Weird Allergies

[cosmicfolklore]

I've had to twist my General Doctor to look further into a chronic cough I have had since I had covid over a year ago. So, after waiting four months to get in, I saw a pulmonologist and allergist yesterdays. My wife was banking that I had destroyed my lungs smoking, but actually they ruled that out fast. Then, i had to have many series of allergy tests down, whether they stuck my over 100 times with needles. It wasn't too bad. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain.

But, after spending all day there, I found out that I have reflux, causing my cough, and allergies to tree pollen, pigweed, oranges, and melons. I asked if I might have one for carrots, because like melons and oranges, I can't eat them. Melons just taste like fetid rotten muck to me, oranges burn my mouth like acid, and carrots taste like pure bitterness. My whole life I just assumed that people that ate these things were maniacs. They don't have a test for carrots, but the doctors were really interested that I was a super taster, which I found out when I took sommelier and wine tasting classes when I started making wines. The doctors seemed to spend more time talking about tasting than why I was coughing.

I knew that melon vines broke me out like poison ivy when I tried to grow them one year... for my kids. I didn't realize that some of my reactions to these foods were allergic reactions, usually urticaria, skin related.

I have to take a reflux medicine, an inhaler (which the doc said that I might not need for long), and a steroid spray. After just one night, I woke up without coughing my head off, which is nice. But, the damned inhaler makes me cough. I hate that thing. But, it seemed to stop after I got my first pipe of the day lit.

They say that 25% of everyone has allergies of some sort. Anyways, do any of you have weird allergies? What is your reactions to them?

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

Glad to hear you have some answers! I have had reflux for many years. Nexium is the only med that really works well for me

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Glad to hear you have some answers! I have had reflux for many years. Nexium is the only med that really works well for me

I have two that I am trying. First is Prilosec to see if the easiest one will work. The next one in que, if that one doesn't, is one that starts with an "F" but I can't remember the whole name.

Did reflux give you a bad cough?

 

[Hillcrest]

Burley, Severe tongue bite. Hops, can't digest;ferments in blood stream. Used to have same reaction to oranges then suddenly craved them (???). I have taken loretadine (claritin) every day since childhood for pollen allergens. Probably many others if I think about it.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Burley, Severe tongue bite. Hops, can't digest;ferments in blood stream. Used to have same reaction to oranges then suddenly craved them (???). I have taken loretadine (claritin) every day since childhood for pollen allergens. Probably many others if I think about it.

Thank God, I didn't have any allergies to tobacco, but that gives me more questions... there is no genetic difference between burley and Virginias/brightleafs. I wonder if it could be a casing that you may be reacting too. There are several tobacco researchers/writers who have concluded that the differences betwene burleys and brightleafs is microscopic. The sugar is minimal and the acid differences is also, hardly measurable, except on the tongue. The difference is processing, the cure process. Then, before 1860, when flu curing was discovered, you wouldn't have been able to use any tobacco.

It's funny, people who are allergic to strawberries will sometimes crave them so much that they learn to tolerate the anaphylactic reactions. But, I just can't put melons or oranges in my mouth. And, I won't eat any foods with any amount of carrot in it.

 

[Peter Turbo]

No crazy allergies but the flux plagues me, I take Prilosec daily and that really helps. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[AcesAndEights]

I’m lucky. No allergies that I know of, no digestive problems (yet…), however, my wife all of a sudden can’t eat bananas. Gives her horrible stomach pains. She used to love them. Weirdest thing.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I’m lucky. No allergies that I know of, no digestive problems (yet…), however, my wife all of a sudden can’t eat bananas. Gives her horrible stomach pains. She used to love them. Weirdest thing.

I keep hearing that every 7 years our bodies change so that you can pick up or lose allergies. I have a friend who was only allergic to peanuts (deathly so) for only 7 years.

 

[AcesAndEights]

I keep hearing that every 7 years our bodies change so that you can pick up or lose allergies. I have a friend who was only allergic to peanuts (deathly so) for only 7 years.

Another thing that makes my wife an odd-ball. She was lactose intolerant all her life. Until we had our first kiddo 9 years ago. Dairy doesn’t bother her a bit now. Pregnancy does things to a gal, I suppose.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Another thing that makes my wife an odd-ball. She was lactose intolerant all her life. Until we had our first kiddo 9 years ago. Dairy doesn’t bother her a bit now. Pregnancy does things to a gal, I suppose.

Human beings are interesting things.

 

[bullet08]

Reflux. I was using codeine for years Once I catch cold, coughing will never stop. Codeine was the medicine that would stop it. Then one year I asked an urgent care doc what might trigger it She said if I've tried Nexium. Sure enough, that stopped coughing. Now I'm hooked on that crap for life. If I skip a few days, I'll be coughing again.

 

[Kobold]

I’m allergic to mangos. It took me a while to figure it out but the mango skin has the same oil in it as poison ivy (which I am super allergic to). When I eat a mango I get a poison ivy rash on my lips. It takes forever to go away and it makes it difficult to open my mouth to eat. But it makes my lips look all nice and plump like a male model so I guess it’s a sexy rash.

 

[captpat]

Did the whole skin test thing when I was young, maybe 3rd grade, and diagnosed with a slew of allergies: cat fur, eggs, tomatoes, bee stings, penicillin, ragweed, goldenrod, and probably more that I don't remember. Took shots for years, it was long enough ago that my mom used/reused glass syringes. Nowadays most of that stuff doesn't bother me, though I don't temp bee stings or penicillin. My dad had a violent reaction to bee stings, but poison ivy didn't bother him, go figure.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

I have allergies. I seem particularly sensitive to mold/spores. The best solution I have found is the neti pot. My great aunt used to snort salty water out of tea cup every day, to rinse her nose. So I started doing that, and it really helped. Then I heard about neti pots. Much easier and better. Truly, no medication has helped me with allergies nearly as much as had the daily use of the neti.

 

[JOHN72]

I really don't know for sure, I was tested for allergies years ago, and they didn't find anything. But it is seasonal, sometimes I get a reaction, something like pollen allergy, watery eyes and runny mucus. Other times I get redness with the skin, but it can be stress. So far I have no allergy to tobacco, nor to bourbon, as far as I know.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

So far I have no allergy to tobacco, nor to bourbon, as far as I know.

I'm not sure about bourbon. They didn't test for that, and when I've had two drinks, I tend to feel woozy and can't walk right. I may be allergic.

 

[anotherbob]

I keep hearing that every 7 years our bodies change so that you can pick up or lose allergies. I have a friend who was only allergic to peanuts (deathly so) for only 7 years.

not how it works. Allergies happen because the immune system decides that the thing is a germ or virus just like it does with germs and viruses. The parts of our system that do this are replaced sooner then 7 years more like days.

 

[anotherbob]

I don't know if it is weird but i hate it. This one purple flower makes my skin itchy no visible rash but horrible itch and it gives me allergic pink eye which feels like your inner eyelid is made of fine grit sandpaper. And so much eye crust so much. And the things it does to my uvala are stone cold disturbing.

 

[JOHN72]

I don't want to spoil this serious health and social welfare thread. But a few weeks ago, I was in a Mexican restaurant, and we went overboard with the most lethal hot sauce spice they had. I felt something hot in my anus, like a nuclear power plant with serious core cooling problems. Yes, I know it's not an allergy, but as if it were. Hell, it lit up like enriched uranium.

 

[ThermionicScott]

No weird allergies to report, but from the time I was a kid, I always wondered why we’d all cough after getting fast food. Only recently did I learn that greasy food can trigger reflux, and that reflux can trigger coughing. No wonder I’ve started to cough more as I develop heartburn more frequently in my 40’s…