Allergies
I have no known food allergies. The only allergies I have, that I know of, include smoke and dust which really irritates my eyes (and causes headaches). Then there’s my allergic rhinitis.
So I pretty much eat anything.
On Sunday afternoon, the beginning of my weekend, I felt itchy all over my body. I thought it was just mosquito bites because there’s swelling involved (how do you say pantal in English?) It did feel weird though: why would I have insect bites even under my clothes? I passed it off thinking that maybe it was just the heat. I dozed to sleep now and then in front of the tv and didn’t pay much attention to the itchies. When I woke up on Monday morning to take a shower though, I saw just how bad things were. I had big blotches all over my belly, on my back, arms and legs. Even my feet were starting to itch. Scrubbing myself clean didn’t help although water helped cool me down and I felt relieved for a bit. I put powder all over where there were breakouts, thinking to myself that maybe I got exposed to higad somewhere. But when and where?
I still didn’t take it seriously. Until after having lunch (KFC chicken). Oh my goodness, I could not take it any longer. I asked the boyfriend to scratch my back and he saw them ugly blotches. I wanted to stop scratching really, and he kept trying to reprimand me lest I end up hurting myself and cause some bleeding. I couldn’t stop! He took some ice and rubbed them over the itchiest parts. That helped soothe me, but not for long. Then I felt some of the swelling on my neck crawling up to my cheeks. I started getting scared, should we go to the hospital? Neither one of us drives. Having three cars outside at our disposal was useless to me. The brother was sleeping and I didn’t really feel like waking him up unless it was an emergency. I called my mom: do we have anti-allergy meds here? No. I sent cousin Ada a message: do you calamine lotion at home? Nope. The boyfriend couldn’t stand it anymore, so he volunteered to go to the drugstore and get me some meds. It was hot when he went out, and he had to walk all the way there and back. He looked toasted when he got back, haha. But perhaps that’s because he hit the beach on Black Saturday while staying with his family in Bicol.
It was pink stuff that finally started to give me some relief. Caladryl/Calamine lotion is something we used to have around the house when I was a kid. This time though, Caladryl isn’t as pink as it used to. And they don’t dry up like chalk. It felt cool and soothing. Much like how aloe would feel on your skin. He also bought Benadryl, they’re pink too.
I was able to sleep early thanks to the Benadryl, and it was a deep sleep too. I woke up briefly before midnight as the boyfriend was saying goodbye and taking off for work. Then again at 530 when my brother came home from work. The only time I really got up though was around 7am. The blotches on my arms were almost gone, but the ones under my clothes were still there. And there’s still some itching, though not as strong as yesterday’s. If there’s one good thing that came out of this though, it’s that I’ve had plenty of sleep again. Though there are things to worry about, at least it doesn’t include searching around for the best eye cream for dark circles. Now if only I could sleep so soundly every work night, minus the allergies while I’m awake…
So what triggered the reaction? I don’t know! I had shrimp sinigang for lunch on Sunday, cooked by my dad. I love shrimps and I sure hope that’s not what I’m allergic to 🙁 Alfred says maybe it’s rice, since things got worse after eating rice and chicken for Monday’s lunch. Ugh. I still don’t know. Maybe it’s the heat again.