Journal SolemnDragon's Journal: In Which A (foolish) Dragon Finds An Allergen (again) 5
Hey, y'all, guess what i'm allergic to?
Mind you, it doesn't preclude my being allergic to anything else, so we'll still be treading/testing carefully, but...
Well, i sat down to dinner, and there was food we thought was safe, except that i completely forgot one element of the salad i'd made for lunch that day. So thirty-six hours later, i sit down to dinner, carefully noting the continued absence of peppers, tomatoes, etc (my known allergens) and the broccoli, cauliflower, and red cabbage and peanuts that were the things i'd had that i usually don't.
I forgot that i bought a different kind of lettuce than usual.
That's right. Lettuce.
I got boston (butter) lettuce instead of the usual stuff. I haven't had it in ages.
Halfway through dinner, i think, Gee, that's odd. My throat feels funny.
I look down at my plate.
Dragon: Oh, crap.
Blinder: What?
Dragon: Lettuce.
Blinder: What?
Dragon: LETTUCE. I put this lettuce in my salad. Yesterday.
Blinder: (Racing for the Benadryl) Oh, crap!
Well, my swelling's gone down (again) my throat is feeling if not all, at least mostly, better (again) and it was a much more minor reaction than yesterdat, because this time i had at least the good sense to stop eating. And now i know one of the constants here. This time i'd only had a few bites; this is good news, because I AM AN IDIOT and a day and a half after i almost get taken away from my workplace in a shiny bright ambulance with the sirens going, i took several big bites of the plant that apparently has my demise in mind.
I will still have to wait and later check out broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, and peanuts to see if they are still safe, as well as making sure that it is the lettuce itself and not some chemical or other trace remaining on the lettuce (the docs can help with this, i have no interest in further home experimentation) but it sure looks as if we've got something here.
Darn it.
This doesn't rule out other allergies, especially given that for most of my life i've eaten tomatoes, peppers, and boston lettuce with reckless abandon and been absolutely fine. But it certainly points to something concrete.
In honor... (Score:2)
Thank goodness.... (Score:1)
Lettuce. I'm allergic to six kinds of trees, so allgery to leafy produce sounds pretty plausible to me. I'm glad your reaction was milder this time.
Do you have an ENT? I think one might be useful at this point.
genetically modified lettuce and tomatoes are now. (Score:3, Insightful)
Genetically modified foods Are A MUCH Higher Allergen risk (as they often have the DNA of other plants or insects 'randomly' inserted until they 'produce' a desired trait without fully knowing the consequenses of inserting those genes) But because Monsanto couldn't make enough money selling genetically mod food to cattle, GW pushed for relaxing the restrictions on GM foods, making them easier to 'bring' to a 'human' market.
Not saying the lettuce you bought was genetically modified, but it's been shown at least with corn that the 'genetic trait' jumps stalks to rows of 'non modified' corn that has been grown adjacent to 'modified' corn. so it's possible that you were eating genetically modified food... but it's slightly more likely that your body has simply become more alergic to substances it used to deal with with no trouble. I just wanted you to know it could be because the lettuce was modified.
if one must be allergic to a lettuce (Score:1)
hope that this proves an easy answer to your reactions and that the other foods remain safe.
Wowsers... (Score:1)
Otherwise I'm just speechless!
Yes, it may be the lettuce, the particular strain, some pesticide used on it, or, if it's organic, possibly even the PLANT from which some such "natural pesticide" that was used on it was derived.
Also, as I discovered for a friend with apples, sometimes it's the chemical the plant naturally produces if the plant is eaten before it's mature (though less likely). I say this because the vast majority of tomatoes are picked green and treated with hyd