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Well, shit.
Jul. 24th, 2002 10:20 pmThe last time I ate blueberries, I felt a little bit of tingling in my lips and throat. I ignored it.
This time, it was beyond ignoring. I had about half a cup of blueberries with vanilla ice cream, and suddenly my mouth was itching and tingling and burning. My lips, the insides of my cheeks, my throat, even on the outside - my neck and collarbones and arms. I found myself scratching, and gasping a little, and breathing very. Carefully.
I've been through this before. When I was twelve, suddenly cherries started making my mouth itch. My father was allergic to cherries too, so my parents instantly recognized what was going on. Next I became allergic to peaches, then plums, nectarines, pears, apples, almonds, and other nuts. That was high school. In college, I lost strawberries, blackberries, raspberries. It actually makes sense, by botanical family: anything with a pit, anything with a core, compound berries. Then I thought I was done. It's been years since I've had the wanting-to-claw-my-own-throat-out reaction that heralds another fruit lost from my diet. I could still eat grapes, melon, citrus fruit, tropical fruit, and blueberries. Scratch one from that list now, I guess.
I've just drunk a lot of water, and that helps. I should really keep Benadryl in the house for situations like this - Misha offered to go get some, but I knew that by the time he got back, the allergic reaction would be over. I've been through this before. Now the itching has faded (although I'm still scratching), and my mouth and throat just have a mildly unpleasant feeling to them. Systemically, I feel kind of worn out and icky, but that's a common post-allergic reaction for me. Emotionally...
I'm disappointed. I liked blueberries - but it's more than that. I wonder where the hell it's going to stop? Blueberries are in a different botanical family than anything else I'm allergic to. What if grapes are next? Am I going to go through this thing again where I have allergic reaction after allergic reaction until I figure out everything new that's been dropped from my list?
I hate this.
This time, it was beyond ignoring. I had about half a cup of blueberries with vanilla ice cream, and suddenly my mouth was itching and tingling and burning. My lips, the insides of my cheeks, my throat, even on the outside - my neck and collarbones and arms. I found myself scratching, and gasping a little, and breathing very. Carefully.
I've been through this before. When I was twelve, suddenly cherries started making my mouth itch. My father was allergic to cherries too, so my parents instantly recognized what was going on. Next I became allergic to peaches, then plums, nectarines, pears, apples, almonds, and other nuts. That was high school. In college, I lost strawberries, blackberries, raspberries. It actually makes sense, by botanical family: anything with a pit, anything with a core, compound berries. Then I thought I was done. It's been years since I've had the wanting-to-claw-my-own-throat-out reaction that heralds another fruit lost from my diet. I could still eat grapes, melon, citrus fruit, tropical fruit, and blueberries. Scratch one from that list now, I guess.
I've just drunk a lot of water, and that helps. I should really keep Benadryl in the house for situations like this - Misha offered to go get some, but I knew that by the time he got back, the allergic reaction would be over. I've been through this before. Now the itching has faded (although I'm still scratching), and my mouth and throat just have a mildly unpleasant feeling to them. Systemically, I feel kind of worn out and icky, but that's a common post-allergic reaction for me. Emotionally...
I'm disappointed. I liked blueberries - but it's more than that. I wonder where the hell it's going to stop? Blueberries are in a different botanical family than anything else I'm allergic to. What if grapes are next? Am I going to go through this thing again where I have allergic reaction after allergic reaction until I figure out everything new that's been dropped from my list?
I hate this.
