"Ah-CHOO!"
Itch - scratch - itch!
Hives…….heaves…….hyperactivity!
Gag, retch, barf……..
Allergies can manifest in myriad and
interesting ways.
This is a topic near and dear to my heart.
As a child, the first really obvious allergy
was to peanuts. My dad (a practicing DO, by
the way) noticed that I would not eat peanut
butter even as a toddler, and would gag if I
even smelled it.
Knowing
that I liked chocolate, he fed me a
chocolate covered peanut, and then had to
give me an epi shot, as I started into a
rather dramatic reaction! Evidently my
intuition was kicked in even at a young age,
I had to be "tricked" into eating a peanut.
Hay fever was my other violent manifestation
of allergies. "Outside cats or no cats" was
the phrase the allergy doctor used, as I
underwent skin sensitivity testing in grade
school. Itchy, watery eyes and sneezing
uncontrollably were part of my early
life……grass seed, pollens, animal dander,
you name it.
I even spent a week with my mom at the Mason
Clinic in Seattle, undergoing massive
testing and ending up with desensitization
shots tailored just to me. Oh boy, several
shots a week, what fun for a little kid. I
distinctly remember being awake crying in
the middle of the night unable to breathe
freely, often demanding, of all
things…….whole wheat toast! I craved it, as
we often crave our allergens!
We actually produce some opiates and
endorphins as our body encounters the
offending substance, and we become addicted
to that feeling. Clearly now, I know I have
gluten sensitivity which was contributing to
the allergic reaction, and that was one of
the worst things I could have eaten.
As I got older and got even more into
horses, my dad would give me steroid shots
so I could see my way around the show ring
each summer, and get through classes without
sneezing myself silly. When those shots
messed up my periods, I got angry and
demanded an end to those, trading them for
high powered antihistamines. Cool. Now I
could just exist in a sleepy fog, but I did
not sneeze as much.
Enter
Dynamite into my life in my early
30's. Still riding, training, showing,
living with animals and with hay fever. But
something changed. I started on
Dynamite
for Adults and Children, and lo and behold,
after a few months I noticed I was actually
breathing freely, and not taking nearly as
many antihistamines. Lifelong allergies
just faded away with proper mineral
support! That was 25 years ago and other
than an occasional setback (usually
precipitated by a wheat-fest!), I seldom am
troubled with the severe hay fever anymore.
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