I have, in my third and fourth decades of living, discovered some of the most unusual of allergic reactions and have learned the most interesting of realities about allergies.
The education began when I was teaching my second semester of college English. As one up to that point who rarely missed a day of work, I was appalled to find one very early summer morning that I had an enflamed face and that every pore on my face had filled with a blistera tiny pustule that was, as if the redness wasnt enough, itchy.
When I went to the clinic (not yet having medical coverage of any kind), the clinician seemed nonplussed. She told me with a shrug that 1) I would have to experiment by isolating foods in my most recent diet until I found the culprit (since I ha not changed laundry or body soaps didnt add any chemicals or perfumes to my repertoire, etc.); and 2) I had developed these allergic reactionsor allergic symptomsall of a suddenthat my perfect health record of many years had nothing to do with the fact that as we get older, she said, we can pathogenically change: we can develop allergies to foods we have eaten our whole lives.
Allergic reactions as I describe are...