I’ll never forget the day I suddenly had allergies. And I mean suddenly.
I grew up in small town, rural Saskatchewan. I spent a good portion of that time at my aunt and uncles farm with my cousins.
We were always having feasts of fresh veggies and fruits from the gardens. We used the ATV and a trailer to drive around to all the gardens and collect everything that was ready to pick.
Fast forward. I’m 20 yrs old. I’m living in Calgary and working at the airport. My boyfriend at the time and myself decided to spend a nice fall Saturday off, at the farmers market.I bought fresh raspberries and peaches.
I was laying on a pull out couch in the basement of his parents house, watching some trash daytime tv show I can’t even remember what it was. Time to dig into my fresh delicious fruit!
I started pigging out on my raspberries and peaches. A few minutes later I noticed I was rubbing my eyes a lot, and the more I rubbed the worse it got.
Finally I realized something wasn’t right and I got up to look in the mirror. I remember yelling out some expletive and then yelling for my boyfriend to come downstairs.
I had hives all over my face. All over and around my eyes, and all around my mouth.
My boyfriend yelled when he saw me and then laughed, and so did I. I didn’t have any swelling just lots and lots of hives.
He drove me to the nearest clinic and as soon as the receptionist looked up and saw my face, she took me straight to the back despite the full waiting room. Another peak into the future.
The Dr gave me what I know now was a shot of epinephrine and then I laid in an exam room for half an hour until it was safe for me to go.
The next day I reheated some mac and cheese for lunch and then sat on the couch to have a peach. I had still not attributed the hives to the fruit as I ate them regularly for 20 yrs. I assumed it was fertilizer or something and thought I would be fine if I washed it really good first.
No sooner did I swallow the first 2 bites of the peach, I was making a mad dash for the bathroom. I hardly made it there in time to bring it back up. Just the peach. It was the weirdest thing. Obviously it was the peach and not chemicals.
I had heard of people developing allergies as they got older, so I presumed I was now one of those people. But Really? This sudden? And peaches? After all these years? But I love peaches.
In the coming months I also discovered that I was allergic to every other thin skinned fruit with pits or seeds. So apples, plums, nectarines etc. It sucked!
I can only handle melons, bananas, oranges and grapes to an extent.
I started having allergies to carrots, almonds, peas, cranberries, cherries…how was I supposed to eat healthy or have a balanced diet if I’m super limited in my fruits and veggies??
I struggle with that to this day. The more limited my safe foods become, the more out of balance I get.
I would give anything to dive into a bowl of fresh apples, plums, peaches, and nectarines.
There’s worse things in the world I know.
I just wish I knew the real reason behind those sudden reactions all those years ago (I’m still in the woulda, shoulda, coulda phase of acceptance).
Like hey you have a really rare skin disease that may be turning systemic. That would’ve been nice.
I hope I get to see that change for other people in my lifetime.