I ate a cookie today. Well it was part of a cookie bar. And then I had another piece. I was like a heroin addict and one hit just wasn’t enough. This happened three hours ago.
Now I feel terrible. I felt nothing immediately or even within the first hour after my transgression.
Rewind to two and half months ago. It was Christmas time and about as soon as I got out of bed in the mornings, I was faced with some sort of cookie/cake/candy. On Friday, December 21st, I was released from the fall semester of school to enjoy my winter break. I’m sure I was looking forward to some free time most, but I was probably pretty stoked about the delicious holiday feast heading my way as well. That day also happened to be the day I had my follow-up appointment with my allergist.
In September I had a pretty scary fondue party experience that landed me in the hospital with a swollen esophagus. That night set in motion a series of tests and subsequent follow-up appointments. My follow-up with the allergist was the last one.
I knew the information about my food allergy test wasn’t going to be fun. After all, my environmental allergy test came back with news of a positive allergy for every single listed allergen possible. This had not changed from the last time I was tested in high school - still pretty allergic to cockroaches. It’s a good thing I like to stay away from them anyway…
My allergist was tentative and delicate about her delivery of the information. I now realize why. She began with a list of immediate reactors - wheat, barley, rye, oats, potatoes, corn, tomatoes, citrus, soy, peanuts, etc. Quite the list already and she still had part of the page deliberately covered up by another piece of paper. She moved that piece of paper down inch by inch as she described each allergy. Anything measuring higher than ten requires that I cut my consumption by half of my norm. Anything higher than 20, avoid all together.
Wheat was only at an 18.8 but because I have other grains on my immediate reactor list, she considers it higher than 20. Cow’s milk – above 30. Once they get to 30, they apparently stop counting… And egg whites? Well apparently I win the prize for highest egg white allergy she’s ever seen with a whopping 183. Now, I know I just said they stop counting at 30. Usually that is the case, but my charts were so weird they counted again just to be safe.
Because most of my already pretty “healthy” diet had just been obliterated in one fell swoop, my doctor has asked me to start small. When I incredulously asked, “What am I supposed to eat?” she replied, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Cut things out slowly.” That night I went home and finished off the small, once annually purchased carton of egg nog I had been savoring sip by tiny sip each evening.
The next morning, I woke with an absolutely debilitating headache. Hypothesis confirmed.
So for now, I focus on avoiding gluten, cow’s milk and eggs. Daunting already. Forget about the rest.
Back to that cookie. I originally gave myself until December 26th to eat without changing my diet. I made it through Christmas and the next morning, I cut out my “big three” completely. I have cheated three times that I can count since December 25th. I ate some cheese in the form of spinach and artichoke dip at a baby shower held at my house on January 11th, I ate the piece of chocolate I found in my school mailbox on my birthday, and I ate the roll that accompanied my salad at Panera on February 15th. Each time, I felt puffy and just not well. It was more difficult to pinpoint at that time.
What I realize now is that none of those things had egg white in them. The cookie bar I had today did. And I feel woozy. A little dizzy. And my head hurts really badly – nausea-inducing bad.
I think that even while I have been avoiding these allergens, I have not really been believing in my allergies until now. It took me thirty years to figure out they existed, but in the last two and half months I have felt considerably healthier. Things I had taken as normal are now no longer an issue – I have had far fewer headaches. In the first month I only had two! Usually I have four or five a week. My fingers aren’t swollen when I wake up in the morning. My brain feels clearer. I have lost a few pounds and my skin seems a little healthier.
That cookie was a reminder. I have to say it was delicious, but not worth this egg white hangover. I must remind myself of this the next time I’m presented with something irresistible. Apparently, I am not Superwoman. Who knew?
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