Scary

I had a huge scare last night. I had an allergic reaction to something. A big allergic reaction. The having trouble breathing kind of allergic reaction. It started with breaking out in a rash in the inside of my mouth. The inside of my cheeks felt like sandpaper, covered with little bumps. Then it progressed to tightness in my chest and I started coughing a lot. I quickly took some antihistamines and dug out my old inhaler that I haven't used in a long time- only to discover that is is long expired. It did get to the point where I considered a trip to the emergency room through the snow- but luckily it didn't progress to that point.

I ended up staying home from work today, I'm feeling better but still just a bit off. The rash in my mouth finally went away by about lunchtime today.

Unfortunately, I have absolutely NO idea what triggered this. I wasn't around anything unusual and didn't eat anything that I haven't had in the past. One suspect: wasabi peas that I picked up at the store. I love those things but don't get them often. But they don't have any unusual ingredients in them that would cause me any concern. Another suspect would be that we had game hens for dinner rather than the usual chicken. But I can't imagine that this would be it. My final suspect is the broccoli that I picked up for dinner. The local store had huge heads of broccoli for $.99 that I just couldn't pass up. However, it was not organic and even though I washed it, I'm concerned that there was some pesticide residue on it. The only other times I have ever had respiratory symptoms from exposures has been with herbicides/pesticides. When we lived in the suburbs in Virginia, I used to wheeze every time the neighbors would weed and feed their yard or that the county would spray the local swamp for mosquitos. Every time I walk down the garden chemical aisle in the garden stores, I feel my chest tighten. But, all that said, I've never had trouble with non-organic produce before.

Now I'm feeling a bit paranoid, wondering what will happen next. Worried about what I'm putting in my body. I always thought I was doing a pretty good job but now I'm rethinking. If only I knew for sure what was the culprit....