Plant-based milk alternatives can be found just about anywhere nowadays. It’s a convenience many find an appeal to, but for others, it’s a reason to stay home.
“I typically just make coffee at home in the morning,” Sean Healey said, “My favorite coffee’s the leaf and bean chocolate delight.”
For Healey, more milk alternatives around can be dangerous.
“I typically just drink my coffee black because I have a tree nut allergy and there’s a ton of different creamers that have some kind of nut flavoring or some kind of nut in it,” he said.
He says his first allergic reaction was when he was in his early teens when there was a tree nut treat offered in a class party. He unknowingly ate a snack that would lead to a diagnosis that changed his life. For more than a decade, he’s been learning how to keep a watchful eye to avoid a trip to the hospital.
His most recent trip to the emergency room wasn’t too long ago.
“I order this drink that’s normally made with cashew milk,” he said. “I asked, 'Hey, could you make it with regular milk?' And they say sure, and then I found out later that they didn’t make the substitution. And one sip in I was feeling a little weird. Fifteen minutes later, I was throwing up all over the inside of an Urgent Care. I went to urgent care and they administered an EpiPen there. They gave me some kind of steroid just to keep me stable.”
He says these accidents are becoming more frequent.
“Over the past couple of years, it’s something I’ve had to pay even more attention to because nut milks have gotten so popular,” Healey explained.
According to a 2021 Statista Study, almond milk sales reached $344 million that year. The study showed almond milk blends with coconut and cashews added $19.6 million to that value. It’s trends like these that people like Healey have to keep an extra close eye out for. He says it’s not always worrying about accidentally being served incorrectly, sometimes it’s just the risk of cross-contamination that steers him clear of eating elsewhere.
Dr. Cheryl Rozario is the director of allergy and immunology education at the University of Rochester. She explains that epinephrine in EpiPens gives the body adrenaline to help fight an allergic reaction.
“One of the things that EPI does that other medications don't is it stops the reaction by reducing the release of these chemicals,” Rozario said. “It’s lifesaving and overall safe, and so if you recognize or if you think you may have anaphylaxis, it is the antidote, if you will.”
That’s why Healey has been using a practice EpiPen to remind and re-train his family and friends what to do if they witness someone having an allergic reaction.
“You can stab yourself with it right through your clothes if you need to,” he said. “It’ll get through pretty thick fabric and you just kind of find a nice part of your thigh and give that a good stab.”
Doctors say to hold the EpiPen in place for three seconds before removing the needle from someone experiencing anaphylaxis.
Healey says EpiPens are a life-saving measure that everyone should be familiar with.
“That’s really important because you might find yourself in a position where you can’t administer it yourself,” he said. “So it’s good to have people looking out for you.”