Featured Image Credit: Tiktok/@jennaxhealth
Topics: Health, Social Media, Viral, Food and Drink
Callum Jones
Topics: Health, Social Media, Viral, Food and Drink
A woman with over 100 allergies has divided much of the internet after showing how she orders food at a restaurant.
Jenna Gestetner was diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) when she was 18, a condition that causes the body to release too many chemical agents.
It can sometimes lead to anaphylaxis or near-anaphylaxis attacks, and is the reason Jenna has over 100 allergies.
The rare condition leaves her unable to eat most foods, with Jenna having to take a nutritional supplement due to the lack of substance from her meals.
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"It really affects everything I do and the places that I go," Jenna told Newsweek earlier this year.
"I don't know if there's food I can eat at my school, so if I am going to be out all day I have to cook my food beforehand and bring it and that obviously takes a lot more thinking and planning.
"It is definitely very challenging. Then other days I'm with my friends and I suddenly realize 'Oh, other people can just eat anything they want!'
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"Sometimes it makes me feel left out, like I'm not living the same kind of college experience that a lot of other people get to have."
Jenna documents her health troubles on social media, with a viral video showing how she orders food at a restaurant.
She explained to the waiter how she has a 'lot of allergies' and how the food she wanted would need to be without mushrooms and lemon sauce.
Jenna said how she would like the dover sole fish 'plain', to which the waiter explained how it would be 'lightly breaded'.
After the waiter suggested a salmon or even a steak, Jenna said how she couldn't have those either - so asked the restaurant if they could do fish plain.
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The establishment were able to accommodate Jenna's specific request, with the TikToker stating to the waiter how only olive oil could be added to the mix.
The video has very much divided the internet, with one user penning: "Call ahead. Imagine the stress on the waiter," while a second added: "I don't have time to constantly find out what is in something or not and half the time the kitchen doesn't know either.
"I have other people to wait on. But if you call ahead we can have everything ready and safely done."
Meanwhile, a third person said: "People without allergies will never understand how lucky they are. Like I literally descend into the most debilitating sneezing fits from just breathing in air."