I think we all would agree that food allergies seem to have gotten more common over the years. Personally I'm allergic to artificial colors in stuff like koolaid. It took a summer of hives and tests to figure that one out. Lesson to be learned: Don't eat only jello for a week after getting your wisdom teeth out.
But yesterday Dan had an allergic reaction that I'd never seen. He had eaten some watermelon (which he had had several times in the last few days) and all of a sudden his eyes swelled up. He looked like the Elephant Man. He said he used to have reactions like that when he was little to hayfever, but this was unusual. He took so much antihistamine (I think four different kinds) and still the swelling wouldn't go down. The bridge of his nose had swallowed up his eyes and he had such big bags under them that it looked like he was storing walnuts for the winter like a squirrel. We tried ice and that didn't work.
We figured that today after a good night's sleep it would be better but he woke up and it looked the same. So another round of every antihistamine we have in the house and the swelling is going down. However he still looks like he is carrying walnuts under his eyes. If that doesn't go down, I think he'll head to the doctor tomorrow for some steroids.
I've never seen anything like this and I hope to never see it again. Has anyone else seen this happen from watermelon?
I don't have any allergies to food. :)
ReplyDeleteNo, I've never seen a reaction to Watermelon! You are a lot better than I would have been. If after a few hours if my husband had looked like your Dan sounded, we would have been at Urgent Care! You stayed very cool headed. How is he now? I sure hope he is better. Looking forwarded to the follow up.
ReplyDeleteHey Tracy, Gosh I'm sorry to hear about his reaction! I do know of several very serious reactions to strawberries, and my nephew and niece have peanut allergies. Thank goodness you had that much antihistamine on hand. They say it gets worse with each exposure, so I'd recommend he go to an allergist to be formally tested for watermelon allergy and any other related allergies. They'll probably give him an Epi pen to carry around (I carry mine regularly, once I figured out I was allergic to Sobe water). My friends joke that they can't wait to play Pulp Fiction on me someday.....
ReplyDeletep.s. we must be related. ;)
Sarah
@Sarah - I can just see you doing the Pulp Fiction move with the epi pen. Too funny.
ReplyDeleteYou know I would! :)
ReplyDelete