Who am I?

Some people collect stamps, other people collect football cards – Me? I seem to collect allergies. 

You can call me Alex. 

I have lived with multiple allergies longer than most of my doctors have been alive. I have no medical qualifications, all I can offer is my own experience of life with more allergies than I know what to do with. Thankfully, I have never experienced an anaphylactic reaction, but I’ve experienced pretty much everything short of that. I’m not trying to give you medical advice. What I’m trying to achieve by writing this blog is a better understanding in the wider community of what life is like living with allergies. 

Why am I writing this?

I hope to help non-allergy sufferers, especially those supporting people with allergies, to have some idea of what life with allergies is like. It is also for those of you who are living this life, to reassure you that you are not alone. Every day can be a challenge or an adventure – depending on which way you want to look at it. 

Another important group of people that I want to write for is the business community – those of you out there providing services that allergy sufferers might use. I’d like to help inform your decision making, highlight ways that you could make life easier which may not have occurred to you and open your eyes to how you can provide a more inclusive and safe environment for us all. Whatever service you provide as a business your employees and your customers will include allergy sufferers. Everything from the chemicals you use to ‘freshen’ the air in the toilets, to the food you serve in your restaurant can be a potential hazard.

What will I write?

I will keep posts short where I can and try to ensure each one is properly labelled, so you can find the material that may be helpful. Some will inevitably be biographical but none of what I am writing is looking for sympathy. I am a very positive person and prefer to find ways to make things possible rather than focus on why they seem impossible. That’s not always easy, which you’ll understand as you read.