problem exists, and being able to accurately treat and prevent it in the public arena has decreased the occurrence of severe incidents. Forewarned is forearmed, after all.

Sources

  1. http://archive.metroparentmagazine.com/food/allergies/scared-to-eat-conquering-anxiety-around-food-allergies-293702391.html
  1. http://allergicliving.com/2011/11/30/your-child-and-food-allergy-fears/

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