Started with a Nugget, Ended with an Epi Pen: Corn Allergy Gone WAY WRONG!

A Bloated Stomach: Always
Hives: Sometimes
Inflammed, Hot Skin: Usually
Neck Swelling and Closing: YEAH RIGHT!

That only happens to people with peanut allergies... or bee stings! 

Wednesday, December 28th: After about a week of eating basically whatever. A little here. A little there. Then I ate 5 nuggets. Oh, they were goooooood nuggets!
Stomach bloating.
I'm okay.
Skin raising and getting hot. 
Why did I do that?
The pain was REALLY up a notch...
We rush to the store and get Benadryl and Pepto Bismal and I drink both of those.

Thursday, December 29th: Still in pain from the night before. Put all the kids down for a nap. Pull up a chair and a home-made gluten-free granola bar (xanthan gum) and put my feet up. Soon after eating the bar, the symptoms start up again, but this time my neck started feeling funny. Slowly the muscles got tighter and tighter. I started not comprehending what was going on around me. I kept asking Siri to take me to an Urgent Care and was upset she wasn't taking me. Alyssa came in the door (PRAISE THE LORD!) and I asked my dad where I should go.

I kept my cool all the way to the ER so not to freak Alyssa out. I ran into the ER and up to the desk and lost it bawling! "MY THROATS CLOSING! I'M HAVING AN ALLERGIC REACTION!" They rushed me back.

"Mam, please slip into this gown. I'll be right here in case something happens."

I just stared at the gown. Snaps... I know I know how to do ... Snaps... "Someone help! I can't! I don't know what's going on."

"You're going into shock. It's okay. We have medicine. Hang in there."

I don't remember much else until I received the Epinephrine. I immediately felt a million times better! They also gave me a hefty does of steroids. I was given two Epi Pens to take with me.

Friday, December 30th & Saturday, December 31st: I went to the ER again Friday because my throat started closing, and again Saturday due to the same phenomena. More steroids... more drugs...

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Alright... I Guess It's Time to Bite the Bullet, Eh?

All Organic. Grass-Fed Meat and Cheese. Non-Corn Fed Eggs.
My LONG list of Corn ingredients made me realize I can't really eat anything packaged at all...
It was going pretty well until...

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NO! DON'T DRINK THE COCONUT WATER!

Elias had been throwing up and having diarrhea all week.
I was so weak and dizzy from all the steroids.
I kept drinking water, but I felt dehydrated too. So I grabbed a coconut water. I didn't even think about it.

Sure enough. I felt funny. My stomach started to tighten. I got SO dizzy.
I looked at the label:
COCONUT WATER, VITAMIN C.

I called Kirkland and asked where their Vitamin C is sourced from. It was on my "corn list". It's sourced from "absorbic acid" which can be sourced from CORN SYRUP!

Well, maybe the steroids still coursing through my veins will help...

My throat tightened. I had the Epi Pen in my hand, but I was so afraid to use it.
My husband rushed me to the ER. I fought myself to give myself the Epi Pen, but I just couldn't.
Finally in the ER, the doctor and the nurse walked me through it and I gave it to myself.
IMMEDIATE RELIF!

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What's Different?

When your body has an allergy, your immune system produces antibodies against the substance. The more you expose your immune system to the substance, the more antibodies your body creates. The more I exposed myself here and there, the more my immune system was building up for ... THE NUGGET!

I now have the worst level of allergy towards corn...


I'll have more posts about how I am working through this as far as life style and my walk with the Lord and what's He's been teaching me through it all. He hasn't taken me home yet! ;)

Plus I'm so wiped out from the adrenaline followed by the drowsy Benadryl...