A Massachusetts woman says she is “allergic to everything” and lives on a diet of oatmeal and hypoallergenic infant formula, but is still able to make the most of it and have happy holidays.
Caroline Cray, 24, first suffered an allergic reaction ice cream in September 2017 she went into anaphylactic shock, she told the SWNS news agency.
Soon after, she had similar reactions to bread and pizza, then had a severe reaction after eating rice and beans and spent 12 days in intensive care.
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Initially, doctors hoped it would go away.
“In the fall (of 2017), when I received repeated shocks, my allergist and ER doctors assumed my reactions would only last a few months,” she told SWNS.
Caroline Cray spent 12 days in intensive care after an intense allergic reaction to eating beans and rice. (SWNS)
The doctors gave her antihistamines and referred her to a specialist, she said.
The comments didn’t go away, something she said was “really disheartening.”
“Every day I wondered if I was going to end up in hospital, my throat was very tight and I was itching and wheezing,” she said.
After nearly a year of testing, Cray was diagnosed with mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), a rare chronic disease, in May 2018. MCAS causes repeated severe allergic reaction symptoms, she told SWNS.
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Receiving a diagnosis was emotional, she said, but also “affirming.”
“I’m a very dry and dry person, but me and my mother, Julie, 59, were both crying,” she said. “It confirmed that someone finally said, ‘This is a chronic disease, and we need to treat it as one disease.'”
Caroline Cray, 24, from Massachusetts, has a rare condition and can only safely eat two different foods. (SWNS)
She felt a mixture of relief that her condition had a name, while struggling with the thought, “Oh God, I’m going to have to live with this for the rest of my life.”
Six years after her diagnosis, she can only eat two things: oatmeal and special infant formula.
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“I’ve gotten to the point where my diet consists solely of EleCare and oatmeal” she said, referring to a specific brand of hypoallergenic infant formula.
“I eat that for three meals a day, and I only eat three times a day because I have to self-medicate beforehand,” she said, adding that it is “really tough.”
It took doctors ten months to diagnose Cray with MCAS, a condition that causes her severe allergic reactions to food. (iStock)
In addition, Cray takes a variety of medications, including some that are taken daily, weekly and semi-monthly.
Despite her food restrictions and limited diet, Cray tries to behave as normally as possible, even during the holidays.
“I’m not excluding myself though,” she told SWNS, adding that she joins her family for dinner in the evening.
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“I go out to eat, but I bring my own food. And I go out for a night and take a bottle of water with me,” she said, adding that she “always designated driver‘ and is able to ‘inform people about what happened the night before.
“I made that one of my favorite things,” Cray told SWNS. “I tell my friends they make me drunk.”
“I go out to eat, but I bring my own food. And I go out for a night and I bring a bottle of water.”
To better accommodate her condition, Cray hosts Thanksgiving and Christmas in her own home.
“For the first few years after my diagnosis, I didn’t want to eat in front of anyone else,” she said.
“It’s certainly difficult because food is central to the holidays, but there are many factors that make me feel involved in the Christmas ritual.”
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Caroline Cray, second from left, with her siblings. She told SWNS news agency that she feels more involved at Christmas because it is less about food than Thanksgiving. (SWNS)
Now Cray is hopeful she can expand her diet to include more than just oatmeal and infant formula.
“This is my fifth year on the oatmeal diet, and it’s hard,” she told SWNS. “I’d be lying if I said I don’t wrestle, because I do.
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“I’m currently meeting with my MCAS therapist to try different foods,” she said. But so far nothing has helped. She has tried eating chicken, lamb, sweet potato and broccoli.
“I will try the individual foods one at a time, so if I get a reaction, we know exactly what it is,” she said.
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