With Age Comes...Adult Onset Allergies...

Do not read this post before eating or directly after eating. You have been warned…





Since I was very young say about 4 years old I have had an aversion to cashews. Literally, I can see pictures of cashews and get extremely nauseated. One day when my mother worked at the local K-Mart, we went to pick her up and back then they use to roast cashews all the time. You all remember when you could buy a sub sandwich and roasted nuts and chocolates in the middle of K-mart? Whatever. Maybe I am older than most of you. Anyway, when we arrived and went into the store I smelled those cashews and before I could say I need to go to the bathroom I had thrown up all over the freshly waxed floor. I remember standing there in a bit of a shock. I also remember my mother being embarrassed, but somehow we didn’t have to clean that mess up. I remember that day like it was yesterday because all I remember smelling was those damn cashews. My only explanation for my severe dislike for the nuts is my mother must have eaten the hell out of them when she was pregnant with me because I shouldn’t have had such bad reaction to just smelling them joints.


Needless to say, eating cashews is not one of my hobbies. I do not eat them, do not like to smell them and please no pictures of them damn nuts either. Seriously, even typing this right now has my stomach queasy.


What brought on the walk down memory lane? I was reading a blog post today about adult onset allergies. This blogger is having intolerance or an allergic reaction to almonds. I was like OMG! I snack on almonds all the time, please don’t let me develop that allergy. Then I remember my adult onset allergy to eggs. One morning while in undergrad I was waiting for my boss to open the store, I was enjoying a McDonald’s egg and sausage biscuit. I was really enjoying it, when I felt this funny feeling in my stomach. I then started to feel nauseous and the next thing I notice I am throwing up violently into the McD’s bag. It was so painful and nasty. I didn’t realize it was the eggs initially. I just stopped eating the biscuits. Then one day I really wanted some scrambled eggs with a piece of ham. I mean I had my mouth set for those eggs and ham. Again, I started enjoying the flavorful eggs and ham then I started feeling funny in my stomach, then I started gagging and the next thing I know I am hugging the porcelain commode. It was so painful I burst the blood vessels in both of my eyes. A hot mess. I am allergic to eggs, but I can eat them in cooked items but not alone. I can eat a boiled egg, only one. Don’t ask how I know. So no I do not take the flu shot because of the allergy.


As I have gotten older, I have become allergic to things I once had no problems with. I mean I don’t remember the change of seasons affecting my allergies as they do now. I cannot be outside for a prolonged period during high pollens days if I want to go to work the next day. I am officially allergic to penicillin and this happen over the last 10 years, because I had surgery in 1999 and wasn’t allergic then. I guess what they say about adulthood is true. The older you get the more your body breaks down. But I still look good…Robin circa Waiting to Exhale the movie.