Unbelievable

Thanks to a painful case of chapped lips, I managed to discover the cause of many of the strange and too-frequent symptoms I've been having lately.

Since all the lip balms commercially available have corn and soy ingredients, I decided to play it safe and use coconut oil instead.

The first few times, I noticed that the itchy throat I've been having lately was worse but didn't think much of it. "Boy, mold must be high today or something . . . "

By yesterday I was thinking, "Hmmm, that's funny . . . it seems like that coconut oil is making my throat and mouth itch."

The lump-in-the throat feeling, the sensation of my heart beating faster, the slight shortness of breath, the scalp and general skin itching all definitely seemed worse after consuming the coconut oil. It was subtle enough, though, that the cause-effect thing didn't shout at me right away.

The symptoms got worse every time I salved my lips. By this afternoon it was a much clearer connection. It had quickly become annoying enough that I stopped putting the creamy white oil on my mouth. It was obvious by that point that the coconut oil was making my mouth & throat itch. I decided not to use it any more.

The palm kernel oil I used instead was much more comfortable, with no itching and none of the strange feelings in my mouth and throat.

Tonight I felt fine. I ran an errand, and by the time I got home my chapped lips were really bothering me again. I forgot that I was avoiding the coconut oil and put some on my lips, swallowing some in the process.

This time the reaction was unmistakable. It really took me by surprise.

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The sudden and severe itching in my mouth, the tightness and tingling in my throat, the tiny rash-like itchy bumps on my neck and upper back, the sensation of my heart beating harder and faster, and the itchy feeling on my scalp--almost like my hair standing on end--was enough to have me mentally checking the location of Baby E's epi-pens.

My stomach started churning and making strange noises loud enough for DH to hear across the room. I suddenly felt very tired and a bit faint and dizzy. My head felt like it was made of lead. My ears and eyes itched. When I rubbed my eyes, my eyelids started swelling and burning. I had the feeling of a lump in my throat that made it difficult to swallow. I felt hot, and I suddenly had a fairly intense headache.

None of it was intense enough to be terribly worrisome on its own, but in concert it was enough to make me consider taking a dose of the safe Benadryl even though I get nasty side effects from it. I kept thinking that if I didn't think about it too much maybe it would all go away; that after the initial reaction surprised me, maybe I was making some of the heart-racing and that sort of thing happen by my startled worrying.

It's much better now, but still bothersome. If the tightness and tingling in my throat and the all-over itchiness doesn't go away soon I may go ahead and take the antihistamine. I'm not really having trouble breathing or anything--just a very slight shortness of breath, nothing to worry about.

I've been having all those symptoms fairly frequently lately, but not all at once, setting in so suddenly and strongly altogether like that.

This type of reaction to an allergen is something new for me, and rather unsettling. Baby E is the one we have to worry about the possibility of a severe reaction with, not me. We don't need to worry about me.

I hadn't been able to pinpoint any specific trigger for the bothersome symptoms before, especially once I removed all dairy products from my diet again. But coconut is probably the one thing we're most frequently exposed to lately.

I'm hoping that what I experienced tonight was something like a cross-reaction with one of my environmental allergies, and that if I avoid coconut for a while maybe I won't react so strongly to small exposures of coconut in the future.

Avoiding coconut completely is going to be a challenge, though. Especially since
all the soy- and corn-free detergents and soaps we use are made from coconut oil. It's interesting that the smell of our coconut-based dish soap has really been bothering me lately, and I've been wondering if some of my itchy skin could be related to our laundry soap.

I've been using coconut milk as a milk substitute, too. I couldn't figure out why I was feeling so sick all the time all of a sudden, especially after eating. I'd had a number of nasty digestive symptoms that were clearly related to food--especially the pumpkin pie I'd made with coconut milk.

I kept wondering if pumpkin or one of the grains I've been using in baking was bothering me. I have felt sick after drinking rice milk mixed with a few spoonfuls of coconut milk three nights in a row now, but had blamed it on fatigue or on not eating properly. I'd noticed that many of the baked goods I'd been making (with coconut oil as a butter substitute, of course) weren't agreeing with me, either, but had thought it was because I was eating too much of them or something.

Coconut could conceivably be the cause of the rash Baby E recently developed, too. I've been regularly offering her things cooked with coconut oil or milk, in addition to the exposure she gets through cleaning agents. Baby E has been spitting out everything I've baked lately, and the lovely pumpkin pie I made. It's also interesting that this rash she has is mainly on her cheeks--right where I kiss her all the time--and showed up just after I started using coconut oil on my lips.

I discovered tonight that coconut shares a very similar allergen protein with soy, so can be cross-reactive for people with soy allergy. I didn't know that. Why didn't I know that?

I feel so stupid. Sometimes I suspect allergies when there are probably other causes for things, and other times I fail to suspect allergies when I should. I think I need degrees in research, medicine, allergies, and detective work to figure all this out.