Exotic Places - Exotic Allergies

One of the joys of going to different places is experiencing new things. Well, when you are me, one of those things is discovering other things in the world that you are allergic to! Back in Oklahoma, I know generally what I am allergic to and when to expect problems. That is in Oklahoma, and I am not. One thing that I have discovered that causes me problems is fresh mango. Now this is where it gets interesting, usually when I eat something I am allergic to I get hives and my lips swell. When I eat fresh mango there is a completely different effect. Something in the mango apparently reacts in my stomach and it makes me burp, something in the burps actually cases my sinus cavities to swell. when it is in full effect my eyes swell nearly shut and I cannot breathe through my nose. I can still breathe, so it is not life threatening, but it was rather amusing to see Josie fussing over me when it happened!

However, mango is not the only thing that I react to here, but unfortunately it is the only thing we have identified. There is something that happens between the dry season (harmattan) and the start of the rainy season. I think it is something that blooms, or pollinates. The effect looks like this:



Ignore the hair, I woke up looking like this. I knew there was a problem when my eyes would not open. As it turned out basically my entire face was swollen. When you wake up looking like this there is only one course of action. I sent an email to the office informing them I would not be in, took Benadryl and went back to bed!

The next day I showed this picture to the guys I work with, they told me they were certainly willing to go track down the guys that beat me up and pay them back. Co-workers are such good helpers!

Even with all the allergic reactions I have had in my life so far, only one has had the possibility of being life threatening: I hope it stays that way, since we still don't know what caused that one!