Oh, (Pea)nuts

Wow, it's been a long time since I've written. This summer saw additional health issues crop up for me -- heart troubles this time, an erratically irregular heartbeat. Fortunately, it's being managed, and in the scheme of things, not that bad. I could have done without all the testing: truly, after the last two years, I feel like a human pincushion -- I've gotten to the point where I inform the phlebotomist which arm and which vein to use -- and let me tell you, an echo stress test minus a bra when you're well endowed really is not fun. That said, I learned something new from my cardiologist -- people with celiac disease are at a higher risk for heart disease; it can just crop up. Good to know. Luckily for me, I don't have heart disease, high cholesterol or anything like that. It's just that my heart decided it didn't want to do the routine anymore. With having more than 10,000 irregular beats in a 24-hour period, I'm now on a medicine that regulates my heart activity. It's something I do have to manage, but it could be worse.

More recently, I had a couple health episodes that have me frankly freaked. Just about two years ago, I was diagnosed with idiopathic angioedema. I discussed it a little more in-depth in "Add One More Thing" in early 2009. The deal basically is that I'm allergic to something I touch that will cause me to swell all over and have difficulty breathing; the cause is unknown (how's that for a specific diagnosis?). I always carry Benadryl and an Epi-Pen. I also know that certain chemicals can cause that reaction, so for example with many household cleaners and gardening products, I wear gloves. Not convenient, perhaps, but manageable. I just have to be careful.

Well, Thanksgiving weekend, I had an angioedema attack. It was Friday, and I was cooking a big evening meal. Late afternoon, in the middle of making my sweet potato casserole, my right forefinger started swelling. Now I have a rule: If I'm allergic to it, I don't touch it; if I can't eat it, I don't make it. And the sweet potato casserole is a recipe of my own design, modified from B's grandmother's version (she's the sort who leaves out ingredients when giving you a recipe, but that's another story), so there's nothing in it that should be a problem for me. I racked my mind for what the problem might be. I wasn't entirely certain it was angioedema; I even wondered if I had burned or bruised my finger somehow without realizing it.

Not knowing what was going on, I didn't want to take Benadryl before bed for fear of a reaction with my heart medicine. My blood pressure is low already, lower still with the beta blocker, and Benadryl knocks me out. So I crashed, hoping I'd wake up feeling better. Bad decision.

The next morning, my right hand was completely swollen (I could barely bend my fingers), as was to a lesser extent my left, along with my eyelids, lips, tongue and groin. Crap. Yes, it was angioedema. I downed the antihistamine and crashed. There went the rest of the weekend.

I figured that perhaps, before I started cooking, when I had been taking care of my Christmas plants -- I have pots of amaryllis and paperwhites for the holidays -- I touched something that triggered a reaction. It wasn't a completely typical angioedema attack for me, so I wasn't sure what exactly was going on. I haven't had a reaction for at least a year and half or longer so I couldn't be sure.

But Sunday was more of the same. By this time, lymph nodes all over my body were inflamed and tender, and I ached all over, in addition to still being swollen. More Benadryl and rest. And so it went until Tuesday when I finally started feeling better.

Then the following Saturday afternoon, the same thing happened. My hand started swelling again. But I had touched nothing atypical.

When I have an angioedema episode, I replay events in my mind and analyze what possibly could be the cause. It's an absolutely miserable experience, not to mention potentially very dangerous, so I do my best to determine what triggered a reaction so as not to inadvertently invite it again.

Last Saturday afternoon, I'm laying down, Benadryl on-board, watching old movie reruns, napping off and on, trying to figure out what possibly was going on with me. I'm thinking about common threads, what was new or different, what had I touched or eaten. Then it struck me.

The one thing I had eaten on all those days when the reaction was so bad was peanut butter. I was hungry for a snack that Friday after Thanksgiving, and I needed something with protein. So I opted for half of a toasted English muffin with gf peanut butter and a lovely raspberry jelly. It tasted so great, I had the same thing for a snack the next day, and then the following weekend.

I haven't had peanut butter in almost a year. I'm trying to take off extra weight, and I'm avoiding unnecessary fats. The last time I had peanut butter was last Christmas, when I made peanut butter truffles for the holiday. I didn't have any problems then.

Peanuts! I don't know why it didn't occur to me sooner. I'm frustrated with myself for not making the connection sooner. Really, losing precious weekend time during the holidays is irritating and stressful, not to mention I really don't like feeling like crap for days. And I've never had problems with peanut butter in the past; when I was much younger, there was a time I had peanut butter every day! But I also think it may have taken me so long to figure it out because my mind shies away from the notion that I am developing new allergies.

Much like the heart problems, for me, a peanut allergy is manageable. Ideal? Certainly not. But I can live with it, if that's truly what's going on, primarily because I have alternatives, like almonds, pecans, walnuts. What is intolerable to me is continuing to develop new allergies. What if I do? Last year, sesame went off the list -- I can't breathe if I eat it. Now this year, peanuts? I did some research, and angioedema is a very common allergic reaction to peanuts. Great. What's next?

When I meet new people and they find out I'm gluten-free, frequently they still ask, what do you eat? It takes me a minute to remember that it is a challenge. Gluten-free has become so normal, so routine for me, I don't really think about it anymore. It isn't that it's necessarily easy, because it isn't, as my cousin who's learning to go gluten-free right now can attest, and it certainly wasn't for me. Now, casein-free was harder, because oh, how I loved my milk and butter and everything made with them. Soy was the hardest, not because I can't do without edamame, but primarily because so many gfcf things contain soy. (For those who say that soy lecithin has no effect on people with a soy allergy, I call bullshit. Trust me, I've tried it.) Avocado, salmon, sesame, even peanuts, really all of these I can live without. So I can't have guacamole, proper hummus or peanut butter; I'll survive. But I am concerned that at the rate I'm going, I'll run out of decent things to eat.

If you ask me, absolutely the hardest thing about having celiac disease is being one of those people for whom eliminating gluten isn't enough. That my system is so comprised by the disease I continue to develop auto-immune problems is far, far worse than having to go without whole-wheat bakery products or barley-based beer.

Two of my cousins have been diagnosed with extensive food allergies within the past six months or so. On the list for both of them: gluten, eggs, peanuts. Then their respective lists vary in length and type, but include common and uncommon allergens that range from tree nuts, soy and corn to blueberries and pumpkin.

I'm scared shitless that my list of allergies has grown longer, too. But I guess it's time to call my immunologist and make an appointment.