I am currently recovering from an ‘allergic’ reaction and all that entails… I’ve decided to write down my experiences in the hopes it might help others all posts are filled under “Living Life ‘Highly Reactive'”
As a child I had typical ‘hayfever.’ I was not asthmatic and allergies were mostly seasonal annoyances. My sister suffered much more with excema and a corn allergy, my father had been asthmatic as a child. Allergy does run in families but it is not the same in each member! In my early teens we learned I was allergic to aspirin and kiwi. I have many friends with children who have peanut, nut, soy, and other allergies and I have been blessed in not having such severe allergies as a child and having a child who does not have such severe allergies.
It wasn’t until moving to Connecticut and living here for 2 years that I started having more severe problems. By introducing new allergens to my system, my typical ‘hayfever’ evolved into asthma, food cross reactions, and daily migraines. Food cross reactions, also known as oral allergy syndrome, occur when the immune system finds proteins in our foods similar to the proteins in pollens we are allergic to and reacts to them. A good resource for learning about related pollens and foods is Calgary Allergy. Keep in mind your body will NOT react to ALL similar proteins and EVERYONE is different! Do not look at this and fear you will end up cross-reacting to everything! If you are a hypercondriac you probably should not dive into this, if you are a scientist like myself, it is very interesting to see the protein families.
