I came home early from a party. I really should have read the invitation much better than I did, but I'd been looking forward to this event for a while and wasn't able to go due to cost issues.. when last minute I managed to wrangle a free entry! Woo Hoo!
So I went. Of Course.
I knew something was wrong when I first arrived as my throat immediately became scratchy. I figured it was leftover residue from people smoking outside, and ignored it.
Then as I began to explore the party, I noticed in the other room there were buckets of popcorn. Already popped. No popcorn popper.. Thank GOD!
Since the popcorn was in another room, and not really "airborne" I figured I'd stay and see how the night went, and things went well. I didn't notice much issues at all until a new crowd of people entered the party.
They found the popcorn, and decided to bring it .. all of it.. into the room where we all were. Right in front of me, a drunk guy dropped an entire bucket of popcorn. Then all the rest of the people began to stomp it and stir it up in the air.
Yay me!
It wasn't too horrid, so I waited.
Immediately after, a guy was on stage with a couple girls singing a song. They were having fun, and he decided to add to the joy.
He picked up a bag of popcorn and began to toss it. Then he saw me, and began to toss it at me.. aiming at the drink in my hand.
If I had lasers to shoot out of my eyes the guy would dead. While I'm not necessarily "THAT" allergic to corn anymore, it's still like pelting me with poison. Of course, the drunk guy didn't know that and was confused at my party-pooper attitude.
I started to get cold. (Great! I thought to myself) I tried to move away from the popcorn hoping that alone would stop the reaction. Everywhere I moved I could still feel myself breathing in popcorn.
My lungs started to hurt and my eyes started to water. I had a song coming up and I wanted to wait for it. I popped some benadryl and prednisone, and waited.
The pills seemed to have no effect. My body kept getting colder. My lungs started to feel like I'd accidentally swallowed some pool water. My eyes felt dry and irritated, yet watery.
I had to leave. I had to leave right then.
I didn't want to.. damn it.
But I couldn't deny my symptoms any longer. As it was, my fingers had turned to ice cubes and staying longer I'm sure my teeth would have started chattering.
I hate causing a scene, so I merely put on a calm exterior and said goodbye to my friends as if I'd suddenly just gotten tired, or forgotten that I needed to get up early tomorrow.
I stepped outside and the fresh air filled my lungs as if I'd suddenly come up for air.
It's been about a hour since I left the party. My fingers are warm again though I'm still a bit chilly. I've washed my face to remove any corn residue, but my eyes are still irritated and bloodshot. My lungs no longer have that underwater feeling and no longer hurt, but I can still feel them with every breath. I've also developed a slight cough.
I should be normal by morning. This allergy stuff just sucks sometimes.
Oh.. and I really hate popcorn right now.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Unintentional Party Pooper
I came home early from a party. I really should have read the invitation much better than I did, but I'd been looking forward to this event for a while and wasn't able to go due to cost issues.. when last minute I managed to wrangle a free entry! Woo Hoo!
So I went. Of Course.
I knew something was wrong when I first arrived as my throat immediately became scratchy. I figured it was leftover residue from people smoking outside, and ignored it.
Then as I began to explore the party, I noticed in the other room there were buckets of popcorn. Already popped. No popcorn popper.. Thank GOD!
Since the popcorn was in another room, and not really "airborne" I figured I'd stay and see how the night went, and things went well. I didn't notice much issues at all until a new crowd of people entered the party.
They found the popcorn, and decided to bring it .. all of it.. into the room where we all were. Right in front of me, a drunk guy dropped an entire bucket of popcorn. Then all the rest of the people began to stop it and stir it up in the air.
Yay me!
It wasn't too horrid, so I waited.
Immediately after, a guy was on stage with a couple girls singing a song. They were having fun, and he decided to add to the joy.
He picked up a bag of popcorn and began to toss it. Then he saw me, and began to toss it at me.. aiming at the drink in my hand.
If I had lasers to shoot out of my eyes the guy would dead. While I'm not necessarily "THAT" allergic to corn anymore, it's still like pelting me with poison. Of course, the drunk guy didn't know that and was confused at my party-pooper attitude.
I started to get cold. (Great! I thought to myself) I tried to move away from the popcorn hoping that alone would stop the reaction. Everywhere I moved I could still feel myself breathing in popcorn.
My lungs started to hurt and my eyes started to water. I had a song coming up and I wanted to wait for it. I popped some benadryl and prednisone, and waited.
The pills seemed to have no effect. My body kept getting colder. My lungs started to feel like I'd accidentally swallowed some pool water. My eyes felt dry and irritated, yet watery.
I had to leave. I had to leave right then.
I didn't want to.. damn it.
But I couldn't deny my symptoms any longer. As it was, my fingers had turned to ice cubes and staying longer I'm sure my teeth would have started chattering.
I hate causing a scene, so I merely put on a calm exterior and said goodbye to my friends as if I'd suddenly just gotten tired, or forgotten that I needed to get up early tomorrow.
I stepped outside and the fresh air filled my lungs as if I'd suddenly come up for air.
It's been about a hour since I left the party. My fingers are warm again though I'm still a bit chilly. I've washed my face to remove any corn residue, but my eyes are still irritated and bloodshot. My lungs no longer have that underwater feeling and no longer hurt, but I can still feel them with every breath. I've also developed a slight cough.
I should be normal by morning. This allergy stuff just sucks sometimes.
Oh.. and I really hate popcorn right now.
So I went. Of Course.
I knew something was wrong when I first arrived as my throat immediately became scratchy. I figured it was leftover residue from people smoking outside, and ignored it.
Then as I began to explore the party, I noticed in the other room there were buckets of popcorn. Already popped. No popcorn popper.. Thank GOD!
Since the popcorn was in another room, and not really "airborne" I figured I'd stay and see how the night went, and things went well. I didn't notice much issues at all until a new crowd of people entered the party.
They found the popcorn, and decided to bring it .. all of it.. into the room where we all were. Right in front of me, a drunk guy dropped an entire bucket of popcorn. Then all the rest of the people began to stop it and stir it up in the air.
Yay me!
It wasn't too horrid, so I waited.
Immediately after, a guy was on stage with a couple girls singing a song. They were having fun, and he decided to add to the joy.
He picked up a bag of popcorn and began to toss it. Then he saw me, and began to toss it at me.. aiming at the drink in my hand.
If I had lasers to shoot out of my eyes the guy would dead. While I'm not necessarily "THAT" allergic to corn anymore, it's still like pelting me with poison. Of course, the drunk guy didn't know that and was confused at my party-pooper attitude.
I started to get cold. (Great! I thought to myself) I tried to move away from the popcorn hoping that alone would stop the reaction. Everywhere I moved I could still feel myself breathing in popcorn.
My lungs started to hurt and my eyes started to water. I had a song coming up and I wanted to wait for it. I popped some benadryl and prednisone, and waited.
The pills seemed to have no effect. My body kept getting colder. My lungs started to feel like I'd accidentally swallowed some pool water. My eyes felt dry and irritated, yet watery.
I had to leave. I had to leave right then.
I didn't want to.. damn it.
But I couldn't deny my symptoms any longer. As it was, my fingers had turned to ice cubes and staying longer I'm sure my teeth would have started chattering.
I hate causing a scene, so I merely put on a calm exterior and said goodbye to my friends as if I'd suddenly just gotten tired, or forgotten that I needed to get up early tomorrow.
I stepped outside and the fresh air filled my lungs as if I'd suddenly come up for air.
It's been about a hour since I left the party. My fingers are warm again though I'm still a bit chilly. I've washed my face to remove any corn residue, but my eyes are still irritated and bloodshot. My lungs no longer have that underwater feeling and no longer hurt, but I can still feel them with every breath. I've also developed a slight cough.
I should be normal by morning. This allergy stuff just sucks sometimes.
Oh.. and I really hate popcorn right now.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Long Term Effects of Food-based Allergic Reactions
I woke this morning.. ok that's a fabrication, I woke up at 3am with a pain in my thigh. A strange pain that I'll equate with getting pierced by a knife. The pain hovering somewhere between a nick and what I imagine what actually being stabbed might feel like.
It was in all seriousness a "WTF" moment where I was pretty sure I was still dreaming or otherwise halucinating. I mean I was in bed, alone, without any sharp objects nearby. So the simpliest answer is the most likely; I was dreaming it.
So I attempted going back to sleep and nearly succeeded when I adjusted positions slightly only to find the pain had returned, instantly and sharply.
Now fully awake, I grazed my hand along my thigh and found a sore spot, but nothing seemed wrong otherwise. I was puzzled.
So I went to the bathroom and turned on the light to look at it in the mirror.
I saw it. I think I said about a million cusswords.
Since I'm not a dermotologist, I'm not sure what the correct word is for it. But I believe its called an abcess. Only it's not infected, its small about the size of a zit, bleeds every time I move, and hurts like a SOB everytime something rubs on it.
It'd been a few years since my last one, so I'd forgotten just how important staying on my allergy-free diet really was.
Not to mention that I'd forgotten how my allergic reactions affect my blood sugars. It's a long round about explaination that really would require a medical degree to fully comprehend, but essentially regularly eating my allergens causes a domino effect in my body which results in an inadequate supply of insulin. Aka Elevated blood sugars.
Prolonged elevation of my blood sugars (not as high as diabetes, but I assume uninhibited it would get there) also taxes my body and causes my cholesterol to be all wonky. Which if it gets bad enough, my endocrinologist will insist on putting me on meds (which I already know will contain something I'm allergic to.. requiring me to find a way to get them made special and cost me many moola.)
It's really hard to remember sometimes that that one little indulgence now, might effectively kill me in the long run.
That is until I wake up with the warning signs like today. If I'm really really good for a few days, it will disappear. I'm hoping that my body will heal on the inside as well, but for now, it's detox time.
It was in all seriousness a "WTF" moment where I was pretty sure I was still dreaming or otherwise halucinating. I mean I was in bed, alone, without any sharp objects nearby. So the simpliest answer is the most likely; I was dreaming it.
So I attempted going back to sleep and nearly succeeded when I adjusted positions slightly only to find the pain had returned, instantly and sharply.
Now fully awake, I grazed my hand along my thigh and found a sore spot, but nothing seemed wrong otherwise. I was puzzled.
So I went to the bathroom and turned on the light to look at it in the mirror.
I saw it. I think I said about a million cusswords.
Since I'm not a dermotologist, I'm not sure what the correct word is for it. But I believe its called an abcess. Only it's not infected, its small about the size of a zit, bleeds every time I move, and hurts like a SOB everytime something rubs on it.
It'd been a few years since my last one, so I'd forgotten just how important staying on my allergy-free diet really was.
Not to mention that I'd forgotten how my allergic reactions affect my blood sugars. It's a long round about explaination that really would require a medical degree to fully comprehend, but essentially regularly eating my allergens causes a domino effect in my body which results in an inadequate supply of insulin. Aka Elevated blood sugars.
Prolonged elevation of my blood sugars (not as high as diabetes, but I assume uninhibited it would get there) also taxes my body and causes my cholesterol to be all wonky. Which if it gets bad enough, my endocrinologist will insist on putting me on meds (which I already know will contain something I'm allergic to.. requiring me to find a way to get them made special and cost me many moola.)
It's really hard to remember sometimes that that one little indulgence now, might effectively kill me in the long run.
That is until I wake up with the warning signs like today. If I'm really really good for a few days, it will disappear. I'm hoping that my body will heal on the inside as well, but for now, it's detox time.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Adults have food allergies too
There are times that I just am bitter. I have happy days.. happy moments. Like today, I'd been putting off making lunch because I didn't want to cook, when I remembered I had some leftover pasta in the fridge. Just plain pasta. So I drizzle on some oil, sea salt, splash of lemon juice, some shredded fresh basil, diced fresh tomato and mix it all together for a delicious lunch. Yay, no cooking!
But there are also moments where I'm bitter. Like earlier today, I get my hopes up seeing a link that advertises that a magazine is looking for stories from allergy sufferers about their lifestyle, and about dealing with people who don't believe the allergy. I click the link, and its wanting stories from mom's about dealing with their allergenic children.
It's moments like this that make me want to scream: "Dear World, Adults have allergies too, and its not fun for us either."
But I suppose this is a lot like the "cute puppy" advertising problem. If it's ugly, disgusting, and yucky, no one wants to hear about it, let alone buy the product. But if it happens to a cute puppy or adorable baby, then everyone takes action.
I just fear that it gives off this misinformation that allergies only affect children, and it makes me angry.
But there are also moments where I'm bitter. Like earlier today, I get my hopes up seeing a link that advertises that a magazine is looking for stories from allergy sufferers about their lifestyle, and about dealing with people who don't believe the allergy. I click the link, and its wanting stories from mom's about dealing with their allergenic children.
It's moments like this that make me want to scream: "Dear World, Adults have allergies too, and its not fun for us either."
But I suppose this is a lot like the "cute puppy" advertising problem. If it's ugly, disgusting, and yucky, no one wants to hear about it, let alone buy the product. But if it happens to a cute puppy or adorable baby, then everyone takes action.
I just fear that it gives off this misinformation that allergies only affect children, and it makes me angry.
Monday, October 11, 2010
The hidden dangers of eating allergens
I did something bad. Something very bad and it resulted in me having very little memory of anything I did, said, or even was supposed to do during the last 4 days or so. I vaguely remember that I'd RSVP'd to something on Thursday and didn't show up.
Other than that.. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday is a blur. Actually, on Saturday I clearly remember being so confused that I didn't know if it was 7am or 7pm. I remember it because it scared me, which is the reason that I even remember part of Sunday.
At the current moment, I'm jobless, single, and so have little real demands on my time that I don't create for myself.
In a moment of almost suicidal decision making.. I wasn't have much luck with the jobless issue. Due to the severe restrictions I had on myself to stay healthy, dating was becoming impossible. Even with my severe restrictions, I was still finding myself suffering through reactions.
It boiled down to... If I'm going to be alone and single, and I don't HAVE to be at work anywhere.. there is nothing stopping me from eating what I want.
So I did.
At first it went unbelievably well. I was shocked. I was expecting reactions to hit the Ricter scale at 7, and all I got was a 2.
So I tried it again. Something worse for me. Something that was truly dangerous. I really expected monumental problems. I got a slight headache that lasted 3 minutes, a little eczema outbreak, and some gas.
It was seriously a WTF moment.
However, as much as I know one of my allergens is nearly like crack to me. It's one that's the hardest to avoid.. lucky me right? I wasn't really prepared for it.
What I'd planned (after the second trial of my allergens) as a once a week binge, just enough for a date or social event, turned into a once a day, twice a day, every meal, every snack sort of thing.
I found myself craving things that I knew had components of my allergens in it. Nothing else would satisfy me, and since my reactions were not horrid.. some skin blemishes (ugly & disgusting but not deadly), some sinus problems, cough, headaches, lots of gas, and some digestion problems.. I was finding it hard to resist those urges.
So I think it was Wednesday of last week, I went and purchased some groceries that were easy to fix and "allergy-lite". Items that contained only small amounts of my allergens. I purchased enough of these foods to last me for a few meals. I planned on eating one meal a day of it at most.
I should have caught on earlier, but I didn't. One meal of it and I was too tired to cook my allergy-friendly food. So I made an allergy-lite quick sandwich. Then another.. and another.
By Friday, I was feeling under the weather a little, but I don't really think I was thinking well enough to clearly assess my own health.
Saturday, I was dazed and confused. This set off alarm bells in my head. I clearly remember telling myself that I had to stop. I also remember trying to remember how many days it'd been since I'd done anything productive. I couldn't remember anything. I couldn't even tell you when was the last time I'd fed my dog. Luckily there was still some food in her dish. I gave her more just in case.
Funny thing is that I started going allergy-free because of the worsening health and digestive issues, and didn't even notice the mental complications. But even though my health was clearly getting worse by Saturday, that wasn't the deterrent. The deterrent was simply that I was so out of it, I knew I was missing out on life itself.
Sunday, I used what little energy I had to make an easy broth soup. By Sunday night, I was thinking more clearly and detoxing.
Today, I'm pretty clear. I seem to recognize time passing, which is a good sign.
Despite feeling like I missed a few days, I'm actually looking back at this as a positive experiment. It has shown me that I do have to stay diligent, but possibly that I can once in a while screw up and live through it with little consequence. However, I cannot allow myself to think that its ok to do it on any kind of regular basis. The potential costs are way too great. (And if I can't control myself on a once in a while screw up, that's going to be out too.)
People ask me all the time about my allergy symptoms.
"What happens when you eat it?"
There are so many parts of how it affects me that I cannot put it into words. Simply put.. my answer is this..
"It won't kill me. It will just make me wish it had." One way or another this is true.
(Disclaimer: This experiment was only with allergens that I have a past experience of non-deadly reactions. Any foods that I feared a severe or deadly reaction, I still avoided. This is not an experiment that I would advise anyone to do on their own without doctor supervision or without proper allergy medications handy - epipen. I just got lucky.)
Other than that.. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday is a blur. Actually, on Saturday I clearly remember being so confused that I didn't know if it was 7am or 7pm. I remember it because it scared me, which is the reason that I even remember part of Sunday.
At the current moment, I'm jobless, single, and so have little real demands on my time that I don't create for myself.
In a moment of almost suicidal decision making.. I wasn't have much luck with the jobless issue. Due to the severe restrictions I had on myself to stay healthy, dating was becoming impossible. Even with my severe restrictions, I was still finding myself suffering through reactions.
It boiled down to... If I'm going to be alone and single, and I don't HAVE to be at work anywhere.. there is nothing stopping me from eating what I want.
So I did.
At first it went unbelievably well. I was shocked. I was expecting reactions to hit the Ricter scale at 7, and all I got was a 2.
So I tried it again. Something worse for me. Something that was truly dangerous. I really expected monumental problems. I got a slight headache that lasted 3 minutes, a little eczema outbreak, and some gas.
It was seriously a WTF moment.
However, as much as I know one of my allergens is nearly like crack to me. It's one that's the hardest to avoid.. lucky me right? I wasn't really prepared for it.
What I'd planned (after the second trial of my allergens) as a once a week binge, just enough for a date or social event, turned into a once a day, twice a day, every meal, every snack sort of thing.
I found myself craving things that I knew had components of my allergens in it. Nothing else would satisfy me, and since my reactions were not horrid.. some skin blemishes (ugly & disgusting but not deadly), some sinus problems, cough, headaches, lots of gas, and some digestion problems.. I was finding it hard to resist those urges.
So I think it was Wednesday of last week, I went and purchased some groceries that were easy to fix and "allergy-lite". Items that contained only small amounts of my allergens. I purchased enough of these foods to last me for a few meals. I planned on eating one meal a day of it at most.
I should have caught on earlier, but I didn't. One meal of it and I was too tired to cook my allergy-friendly food. So I made an allergy-lite quick sandwich. Then another.. and another.
By Friday, I was feeling under the weather a little, but I don't really think I was thinking well enough to clearly assess my own health.
Saturday, I was dazed and confused. This set off alarm bells in my head. I clearly remember telling myself that I had to stop. I also remember trying to remember how many days it'd been since I'd done anything productive. I couldn't remember anything. I couldn't even tell you when was the last time I'd fed my dog. Luckily there was still some food in her dish. I gave her more just in case.
Funny thing is that I started going allergy-free because of the worsening health and digestive issues, and didn't even notice the mental complications. But even though my health was clearly getting worse by Saturday, that wasn't the deterrent. The deterrent was simply that I was so out of it, I knew I was missing out on life itself.
Sunday, I used what little energy I had to make an easy broth soup. By Sunday night, I was thinking more clearly and detoxing.
Today, I'm pretty clear. I seem to recognize time passing, which is a good sign.
Despite feeling like I missed a few days, I'm actually looking back at this as a positive experiment. It has shown me that I do have to stay diligent, but possibly that I can once in a while screw up and live through it with little consequence. However, I cannot allow myself to think that its ok to do it on any kind of regular basis. The potential costs are way too great. (And if I can't control myself on a once in a while screw up, that's going to be out too.)
People ask me all the time about my allergy symptoms.
"What happens when you eat it?"
There are so many parts of how it affects me that I cannot put it into words. Simply put.. my answer is this..
"It won't kill me. It will just make me wish it had." One way or another this is true.
(Disclaimer: This experiment was only with allergens that I have a past experience of non-deadly reactions. Any foods that I feared a severe or deadly reaction, I still avoided. This is not an experiment that I would advise anyone to do on their own without doctor supervision or without proper allergy medications handy - epipen. I just got lucky.)
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