Hello Splodgies!
Some of you who read my blog will know that I have a quite serious nut allergy. Not to all nuts, I can have almonds and pine nuts, and they tell me I can have walnuts now, but I've still not taken the walnut plunge.
Anyway, as I was sitting on my train home yesterday there was a man eating some mixed nuts on the table across the aisle from where I was sitting. The smell of the nuts was filling the air and making my head hurt and I was feeling sick. My mouth felt dry and powdery.
...And yet, I felt socially uncomfortable saying "excuse me, I have a rather serious allergy and the smell of your nutritious snack is making me feel rather dreadful" Because to inconvenience someone else would be too mortifying, because I would have to continue to sit in their presence for another hour and a half with nothing to say.
And what made this situation worse was that I had unexpectedly seen a friend on the train and would've really liked to have talked to him more but the nutty smell was making my head feel all foggy and cranky.
Today I have been feeling like I've been having a nutty hangover. I went shopping with my brother in the morning because we had no fruit or vegetables or anything, and the whole time we were shopping I was just thinking "I feel like shit. I can still taste nuts!" Even though I've not had any. So today has basically been a getting-over-nuts day. It's weird because this is the first time since I was about 8 that I've had a reaction from just being around nuts. When I first discovered I was allergic to nuts it was because I was eating things that had nuts in and I was getting the most blinding headaches- had I been eating peanuts though, the consequences could've been much more severe. This time it wasn't a major reaction because I hadn't touched or eaten any nuts. But I remember being so sensitive to the smell of peanuts in particular, that I could at one point, smell peanut butter in a sealed jar in a cupboard across a room. So majorly sensitive! Not as much anymore, but the smell still makes me wretch. I guess it's my body's way of saying "Look out! Don't eat that or you'll die!"
General public service announcement! If you don't know how to administer an epi-pen (or jext pen, they're virtually the same thing) PLEASE learn how to do it properly. Because you could save someone's life!! Anaphylactic shock can kill somebody very quickly if they are not treated. If the person having a reaction carries an epipen they will know when to use it. So help them if they need it!
links on how to administer an epipen here:
What about you? Ever had to sit in a room with something making you feel horrible and feeling like you couldn't speak up to make it stop? Let me know in the comments, because I'm betting its more common than most people perceive. It's not hard to tell a stranger to please turn their music down, and yet nobody likes to!
Today, this is me, awaiting my skype date with an old friend:
See you tomorrow!
-Rosa
x
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