I had a chance to speak with the Restaurant Manager on the phone and informed him what had happened after my meal. He suggested to perform a skin test. What’s a skin test? By rubbing the potential allergen on the forearm, we can tell if it really is the allergen when allergy reaction kicks in, within 30 minutes or less. On the other hand, if nothing happens, then it could be something else that had contributed to the allergy reaction.

The Raspberry Sour Pie… can be deceiving!!

With some liquid Benodryl beside me, I spread some pie filling on my forearm. 5 minutes… 10 minutes… 15 minutes later, nothing happened. I was puzzled. Next, I took a small bite of the pie. Yet, nothing happened.

Could it be the crust? I tried the crust. 10 minutes or so later, nothing… Then, I started eating the pie. My body was fine the rest of the night.

In conclusion, do I know what I’m allergic to? No. If it’s not the food, it could be something else. There are various factors that could potentially contribute to hives; food, stress, pollen, mold, dust etc. Could it have been body stress? Maybe… At least it was acute hives and didn’t last very long. Best of all, I can still enjoy raspberries and sour cream!

When the allergic reaction happened, I was curious about the allergen. Food allergy is something new to me. I’d like to find out the root of the problem, so that I can better prevent it from happening in the future. Having to doubt before taking each bite of food isn’t fun at all. I rather know what I shouldn’t have eaten; just like the saying “satisfaction brought him back.”

Here is the test. Since the potential allergen could have been from the raspberry pie, I’d take some raspberries and sour cream as a measure of allergy test. What would I do if allergy reaction occurs? Of course, I had a bottle of liquid Benadryl handy to take of that.

First of all, I had some raspberries. Nothing happened… I waited for about 30 minutes and came to a conclusion that I’m safe to consume raspberries!

Now… sour cream… I’ve had sour cream in the past, usually with nacho chips. Although I don’t have it very often, it’s something I’ve just had a few weeks ago. Nonetheless, I’d give it a try… One heaping teaspoon of sour cream. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes… have passed. I was still completely fine.

Hence, the experiment shows that the allergen is not raspberries, not sour cream, and not the combination of both. I’m puzzled… what else could it be?!

Miles came to learn about his rum allergy in a painful way. His first experience of tasting rum ball (half a piece) resulted in sneezing and runny nose, for a few hours. In the order to be sure that it was rum that triggered the symptoms, he took a bite of rum ball the next day. This time around, it got worse. On top of sneezing and runny nose, he was suffering from watery eyes, stuffy nose; most, if not all of the cold symptoms. It was within a minute or two that his body reacted to the rum that he consumed. The allergy lasted for a week.

Besides rum, some people have allergy to other alcoholic beverage such as  beer, possibly due to the malted barley.

I’ve always been grateful that I’m free of allergies, until two days ago… Together with Miles and his parents, we went to Frank’s Finer Diner for supper. I ordered the Grilled Chicken Parmesan, and Raspberry Sour Pie for dessert. They’ve the best homemade pies ever!

I remembered my neck was itching just as we finished the meal. I couldn’t help but scratching my neck with both hands. Next thing I realized, my arms were itching. I thought it was something in the air that caused the skin irritation. There were spots on my right arm that resembled scars from mosquito bites. I couldn’t figure out when that happened…

About 30 minutes later, I was still scratching… My ears felt warm. When I looked into the mirror, they looked red! So does my neck! I pulled up the sleeves of my sweater and realized that there were rashes on both my arms! Not knowing exactly what happened to me, I approached Miles and told him that “I think there is something wrong with me…” He told me that it was hives, the moment he saw the rashes.

Hives… Could it be a food allergy?? I couldn’t think of anything I had for supper was new to my body system. Later that evening, rashes were all over my neck, arms, thighs…