Living with Unknown Intolerances

Elias and Aunty Alyssa.

As you can read from this post, I am (and have for many years) having a severe problem with corn that took a real turn for the worst over the last few months. 

The last event 

that had me sticking myself with an epipen in my bathroom, 

dialing 911, 

refusing the let the parametics give me a $1000-$3000 ambulance ride the the hospital, 

and driving to the nearest ER only to sit there for several hours being "monirtored", 

was when I decided to take the little oyster communion cracker followed by the watered down grape juice in the little communion cup. Within 15 minutes my brain function began to slow tremendously. My stomach started hurting. My neck started swelling...


Anyways...

I have managed to be so careful and been out of hospitals for a few weeks now (PRAISE THE LORD!)!!

Despite what it looks like, she is actully
fighting Elias to leave her alone.

But I am still fighting (Here comes the TMI part of this post that you probably don't care about... but hey, you keep reading it's on you) skin rashes, strange and inconsistent stomach pain, horribly swollen vocal chords, pretty severe fatigue, and random headaches (which I never get). 

I want to believe that it's not what I think it is...

You see, when I met with an allergist, I cut out gluten, dairy, and egg from my diet for a few weeks. The swelling in my neck was almost non-existent. My stomach felt GREAT! I still had horrible acne due to the steroids I was on, but I wasn't having the strange rashes I am having right now unless I ate some dairy.

I s.l.o.w.l.y. added dairy and eggs back into my diet and seemed to be doing okay with everything except my skin. I have been changing my laundry items, hair care products, and body soap and lotion, but I am still getting these rashes. 

I added gluten back in and my stomach has been bloated and achey ever since...

___________________________________________

So I guess I am going to have to cut dairy and gluten out (**SUPER sad face**) for a while again and see if this all goes away. I am meeting with a vocal/voice therapist sometime next month (If I don't suffocate by then) because they believe my vocal chords have been damaged through all this pesky neck swelling over the last few months. They think it may be vocal chord disfunction. 

You know, all this isn't overwhelming though. It's a little embarrassing... okay a LOT embarrassing!! I HATE being the picky one who has to ask that people accommodate to my needs. I LOVE being the BLESSING in a situation instead of the BURDEN. 

The Lord's humbling me a LOT through this. I don't understand why exactly, but He has told me:

Now this more accurately depicts Elias' attitude.

(1) This is refining me

(2) This is going to clear my life from unnecessary distractions

Funny, I feel like it's going to add more distractions... 

Well there's my ranting and raging trying to figure things out!

It's so nice to hear the Lord's voice. 

I can't imagine living life without it. :)