Decadently sprawled across a jetty, feasting shellfish and brine
My doctor's appointment this afternoon presented me with unambiguously good news. Whatever almost killed me with anaphylaxis at Readercon, it was not the shellfish for which I blood-tested positive about a week later.
I received the results over e-mail in the third week of July; for various logistical reasons having to do with incomplete bloodwork (the lab's fault, not mine; I gave blood twice and they still managed to lose part of the order) and then with the allergist going on vacation, I couldn't talk to her about them until now. Instead I got an upsetting call from a nurse or receptionist at the practice who simply told me to cut out all foods for which I had gotten positive flags (a list incidentally including tree nuts, some legumes, and a random-looking selection of vegetables) and then tried to commiserate with me about her late-breaking walnut allergy, which did not make me feel better. It was a devastating uncertainty. Eating the sea is part of being close to it. It wouldn't have mattered if I kept kosher, but speaking as someone who as a toddler intercepted two orders of shrimp tempura meant for my mother and was only bought off with a third order all my own, a full month without bivalves or crustaceans was hell, especially in summer, especially in cities by the sea. I carried an epipen and looked longingly at other people's sushi and tried to trust that the allergist had warned me that blood tests were less reliable than scratch tests and this had to be some kind of mistake. I couldn't imagine not ever eating clam chowder again.
I can eat clam chowder. As the allergist explained it, the blood tests that are used for food allergies detect the presence of antibodies, which are caused by exposure to the foods in question. They are not considered diagnostic for allergies in the absence of symptoms. I have no history of rash, swelling, shortness of breath, nausea, any of these things around eating. I do have a history of decades of seafood on a regular basis. That history explained the low positive numbers to the allergist's satisfaction: they were not false positives in the strict sense, but they were false in that they did not point to anything that pertained to my experience at Readercon. Especially since there was a much more obvious culprit in the new medication which I had taken within the classic onset window—and which I have not taken again since that night—she felt comfortable skipping the scratch tests entirely (unnecessary expense of time, money, and itching) and sending me off to eat shellfish. Allergists are cautious by nature and profession, she emphasized. She wouldn't make the recommendation unless she thought it was safe. She was just sorry I'd had to spend a month denied something that was both seasonally tasty and emotionally important to me.
So I walked into Harvard Square and purchased the seasonal lobster bao from Tom's Bao Bao and ate it and it was delicious and I waited half an hour and then an hour and nothing bad happened except that I wanted another one, but by that time I was upstairs in Crema Cafe, drinking an herbal chai latte and writing about weird British TV, so I ate a macaroon instead. Later in the evening I met![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rushthatspeaks for a return trip to the MIT Science Fiction Society and we opted for dinner afterward at Roxy's Grilled Cheese in Central Square, where we discovered their speakeasy arcade with pinball and skeeball and cabinets of video games. (We're going back when we are not each carrying large bags of books which make it difficult to maneuver between games.) It was a much, much better end to my day than I had feared.
I am still carrying an epipen and may for the rest of my life, because my body has now demonstrated that there exists at least one thing in this world to which it reacts by trying to choke me to death and that is not cool. It was a closer call than I had thought on the night. I did not correctly assess the severity of what was happening to me. God forbid, if there is a next time, I don't try to wait it out with Benadryl: I go to the ER.
But it should not be the sea that sends me there.
I received the results over e-mail in the third week of July; for various logistical reasons having to do with incomplete bloodwork (the lab's fault, not mine; I gave blood twice and they still managed to lose part of the order) and then with the allergist going on vacation, I couldn't talk to her about them until now. Instead I got an upsetting call from a nurse or receptionist at the practice who simply told me to cut out all foods for which I had gotten positive flags (a list incidentally including tree nuts, some legumes, and a random-looking selection of vegetables) and then tried to commiserate with me about her late-breaking walnut allergy, which did not make me feel better. It was a devastating uncertainty. Eating the sea is part of being close to it. It wouldn't have mattered if I kept kosher, but speaking as someone who as a toddler intercepted two orders of shrimp tempura meant for my mother and was only bought off with a third order all my own, a full month without bivalves or crustaceans was hell, especially in summer, especially in cities by the sea. I carried an epipen and looked longingly at other people's sushi and tried to trust that the allergist had warned me that blood tests were less reliable than scratch tests and this had to be some kind of mistake. I couldn't imagine not ever eating clam chowder again.
I can eat clam chowder. As the allergist explained it, the blood tests that are used for food allergies detect the presence of antibodies, which are caused by exposure to the foods in question. They are not considered diagnostic for allergies in the absence of symptoms. I have no history of rash, swelling, shortness of breath, nausea, any of these things around eating. I do have a history of decades of seafood on a regular basis. That history explained the low positive numbers to the allergist's satisfaction: they were not false positives in the strict sense, but they were false in that they did not point to anything that pertained to my experience at Readercon. Especially since there was a much more obvious culprit in the new medication which I had taken within the classic onset window—and which I have not taken again since that night—she felt comfortable skipping the scratch tests entirely (unnecessary expense of time, money, and itching) and sending me off to eat shellfish. Allergists are cautious by nature and profession, she emphasized. She wouldn't make the recommendation unless she thought it was safe. She was just sorry I'd had to spend a month denied something that was both seasonally tasty and emotionally important to me.
So I walked into Harvard Square and purchased the seasonal lobster bao from Tom's Bao Bao and ate it and it was delicious and I waited half an hour and then an hour and nothing bad happened except that I wanted another one, but by that time I was upstairs in Crema Cafe, drinking an herbal chai latte and writing about weird British TV, so I ate a macaroon instead. Later in the evening I met
rushthatspeaks for a return trip to the MIT Science Fiction Society and we opted for dinner afterward at Roxy's Grilled Cheese in Central Square, where we discovered their speakeasy arcade with pinball and skeeball and cabinets of video games. (We're going back when we are not each carrying large bags of books which make it difficult to maneuver between games.) It was a much, much better end to my day than I had feared.I am still carrying an epipen and may for the rest of my life, because my body has now demonstrated that there exists at least one thing in this world to which it reacts by trying to choke me to death and that is not cool. It was a closer call than I had thought on the night. I did not correctly assess the severity of what was happening to me. God forbid, if there is a next time, I don't try to wait it out with Benadryl: I go to the ER.
But it should not be the sea that sends me there.
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Not to mention mussels, crabs, and crawfish!
Thank you. I think so.
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Thank you!
*hugs*
(Nice icon!)
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Thank you! The good news is that none of its close relatives are anything I am likely to be prescribed.
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Thank you!
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I have an egg allergy although it's not the most severe form.
What would kill me in jig time is that (for most people) wonder drug, penicillin!
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Thank you.
What would kill me in jig time is that (for most people) wonder drug, penicillin!
I'm glad it was possible to find that out without killing you!
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^^^^^^^^^^^^\o/^^^^^^^^^^
(that is meant to be a person swimming)
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You're the best.
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Thank you. It was indeed not happiness to think that I might.
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So, now you can eat up anything in the sea and have a weapon to hand in case Other Thing ever reocurrs? That does sound like a good outcome. <3
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That's a nice way of thinking of it!
Thank you.
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Thank you!
I was hoping you had celebrated, so I'm glad you did so with lobster and macaroons - though that thought took me to lobster macaroons which - well, I don't know, it might work...
I'm sure it is possible to make savory macaroons and I'm even sure some of them are a good idea, but unfortunately now all I can think of is the clam chowder ice cream I tried memorably once in college, which was not.
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I have reluctantly given up on clams because they make me projectile vomit, but an actual shellfish allergy would be pretty upsetting.
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Thank you!
I have reluctantly given up on clams because they make me projectile vomit, but an actual shellfish allergy would be pretty upsetting.
You still have my sympathies on the projectile vomiting! Yikes.
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I know exactly what you mean about eating the sea: it's a way of being viscerally intimate. It's part of why I love foraging for things. I'm really glad you went right out and joined with the sea, so to speak, by having some lobster.
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Thank you.
I know exactly what you mean about eating the sea: it's a way of being viscerally intimate.
I like that way of looking at it.
It's part of why I love foraging for things.
I didn't know that and it also makes sense to me.
I'm really glad you went right out and joined with the sea, so to speak, by having some lobster.
Today I had snails. Tomorrow I will have some other sea-thing. It's important.
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Ditto. I have some things that I don't digest well due to chronic issues, but none of them are allergies or even intolerances. I have been very fortunate that way and I hope to keep it up.
Thank you!
Eating the sea is part of being close to it
I am grateful to shellfish for cleaning the ocean water, but would have zero interest in eating one. I do occasionally remember the texture of flounder with fondness.
Re: Eating the sea is part of being close to it
Those are the other parts of being close to the sea. Just smelling a sea breeze can make me very happy.
My mother feels too out of balance and frail to go to a beach, but she mentioned a desire to be near one. I said "so you can smell it?" and she answered no, so that she could hear it. She then did a precise impersonation of the sound of waves crashing.
That's lovely. I hope you can find a way to get her near the sea.
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Thank you!
I am unhappy that I have anaphylactic reactions to anything, but medications are easier to avoid than food and I am much happier to carry something to deal with it than not.
[edit] I just realized your icon is so appropriate.
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Thank you!
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Nine
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I will sacrifice something appropriate.
Thank you.
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Thank you.
I don't carry an Epi-Pen because I'd have to chase it with Glucagon in a hospital; I just don't put walnuts and sesame seeds in my face. Which is sad -- BUT NOT AS SAD AS NOT EATING BRINEY THINGS.
I guess I would have eaten a lot of seaweed to make up for it, but I would still have been sad. I am sorry to hear about the walnuts and sesame seeds. Can you still do sunflower halva?
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Thank you.
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My earliest clear memory of eating is of stealing a shrimp off my grandmother's plate on general principles and then devouring her entire appetizer. She was a doting grandmother and thought it was hilarious. My mother has a strong aversion to shellfish, probably not an allergy per se but a long-lasting effect of some bad shrimp she had in her teens; so I'd never had any kind of seafood before.
P.
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Thank you!
My earliest clear memory of eating is of stealing a shrimp off my grandmother's plate on general principles and then devouring her entire appetizer.
You understand where I'm coming from!
I am glad that you got to discover shrimp.
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P.
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Thank you!
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I can't see the article without an account, but thank you for letting me know the research is being done: I hadn't heard and I agree it would make a difference in a lot of people's lives.
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Thank you! I had clams today. It was great.
I'm sorry that you have an anaphylactic reaction to anything, but at least it sounds pretty easily avoidable.
Yeah. It is related to some other medications I should not need prescribing.
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Thank you.