The importance of being a proactive patient

I was recently browsing some allergy blogs that I read and came across this post, Pharmacies and Food Allergies. It’s a good reminder to those of us with severe food allergies that we have to be particularly proactive about our health care.

I had a similar experience when I started IVF #1 in Minsk. My RE wrote down the names of the medications I would be using. My type A, has to know and understand everything self took the list home and began to research every medication. Much to my surprise, one of the medications I was to use contains peanut oil. For the average bear, not a big deal, for a person with a life-threatening allergy to peanuts, a huge deal. I took the list back to my RE and pointed out the problem. He was in no way negligent with my care, it’s just that food allergies aren’t common in that part of the world, so it never occurred to him to ask. Fortunately Crinone gel was available, so that’s what I ended up using, but again, just a reminder to all of us, particularly the allergic community, that we must be proactive about our health care.