There are lots of reasons to dread moving in for that first kiss – dying isn’t normally one of them. <\/p>\n
But for Oli Weatherall it’s a major concern along with going on flights and eating out. <\/p>\n
The 22-year-old from Surrey has a severe peanut allergy. <\/p>\n
When he was a child a reaction to peanut butter left him in hospital. He says his saliva thickened so much he could barely breathe.<\/p>\n
Since then his life has changed forever and after recent high-profile cases surrounding food allergies<\/a>, Oli’s been telling Radio 1 Newsbeat how he copes.<\/p>\n
Oli describes the first time he was rushed to hospital after eating that peanut butter as his scariest experience. <\/p>\n
He had no idea what was happening to his body as his skin broke out in hives (swollen, pale red bumps).<\/p>\n
It’s not just a simple case of avoiding eating peanuts. Even kissing a girl on a night out could be risky. <\/p>\n
If she’d eaten a peanut or it had even been used as an ingredient in a meal, that trace could be enough.<\/p>\n
“People have died from it,” Oli explains. <\/p>\n
“It’s quite a real risk, which people wouldn’t think about if you didn’t have allergies. <\/p>\n
“Unless you know someone close to you who’s got an allergy, you don’t really need to think about areas like foreign holidays, flying, or romantic relationships. <\/p>\n
“You quite often get people having a curry, then going to the pub and then going out, so it’s not just having physically eaten a peanut, it’s ‘have you had an Indian? Have you had a kebab?’ <\/p>\n
“I tend to avoid it really. There have been times in the past when it’s ruined my night, because I’ve spent the whole night thinking ‘Am I having a reaction?’<\/p>\n
“I don’t need the extra stress. It would be nice to not have to worry about stuff like that but it’s a reality.”<\/p>\n
Eating anywhere other than at home is a problem. <\/p>\n
While restaurants should be aware of allergens and which ones are in their food, Oli says inexperienced managers or waiting staff can make life tricky. <\/p>\n
It means every time he’s out and about for more than a few hours, he has to plan his meals precisely. <\/p>\n
“A lot of your life has to be planned around being able to eat safely. <\/p>\n
“It just removes spontaneity a bit. You have to be quite forward thinking all the time. Meal deals (such as at supermarkets) are always a good way to go, rather than trying to eat out.” <\/p>\n
Foreign holidays aren’t happening at the moment either. The 22-year-old says that’s also too much of a risk.<\/p>\n
It’s not just food on the plane. Any language barrier on holiday could create a lethal misunderstanding. <\/p>\n
Oli says: “If I did have a reaction in the air, quite a lot of people would think ‘oh you’ve got your EpiPen, just have one of those and you’ll be fine’ but that’s not the case.”<\/p>\n
Airlines do carry medical equipment and staff are trained in first aid. But Oli worries that’s not always enough.<\/p>\n
“If you use an EpiPen you need urgent medical attention, that’s not something which is possible to do in the air.<\/p>\n
“I went travelling with my friends around Australia and New Zealand three or four years ago. It was worth going, but when you’re staying in rubbish hostels with a severe allergy you can’t cook there. <\/p>\n
“It’s not a safe environment. I ended up eating the worst diet, stuff I knew was fine for the whole trip. <\/p>\n
“You’re on holiday, travelling and doing all these things and you’re thinking constantly ahead – ‘Am I sorted for tomorrow?’ It’s exhausting. I’m glad I did it but I wouldn’t be going to do something like that again.”<\/p>\n
Natasha Ednan-Laperouse<\/a> and Celia Marsh<\/a> both died after eating Pret A Manger food. <\/p>\n
Oli says it underlines why he would never be confident to eat at similar chains.<\/p>\n
“There’s not the labelling there,” he says. “There’s not a uniform way of doing it – which gives people with allergies good information to make the choices. <\/p>\n
“It’s obviously an awful story and it proves what can happen when the regulations aren’t in place.”<\/p>\n
Follow Newsbeat on <\/i>Instagram<\/a>, <\/i>Facebook<\/a> and <\/i>Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Listen to Newsbeat <\/i>live<\/a> at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra – if you miss us you can listen back <\/i>here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are lots of reasons to dread moving in for that first kiss – dying isn’t normally one of them. But for Oli Weatherall it’s a major concern along with going on flights and eating out. The 22-year-old from Surrey has a severe peanut allergy. When he was a child a reaction to peanut butter Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}