Seasonal Allergies

Three posts in one day, that's got to be some kind of record.

So I have seasonal allergies in addition to food allergies, but I don't usually even think about them anymore because they rarely bother me. Case in point, Rob and I went orienteering last weekend on a mountain covered in greenery of which I'm sure I was allergic. After several hours of traipsing up and down the mountain, we finished with no more than a few cuts and scratches. The pits of my elbows were a bit itchy and red, which is common for me when I have a slight allergic reaction, for a few days afterward, but that was it.

Not eating things I'm allergic to has made me barely even notice my seasonal allergies. Last summer, before the allergies discovery, that trip up the mountain would inevitably have ended badly. I would probably have had to take Benadryl 20 minutes into the hike. Because my body responses REALLY strongly to drugs, within a half hour I would have either ended up falling asleep on the mountain or Rob would have had to "help" (i.e. carry) my half asleep body off the mountain. After this, I would have fallen asleep for 12 hours and then woken the next day feeling hung over.  It would then take me an entire week to feel like I could think completely clearly (for me thinking on allergies is like trying to think through wet cement).

It is largely for this reason that we have been so vigilant about eating allergy-free. Not because eating these foods could send me to the hospital, I'm not that severely allergic to most of them, but because I can't think clearly and am extremely emotional, irritable, and irrational whenever I eat things I'm allergic to (like the last time I ate ice cream--a post for another day).

This hike reminded me how big of a difference not eating what I'm allergic to has made. I hadn't thought about how long it's been since I had a full blown allergic reaction.  Who knew I would be so happy to be mildly itchy?