Allergic Reactions May Need Emergency Treatment

I have, in my third and fourth decades of life, discovered some of the most unusual of allergic reactions and have learned the most interesting of realities about allergies. The education began when I was teaching my second semester of college. I am one who rarely missed a day of work, so I was appalled to find one very early summer morning that I had an inflamed face and that every pore on my face had filled with a blister, a tiny pustule that was, as if the redness wasn't enough, itchy.

When I went to the doctor, the nurse didn't seem concerned. She told me I had had an allergic reaction and that either I would have to experiment by isolating foods in my most recent diet until I found the culprit (since I had not changed laundry or body soaps or didn't add any chemicals or perfumes to my repertoire, etc.); or I had developed these allergic reactions or "allergic symptoms" all of a sudden.… That my perfect health record of many years had nothing to do with the fact that as we get older, we can pathogenically change and we can develop allergies to foods we have eaten our whole lives.

Allergic reactions as I describe are no big deal, really; and a tube of Benadryl cream and a Benadryl capsule (which makes you sleep, so watch out) are all that were needed. But other allergic reactions are hideous, drastic, and emergent. Many require immediate medical attention, as they are deadly…or, the allergens causing the allergic reactions are rather dangerous.

When I was a teen working my first jobs, waiting tables at a private school in the summer, scientists would come from the world over to have conferences, study, and get fed three times a day. I witnessed the more extreme case of allergic reactions when a scientist asked if there were any shellfish in the fare we were serving. The stuffing of the meat, it turned out, had shredded crab or lobster and the man's whole body swelled, turned red, and he had to be rushed to the hospital. What is most frightening, I think, is that such allergic reactions can include the tongue swelling. If your tongue swells too far, it will block your breathing passages. And this can cause suffocation and even death.

In my case, many years after my fear that we had killed an important person (who showed up unshaken the next morning, by the way)it turns out I had allergic reactions to soy products. I was experimenting with health food store items and had drunk a big glass of soy milk. Imagine: an innocuous little thing like a bean… causing such a big allergic reaction.