NeuroCindy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
- Messages
- 1,180
I wanted to share my experiences now that I'm home from Disney World. I have a severe allergy to mint/menthol. I go into anaphylaxis, so I carry an epipen. I also have a salt-wasting syndrome. Basically my body doesn't store sodium, so when I'm in hot weather or sweating a lot, my blood pressure drops, I lose my senses (smell, taste, vision, hearing, touch in that order), so I'm basically unconscious. If I don't get salt I'll start having seizures and could die. Pretty serious stuff.
The plane ride was rough because the two large families sitting around me passed around mint gum for both takeoff and landing, so I got a nosebleed both times. However, at Disney even with eating at multiple quick service places as well as table service restaurants I had no exposures. CMs were WONDERFUL about it. No one seemed burdened or put-off by my questions. I had emailed ahead of time about the Tomorrowland Wishes Dessert party, and that response was great too. It was also notated on our reservation when we checked in and they reconfirmed that the chef had checked all of the foods and was available to talk to me if I wanted. I did wear capris because of people using icy-hot and sweating it on rides, so I avoided an exposure that way.
The salt-wasting was a huge challenge. I had to constantly adjust my meds to try to stay up, and still fainted twice. The first time was in Epcot. I told my group I was going to find air conditioning when we were in China of the world pavillion. I then had trouble walking and was losing vision. I sat down on a bench and managed to text my friend to come help. They continued through the pavillion while I hung out in that USA theater with the show (I don't remember a lot of that real well
).
The second time I was at MK alone. I went to the Hall of Presidents to sit in the lobby area to cool down and eat my salt pills. One of the CMs came over and was talking to me (I must have looked bad
). She told me to stay there as long as I needed, asked if there was anything she could get me, and offered to take me over to see about getting a DAS so I could possibly avoid waiting in the sun. I thanked her, but declined her offers. She checked in on me multiple times over the next 20 minutes though. She was so sweet, possibly my best experience with a CM over the trip. It meant a lot to me that Disney has people that care even if an issue isn't visable.
I just wanted to share my happy tale with all of you and spread my warm fuzzies.
The plane ride was rough because the two large families sitting around me passed around mint gum for both takeoff and landing, so I got a nosebleed both times. However, at Disney even with eating at multiple quick service places as well as table service restaurants I had no exposures. CMs were WONDERFUL about it. No one seemed burdened or put-off by my questions. I had emailed ahead of time about the Tomorrowland Wishes Dessert party, and that response was great too. It was also notated on our reservation when we checked in and they reconfirmed that the chef had checked all of the foods and was available to talk to me if I wanted. I did wear capris because of people using icy-hot and sweating it on rides, so I avoided an exposure that way.
The salt-wasting was a huge challenge. I had to constantly adjust my meds to try to stay up, and still fainted twice. The first time was in Epcot. I told my group I was going to find air conditioning when we were in China of the world pavillion. I then had trouble walking and was losing vision. I sat down on a bench and managed to text my friend to come help. They continued through the pavillion while I hung out in that USA theater with the show (I don't remember a lot of that real well
). The second time I was at MK alone. I went to the Hall of Presidents to sit in the lobby area to cool down and eat my salt pills. One of the CMs came over and was talking to me (I must have looked bad
). She told me to stay there as long as I needed, asked if there was anything she could get me, and offered to take me over to see about getting a DAS so I could possibly avoid waiting in the sun. I thanked her, but declined her offers. She checked in on me multiple times over the next 20 minutes though. She was so sweet, possibly my best experience with a CM over the trip. It meant a lot to me that Disney has people that care even if an issue isn't visable. I just wanted to share my happy tale with all of you and spread my warm fuzzies.
