A little loss of .3kg (.6lb) this week. Not surprising considering the pizza incident.
Or the little incident that had me rushed off to the emergency ward of the Alfred Hospital last night...
Yesterday afternoon, I thought I only had one life-threatening food allergy.
By about 11 o'clock Sunday night, I was abundantly aware that I had two.
A couple of years ago, I was rushed to hospital in London with anaphylactic shock (the technical term for a lethal food allergy). It was not pretty and I assumed that if I avoided eating pistachios for the rest of my life, I would be fine.
Bzzzt. Thank you for playing. Next contestant please!
Last night, I was feeling a bit peckish after dinner (grilled salmon with stir fried Chinese vegetables on rice - yummy!) and I wanted something sweet. I had two mangoes ripening on my kitchen window sill and one of them was perfect.
Mangoes. They are sex in the form of fruit. If you've never eaten one before, I pity you. The weight of them in your hand, firm and fleshy, slightly warmed from ripening in the sun. The perfect shape of them, like one gorgeously shaped butt cheek. The soft perfumed fragrance. When you slice one open, it runs with sweet perfumed juice. And then the flesh, the soft, delicate flesh that melts against your tongue.
It reads like porn, doesn't it? But that's just what eating a mango is all about. They're best eaten naked, in the bath, because they're messy and delicious and should be enjoyed with utter abandon.
So I picked up my perfect mango and I sliced it open and I gorged myself on it. I got juice all over my face and hands. I sucked the flesh off the stone and scraped it off the inside of the skin with my teeth.
It was fabulous.
It had to be. It was probably the last mango I'll ever eat.
About half an hour after I'd eaten it, I felt a familar tingling in the palms of my hands. Then it developed in the soles of my feet. Then my lips and tongue started to tingle.
Oh fuck.
I knew this feeling. It would be followed by my lips and tongue swelling and welts all over my body and, if I didn't seek immediate medical treatment, death.
I told my husband and he told me to sit quietly and see if it really was an allergic reaction or just me over reacting. I had him check my body every couple of minutes for welts. I could feel my tongue and lips start to swell.
He lifted my shirt again. He told me to ring an ambulance.
All the while, I tried to think of what the hell had set this off. I'd not eaten any pistachios. Nothing even resembling them. Maybe the mangoes had come in contact with some pistachios and by scraping the flesh off the skin, I'd inadvertantly consumed some nut particles. Perhaps the new medication triggered new food allergies.
I waited for the ambulance and was whisked off to hospital where they asked me the same questions over and over again while they put me on oxygen and slammed a drip into my arm to administer steroids to fight the reaction.
By this stage, I was covered in hives, from my scalp to my feet. My skin was red and pebbled with them and itched like nothing you've ever experienced. My lips and tongue were so swollen they distorted my face and I couldn't talk properly.
I couldn't figure out for the life of me how this had happened. The nursing staff had no answers for me, they just kept administering steroids until the reaction finally faded several hours later.
For the record, it turns out that pistachios, cashews and mangoes are from the same species, a species that includes poison ivy and poison oak.
I'm a little bit fragile today. I wrote a messy, rambling entry on my other blog that you can read here, but the gist of it was this episode has really messed with my head.
I'm off to an immunologist to get to the bottom of these allergies and to ensure I carry medication with me at all times to help treat them should I accidentally eat something with pistachios or mangoes in it.
In the meantime, I need to focus on getting well and surviving all the fun stuff life is throwing me. Ah, at least it's never a dull moment with me! But if you have any spare hugs you can throw my way, I'd appreciate each and every one of them.
I have mild mango allergies...at worst I end up getting cauliflower ears and a few hives on my body. It took me a long time to pinpoint because I don't get the reaction every time I eat it, so I thought it was just a random breakout for a long time.
oh. my. god.
So very, very glad you survived this. So very, very glad you at least had a clue what was happening and so could get to the hospital in time.
My sympathies, gal. I've got allergies, too. Carried an epi pen for years. It might be worth it to get tested for any and all allergies (dust, mildew, trees, grasses, etc.) just to see how things really are with your bod. Allergies tend to pile up on each other and make each other worse. People have wound up hospitalized for eating a combination of things which when ingested individually never bothered them before at all.
Take care now, 'k?
sending really, really good thoughts your way. scary stuff, that.
hey sweetheart, how scary for u. glad u r feeling better *hugs*
BIG HUGS. POOR YOU. BOO TO ALLERGIC REACTIONS. That's so rotten, especially when you like mangoes so much :-(. I have to carry antihistamines at all times b/c of mysteriously arising allergic reactions similar to the ones you had ( to grass? diesel fumes? dunno). Those adrenaline shots are NOT FUN. As for 'that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger', a) bah humbug, it's more like "shit happens. Complain about it loudly and at length b/c it sucks" and b) I'm glad it didn't kill you. MORE HUGS
Oh Tree you poor LITTLE (yes you are) thing.
Here's a (Hug) for your traumatic experience last night. And another (Hug) because I'm glad you're OK. A (Hug) for being allergic to pistachios and cashews, they're my favourite nuts. And a really big (HUG) for being allergic to mangoes! Oh cruel, cruel fate. I can't imagine how I'd feel about that.
I'm so sorry you had to go through that (again), must have been horrible. *hug*
Also sorry you can't eat mangoes and those nuts.. allergies suck. :(
I'm sorry you had to go through this Tree. A big big hug for you!
So you have a turn of these proportions when I'm not on duty? *tuts*
E'gad. This made my heart drop like lead Tree. Sorry you had to go through all that.
Mangoes, huh? *BIG HUG* from me and all the other pretend nurses at All Saints.
You poor, poor thing. That is the worst news I've heard- allergic to mangoes!
So glad you are ok though, and still a loss! So bitter sweet!
Hi Tree,
Beginning to wonder if I am a stalker, like some of Bec's! I just read your blogs every so often and get inspired by them, don't know why I chose you, probably because you are from my home town! Anyway, just wanted to send you some huge Melbourne town hugs, to support you with your yucky allergies. Hug Hug! So glad you are gradually getting better. Some more Melb. hugs for you, hug!!! hug!!! Hug!! Hope they make you feel a bit better
From Rhonda In Cobar
oh no. why couldn't you be allergic to the yucky seafood pizza instead? or something bad for you that you don't really like? sheesh. allergies suck. i don't have any, but my um uh fiance is allergic to pine nuts and pecans and walnuts which means i can't eat them either (the enzymes stay in my saliva or something and then no kissing allowed.)
Oh man, that SUCKS. I'm lucky, I'm just allergic to sulfa drugs. Goddess forbid I ever end up allergic to one of my favorite fruits!
Oh no! Not mangos! And it just couldn't start out with milder symptoms, could it.
Here's hoping you get the allergies sorted out so you know what to avoid.
Sending good wishes from NZ, I lurk around your site every now and again, hope you dont mind.Found you via Beck. You'll make it, you have the guts to do so!!
Aaah, yes... most all of us have a horror story. Mine was finding out I'm allergic to sea food while far away from home in Mauritius with my best friend and without any parental supervision. We were 18 and I nearly died as well.
Mangoes though! Now that is just a shame! I read your rant at your other blog and I don't blame you ONE BIT for feeling this bereft.
I'm soo sorry for your loss of mangoes! Is there NO WAY IN HELL that an allergy can ever be reversed or something?
I just surfed in after doing a search on cashews and mangoes. I'm allergic to both, anaphylactic shock all the way. I didn't know pistachios are related, however. I've never eaten one.
At the age of 17 I'd never had a cashew or pistachio or mango. Then one day a friend was eating some cashews and offered me some and I had just a tiny few broken up pieces. My tongue and mouth and throat immediately swelled up and I drove myself to hospital. I definitely would have died, the stupid nurse was waiting to see if I was getting the welts on my back, but my entire back was one giant welt so she couldn't see it. My mother who met me there had to point out my giant welt to the nurse. She finally reacted and saved my life with the epi injection.
I'd never had a mango, but years later I was reading about cashews and found out they are related. Then later in a restaurant I was served some fruit for dessert. I saw mango on my plate and avoided it, but the juice had touched the orange and when I ate that my tongue swelled up. Luckily the amount was tiny and I only needed to take an antihistamine.
Cashews are in everything, especailly Asian and Indian food. I've gotten sick at several Indian restaurants when the waiter just couldn't understand that I really meant it when I say cashews can kill me.
Sorry to hear you are in the same boat. I'm surprised to learn that you've eaten mangoes before without incident. It makes no sense.
oh tree! life sure is chucking everything at you lately! my sympathies and lots of huuuuuuggles!
Served up by dg at 11:37 on 15|11|04