Nasty Litttle Mini Watermelon

I feel awful, my muscles and joints still ache, stomach is still unsettled and brain is still fogged from the entire bottle of Benadryl that I drank last night. If I am going to feel this bad the next morning, I think I should get to have some fun the night before. Instead...

I had one of the scariest reactions yet, to a mini seedless watermelon! I have never reacted to watermelon before, but now I hate-hate-hate that fruit. I am totally afraid to eat anything today, since that was such an out of nowhere reaction. This is my fault since I ignored the warning signs thinking that I would not, could not, react to watermelon (I had nothing to eat or drink for 8 hours before I had the watermelon, so I don't think it is a delayed reaction to anything else). And because I ignored the warning signs, as I was very engrossed in a project, I didn't realize I was reacting till I was well into the reaction.

A., who is very calm about these things, got a bit excited because he had never seen me get so far into a reaction before doing something. I looked at him to ask if I looked like I was reacting, he looked totally shocked. If I had been thinking, I would taken a photo. It was really bizarre -- my eyes puffed up, lips turned into a big duck bill, cheeks covered in a bright red rash, pulse over 90, tongue swollen enough to make it hard to talk clearly, painful throat, lightheaded and dizzy, and so on. He jumped up and got the emergency supply bag, he didn't let me get up since he thought I was going to pass out. Because A. was here to watch me, I took huge amount of histamine blockers (Benadryl, Claritin, Zantac and also my Max Air inhaler) and tried not to use the epi pen. (Thanks!) In retrospect it was a bit funny, since I was using swigs of Benadryl to wash down the other meds.

Since he was ready jump in with the Epi-pen if my breathing became too labored or I passed out, I felt safe waiting to see if we could stop the reaction. (A. and J., you both are total rock stars for jabbing me with the Epi-pen!) If I had been by myself I would have used the epi pen, but I prefer not to if we can control the reaction. Also I didn't have the "feeling of impending doom" that is one of the signs that it is time for Epi. But, now I think that I was so engrossed in my project that I just blocked out all the warning signs including that sense of doom. If I had used it, I probably would feel a bit better today. My chest is still tight, but I'm using the inhaler so that should take care of it.

So - how can I react to a watermelon? 2 ideas, either it was ripened with ethylene (corn) gas or it was the wax on the watermelon that got into it when I cut it. Either way, I don't think I'll eat one out of season again. *shudder*

On a lighter note, I now have the most fashionable emergency meds carrier I've ever seen -- I'm using a small Coach purse is just the perfect size for 2 epi-pens and rescue meds. (Many thanks to J! I get lots of complements on it). It is the fanciest bag I have ever had, so it makes me feel happy to carry all my gear.

I've been thinking of making some food allergy t-shirts:
1. First I get itchy, then I get _itchy.
2. Yes there is corn in that, followed by a small print listing of the gazillion things that are corn derivatives.
3. Food Allergies Suck!