A couple of days ago I read a report that turned up in my email inbox from Food Allergy Research & Education that stated as many as 15 million Americans have food allergies and 3 million of those are all allergic to the same thing: peanuts.

Well, I just wanted to say that I am one of those 3 million and let me tell you, peanut allergies suck. Big time.

Luckily for me, my reaction is not so severe where I have to carry around an epi-pen. My throat doesn’t close up, my face and hands don’t swell like balloons and I don’t go into anaphylaxis.

Instead, I get hives. Everywhere.

If you’ve never had hives, allow me to explain: They are these horrible raised, blotchy, bright red patches that like to pop up like the devil’s fingerprints when you’ve eaten or come into contact with something your body has decided to freak out about.

They also itch like crazy.

In the end, they’re not really dangerous, they just look awful and make you miserable until you manage to get your hands on a bottle of Benadryl.

But it’s not just peanuts I’m allergic to. It’s all nuts. Almonds, walnuts, pecans (or pah-KHANS as I call them), hazelnuts, pistachios — you name it.

On more than one occasion I’ve accused my mother-in-law of sabotage after she made a batch of delicious looking sugar cookies — and then topped them with almond flavored icing.

Another time she produced a Key lime pie for dessert — one of my favorites — but again, had the sides coated with almond slivers.

I could have cried.

The woman is a fabulous cook, but finds ways to add nuts to everything. Chocolate chip cookies? Yep, go ahead and add those crushed walnuts. Salad with dinner? Needs pine nuts …

With allergies, the best course of action I’ve found isn’t treatment, but prevention. If you can avoid the things you know are gonna set you off, it becomes a non-issue.

But sometimes, that’s easier said than done because peanuts are found in way more stuff than you realize.

Not eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a no-brainer but Chinese food? Turns out peanuts are very common in Chinese cooking — especially Szechuan dishes. Thai food is also one I’ve learned to avoid, no matter how delicious it may taste.

Almost all candy bars either contain the nuts themselves or are produced in close enough proximity to peanut dust they have to stick a warning on the label. Nougat is also a no-no and as a result, I’m regulated to the somewhat sad world of licorice, lemon drops and gummy bears when craving something sweet.

Tons of restaurants use peanut oil to fry their foods as well as some companies that make bagged potato chips. I tell you, it keeps you on your toes.

But it’s not just foods: Throughout my life I’ve encountered problems with various lotions, lip glosses, sunscreens, even vitamins that I had no idea contained peanut oils until I exploded in hives.

It’s not fun.

Luckily, neither of my boys seems to have inherited my stupid food allergy and for that I am grateful. They, like their dad, have a strong affinity for Reece’s Cups and peanut butter cookies.

Because my allergy isn’t life threatening, I don’t ban the stuff from the house. In fact, the boys eat PB&Js almost everyday for lunch — I just keep a box of food prep gloves in the kitchen to wear when making them and make sure to wash my hands when I’m done. It’s the same when I bake cookies.

In school, I remember learning about George Washington Carver and his 300 ways to use the peanut. Man, I hated that guy …

I bet he and my mother-in-law would have gotten along great.

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Strickly Speaking

Kasie Strickland

Kasie Strickland is a staff writer for The Sentinel-Progress and can be reached at kstrickland@civitasmedia.com. Views expressed in this column are those of the writer only and do not necessarily represent the newspaper’s opinion.