So it seems I am now allergic to strawberries.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Ok, so this is what happened. Son of a bitch.

Friday afternoon I was getting ready to start preparing for work at 4:30pm. At about 2pm I thought I would have a snack, and grabbed the second half of a pound of strawberries I bought Tuesday evening. I washed them well and set into eating them. I usually dip them in a little granulated sugar, I like the crunch.

Almost immediately I noticed my lips and tongue were tingly, but I put it off to the natural astringent properties of strawberries. It wasn’t until I had finished them all (about 6 fat berries) that I realized the tingling was spreading through my whole face, and I was slightly short of breath. I got up to go after my water bottle, and noticed I was rather dizzy and weak feeling. My stomach then started to cramp up, and I felt nauseous. I polled several people as to what I should do, most agreed I probably needed medical attention. I tried to drink some water and I found it hard to swallow, and that’s what decided me to call 911, along with the memory of Mom’s sudden fire ant allergy that nearly killed her.

I told the 911 dispatcher what was going on and she said she was sending the paramedics over to me. I put on decent clothes and clean undies, gathered the medicines I take daily (ibuprofen, Aleve, multivitamin, and Claritin) and was waiting for them on the front porch. The paramedics and one policeman arrived and checked me over, my blood pressure was a whopping 181/110 (my normal is near 115/70) so little danger of shock, but my blood oxygen saturation was 98% and my pulse rate was elevated but within tolerance. They asked me all the usual questions and I answered them honestly. I couldn’t see very well by this point, and was having trouble speaking. I did try to keep talking so I could make sure I wasn’t losing mental acuity and so I could gauge by their reactions how much sense I was making.

As my symptoms weren’t improving (by this point it had been an hour or so since I ate the berries) and I kept noticing new ones, I decided to ride to the hospital. Money be damned, I didn’t feel like dying today. The paramedics were very kind and took good care of me. I stayed calm, and fought the growing panic in my gut. They got me to St John’s Medical Center where I told the whole story to three more people. I wasn’t allowed to drink yet, so they started an IV to help me stay hydrated and for pushing medicines. It took them three sticks, thanks to my rolly veins. IV went in the crappiest place, the back of my right hand.

A nurse came by and put the little thingies on me to do an EKG, which was normal. They tested my blood and found nothing to cause alarm. My blood pressure and heart rate were slowly getting back into normal range. They gave me Benadryl, Pepcid, and Prednisone intravenously. I very nearly conked out right then, but I fought sleep to make sure it was all going to work. I watched as my pulse rate and blood pressure dropped even further. I literally felt my airways opening back up and I could breathe deeply again. I tried a sip of water and it went down fine. I waited a bit longer until couldn’t stand the urge to pee anymore, and asked for help to the bathroom. I was still a but weak and uncoordinated.

When I returned the doctor said it would be all right to remove the IV and let me get on out of there. He gave me a referral to follow up with a physician, suggested an allergy battery test, and cautioned me to avoid strawberries (duh) and other common food allergens until after the allergy test. He told me that when allergies crop up suddenly, it may indicate other physical issues that need attention, as that isn’t normal. He gave me a prescription for predniSONE and one for Pepcid, and told me to double up on the Claritin. He said that the fact I take Claritin daily may have prevented a worse episode.

I called my best friend who was kind enough to come and carry me home from the hospital. Currently 11:15pm, my face is still numb, I have no taste in my mouth, and I have severe double vision, with or without my glasses. I am hoping sleep will fix this. My blood pressure right now is 156/98, with a resting heart rate of 102 bpm (geez! all high numbers for me) but for now I am attributing this to stress and the side effects of the drugs I am full of. I will check again in the morning.

So yeah, that was my Friday afternoon! Fun times! Honestly I was scared poopless, despite my many ills, I remain fairly healthy. Let me add some - MOTHERFUCKER. This is two weeks after I canceled my useless health insurance. They were charging me $36 a week for a yearlong waiting period on everything, girly checkups weren’t considered ‘preventive care’ and I would have to pay out of pocket and hope to be reimbursed. Goddammit, I am a chef and a foodie - what other foods that I like are lurking, waiting to try to kill me?

I would hate to be the sad sack who got taken out by a strawberry. My ghost would never get any respect.

2

Some people who are allergic to strawberries are also allergic to kiwi fruit. So beware.

All in all, I’d have to say that it’s just not fair to be allergic to something like strawberries. I’d hate to develop that allergy.

3

So the take-away from all this is: if you are eating something that makes your mouth go all tingly, stop eating it, right? Thanks.

I understand that allergies can sneak up on a body. I’m very glad you’re feeling better.

4

A word from a fellow food allergy sufferer -

It’s not at al unusual to take up to three days before you really start feeling normal again. Even with the drugs it take awhile for the reaction to fully subside.

And yes, food allergies suck.

5

benadryl that shit!

I developed a minor strawberry allergy. I just kept eating them and eating them one year. Yumm. Then I broke out in hives and itchy throat. :frowning: Prednisone and Benadryl. I waited around 3 years before I ate them again.

Same thing with pineapple and citirus – itchy uncomfortable throat, but (whew) no hives or shock.

6

I will be avoiding all known allergen foods as best I can until after my allergy test. And no kidding - a box of strawberries has always been my treat splurge. /sadface

Generally yes. But there’s lots of foods that have astringent properties. Kiwi and muscadine grapes always make my mouth feel a little funny. It took a while for it to spread across my face, and by then those 6 berries were packed away. No one expects their favorite food to turn on them.

Yeah, it also seems that every drug they shot me up with has the side effect of doubled or blurry vision. Hopefully my sense of taste comes back soon, but I don’t think I will be delivering any pizzas for a couple of days, much less driving to work.

7

You can’t pit strawberries, Time Like Tears.

Only cherries.

8

Olives, too.

9

Hmm. So I pit my immune system! Yeah!

10

Welllll, it’s a warning sign. My mouth goes all tingly when I eat pepper (white or black), and I’m not actually allergic to it, but it WILL trigger my IBS if I eat more than a very little bit. I don’t know if my mouth tingles because I have this reaction to pepper, or if I’m just not used to the taste of pepper.

But yeah, tingling might very well be a danger sign, especially if you’ve never had it before.

11

There is nothing worse then suddenly being allergic to your favorite foods. It reminds me of when I suddenly became allergic to Blue Cheese. It was one of the saddest days of my life (and not just because I was covered with hives…).

12

Welcome to Oral Allergy Syndrome. I developed an allergy to strawberries (and kiwi and peaches and…the list goes on) in my teenage years, so I, too, know exactly what I’m missing.

13

I think I’m a bit allergic to strawberries, too. I’m not completely sure of it, but I do know that during strawberry season I eat gobs of berries and during that same time I develop hives on my palms, wrists and sometimes eyelids. They’re not overwhelming, at least not enough to cause me to stop eating strawberries. Yet.

I’ve developed an allergy to aspirin in the past year, I’m pretty sure. Both berries and aspirin have salicyl- . . . sali- . . . something, and I’m sure there must be a connection. Last time I took aspirin my whole scalp broke out in hives and the itching drove me mad. So no more aspirin for me.

14

Wow! Thanks for posting that link. My reaction to eating my allergen foods isn’t exactly that (I get that “burned” or “raw” feeling like when you eat too hot pizza) but I always suspected that it was my allergies, and this confirms it. Damn.

15

I’m kinda wishing the whole world would develop an allergy to cilantro. Then, we could all, nation by nation, make a united and concerted effort to rid the planet of that noxious weed.

An allergy to strawberries sucks, though. Glad you’re feeling better.

16

Damn. A friend developed an allergy to sesame at the age of 50+. He was admitted to the hospital & it took a while for the MD’s to discover the cause. Now he avoids the seeds & most Asian cooking. And carries one of those epi-pens in case of accidental exposure.

At least, he said, he wasn’t allergic to strawberries or shrimp…

Best wishes. Be careful. But it still sucks.

17

I became allergic to melons in my twenties, and this started a long list of foods that I am now allergic to - essentially all fresh fruits and vegetables. As I’ve aged, the reaction has become less and in some cases almost unnoticeable, so I can, say, eat a banana now where it used to be that I could only have one bite. So use caution when you are eating any raw fruit/berries until after you get tested.

However, I can eat anything that has been cooked - strawberry jam, orange juice, cooked veggies. So it may be that you won’t have to totally give up fruits and berries that you love!

18

My teenaged daughter recently developed consistent allergic responses to shrimp and crab after loving them her whole life. She’s really pissed off that this occurred before she ever had a chance to taste lobster.

19

Our home-daycare workers’ family have allergies to 1) red meat 2) chocolate and 3) dairy. I can’t imagine trying to cook for that family on a daily basis!

20

My coworker has an allergy to bee stings.

This, however, did not stop her father from becoming a beekeeper.