Bright eyes and breathless; this is how love feels

[venta]

Well. That was unnecessarily exciting.

I, and a couple of colleagues, went shopping at lunchtime. And hjalfi bought some cobnuts, to find out what they were like.

So after my lunch, I ate a couple of cobnuts[*]. We hadn't realised that they were solid enough to require nutcrackers, so I cracked mine open with my teeth. And they're quite nice - interesting crunchy, juicy texture and a very mild flavour. I decided I quite liked them.

And then I noticed that the roof of my mouth was tingling. And the insides of my ears. And I thought, gosh. That's not ideal. I won't eat any more.

And a few minutes later I could feel a distinct lump-in-the-throat sensation that hadn't been there before. And was feeling a little breathless, and rather tight and wheezy about the lungs. And a bit dizzy.

Which wasn't great. I had told my colleagues this, so they'd have some idea what was going on if I toppled off my chair. As one of the work first aiders, I know perfectly well that allergic reactions weren't covered in our first aid course ;)

Anyway, about 90 minutes later and I'm back to normal (modulo a residual slightly sore throat, and the generally bizarre feelings you get from trying to over-analyse whether you feel ok or not). So, no harm done.

Using the absolutely-100%-reliable diagnosis-by-internet, I'm considering oral allergy syndrome and have filched an anti-histamine from a colleague. However, I suspect the best course of action from now on is "don't eat cobnuts".


[*] Which the internet tells me are the same as hazelnuts. Except these were the fresh kind, with green leaves still wrapping them.

Comments

[uitlander]

So no-one got to stab you with an epi-pen. You're no fun...

[venta.livejournal.com]

I think, on balance, I'm ok with that :)

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd avoid them from now on.

Cobnuts are a type of hazelnut - they're what Americans sometimes call filberts.

Unfortunately once you've had an allergic reaction to one sort of nut, it's possible you can be allergic to other nuts too. I suggest carrying antihistamines with you to be on the safe side, and trying to avoid foods with nuts in where possible.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Wah! But I like nuts :(

I've very occasionally had a tingly mouth (but nothing else) from eating nut mixes; I'm tentatively blaming hazelnuts (I don't like them that much, so don't eat them by themselves as a rule).

However, carrying anti-histamines isn't a dreadful idea. Which reminds me, I really must order some more from the doctor...

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I've heard that the foods you really like are often the ones your body rejects. No doubt there are plenty of exceptions to that. But I've learned that a craving for croissants is one of my Little Red Flags warning me that a wheat-bloat episode is on its way.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Glad you are a bit recovered, hope it continues.

Hmmm that sounds quite a lot like when I was getting occasional oral allergy syndrome (which is faffsome but often not too serious)

Worth checking with a medic though to make sure it won't go to full blown anaphylaxis?

(FWIW, when I was getting it frequently, I had an epinephrine inhaler to use under the tongue to help with* throat closing sensation. These are over the counter in the US and approximately hospital issue only in the uk, because its either antihistamine or epipen here. And if antihistamines work, and it doesnt look horribly serious then that's what they give you)

*I was never sure if it worked by stopping swelling or just made you so buzzed you didn't feel it any more :-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Do you think it's worth checking with a doctor? I assume they can't determine that much after the fact, and are likely to say "well, it clearly wasn't serious, don't eat cobnuts".

[erming.livejournal.com]

Go and see the doctor.

If you describe what happens they may send you away for an allergy test which should give you a better idea of things to avoid.

[erming.livejournal.com]

Oh and as someone who is seriously allergic to nuts and carries an epi pen, every allergic reaction you tend to get tends to be more severe than the last.

So maybe not the next one but the one after you could have difficulty breathing, so go and get it checked out.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'm aware that allergies worsen. It's just that (from friends with serious allergies) I've learned that doctors are extraordinarily disinclined to do anything other than tell you to take anti-histamines (right up until the point where you need an ambulance, at which point it's epi pens everywhere).

[erming.livejournal.com]

Well go and see them and ask for an allergy test.

The worst they could say is no!

[uitlander]

Given that you were feeling breathless with a 'lump-in-the-throat' yes. That sounds like your airway was constricting, which First Aid will have taught you is not at all good. get some tests done, a second incident could be more serious - don;t wait for it to happen.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Anything breathing related, yes, absolutely! You can even get to see an NHS allergist pretty promptly for breathing-related stuff (hayfever and skin stuff, not so much).

Like the other people say, nuts can get pretty serious pretty quickly.

[But on a less doomy note, nut issues do come in mild non-progressive versions too, so it's well worth testing to see just how avoidant you need to be, because who knows, they MIGHT potentially give you good news! Nut OAS from cross-reaction to pollen allergies can happen, and it can sometimes just mean "don't eat the raw version" or even "don't eat the raw version at X time of year". (Disclaimer: that's my experience with raw walnut OAS, but my atopy tends towards the "gazillion itchy-making things, very few serious things" type, so may not be typical)]

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

When Cobnuts Attack! :-O

(Glad it wasn't any worse, at least. Allergies can get scary...)

[venta.livejournal.com]

It was a little scary, mostly because I wasn't sure when I should start properly worrying (ie start arranging transport to the fortunately-very-close-by A&E). I was just beginning to wonder whether I was at that time when I convinced myself (correctly) that it had stopped getting worse.

When Cobnuts Go Bad :)

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

You're evidently less of a wuss than me. The one time I wasn't managing to breathe properly I had Dawn call an ambulance! (And, ironically, it turned out that the problem was I was getting too much oxygen. Stupid respiratory system!)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Not less wussy, just less symptomatic, I suspect! I get occasional outbursts of asthma-like wheeziness (which my GP was weirdly at pains to point out definitely aren't asthma) and it wasn't any worse that than. Just attended by some other unpleasant symptoms which aren't familiar to me.

For various reasons (blame NHS Direct, largely) I've gone to A&E quite unnecessarily a few times, so am a bit determined not to go unless I'm pretty sure I'm E enough :)

Respiratory systems are weird. I didn't realise until reading a book about life at extremes (of temperature, pressure, altitude, etc) that the things that triggers you to breathe isn't requirement for oxygen, it's build-up of carbon dioxide. So when breathing low-oxygen air at high altitude, you don't generate as much CO2, and thus run out of breath before your body realises it needs to breathe, leading to all sorts of unpleasant gaspiness.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Ooh, interesting!

so am a bit determined not to go unless I'm pretty sure I'm E enough :)

Under the circumstances your first initial is a little unfortunate. ;-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Pfft! E's are good, E's are good...

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

I was listening to that only this morning c/o random choice of playlist!

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

get occasional outbursts of asthma-like wheeziness (which my GP was weirdly at pains to point out definitely aren't asthma) and it wasn't any worse that than

*Is very nosy* - so was this just much higher in your respiratory tract than your lungs then?

Personally, I always found people talking about asthma and wheeziness as synonymous to be very strange. I (allegedly very unusually) don't wheeze, even with life threatening* attacks. I guess that's more of a large airway issue?

*With predictably "hilarious" results if one presents oneself at A&E...

[venta.livejournal.com]

so was this just much higher in your respiratory tract than your lungs then?

I didn't get an explanation of why it wasn't asthma - just that it wasn't, despite the fact it seemed like it to a layman, and I was being prescribed a blue inhaler.

A cynical friend of mine mentioned that (because of some NHS box-ticking) asthma had been massively over-diagnosed in recent years. Now there is a new set of boxes to tick, which say asthma must not be diagnosed often. Ergo, I didn't have asthma.

I don't really know what asthma feels like, so I'm possibly using the words wrongly. I went to see the doctor because I'd suddenly started getting very short of breath when running (as in, I had been running identically months earlier and not being short of breath). The inhaler didn't help with that at all (I am treating it by running slower ;) However, there is an occasional "weird feeling" I get in my chest, which I've always got since I was a kid, and it turns out the inhaler does help with that.

(No, I can't describe it better - mostly because I recognise it when it happens, but can't really remember what it feels like after the fact. Possibly I should try and describe it next time it happens - it's pretty rare.)

However, if that "weird feeling" is asthmatic, then it is nothing like wheezing.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I was going to say that perhaps you had a reaction to the shells and green bits rather than the nut (they're basically fresh hazelnuts) but then you say you get that weird mouth tingle with mixed nuts so maybe it is an aversion to hazelnuts.

I concur with the others, get a check up, and next time, send the cobnuts to me. I love them!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Nice icon :)

Having read up on oral allergy syndrome (short version: the allergy is basically to the pollen that remains on the food, common in hayfever sufferers) I did think perhaps it was the shell and green bits that made it into An Issue rather than a weird mouth tingle you'd forget about immediately. Particularly since I was using my teeth to crack them.

I am kind of disappointed because, although I don't like hazelnuts much, cobnuts did seem pretty nice :(

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Could try opening them by hand and then washing hands and nuts before eating? If residual pollen is the problem.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I could... but I think I'm more inclined just to avoid them, in case :) I've no real evidence that pollen is the problem, only that it sounded plausible.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

This sounds frightening. I'm glad you didn't go into full anaphylactic shock. Are you sure it's cobnuts in general? or perhaps you just got a bad one.

Now that the crisis is over, you might like a blog post of mine. The comments thread explains the difference between small British hazelnuts and large American cobnuts. http://argylesock.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/tree-of-the-month-hazel/

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'm quite confused about cobnuts, still - particularly since most of the places I've seen them for sale have proudly trumpeted that they are English, and from the traditional cobnut plats of Kent. (Apparently a cobnut orchard is called a plat, I didn't know that). The cobnuts were definitely larger than hazels as I know them.

I haven't followed all the links from comments on your blog yet, maybe one of them will clear it up!

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that about plats either. Get 2 academics onto a topic and things get nutty. What has a cobnut in every bite? PLATFORM! Even though this dictionary http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/platform fails to mention the platform as a useful item during cobnut harvest, I think that must be where the word came from.

The comments on my WP blog post include the words 'cobnut' and 'filbert' as well as 'hazelnut', with Latin names for 2 different trees. Crataegus spp.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

IME, whatever botanists may say and what may happen elsewhere in the world, cobnuts as sold in British stores == fresh hazelnuts. There are different cultivars of course and some are bred for size, early readiness etc, but they're the same species.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Also: no, not sure about whether it's cobnuts. I think the fact I've had tingly-mouth from (I suspect) hazels before points at a general problem, but I can't be certain. I'm not all that inclined to experiment!

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I hope you get it tested properly.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Well, I rang the surgery this morning and my doctor-of-preference can see me on Tuesday morning. Which was pretty good, I thought, for a not-emergency appointment. Thanks for your kind comments - I'll doubtless post again about what the doctor says.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

Interesting ideas on this thread about throat-closing - that's what led me to get an inhaler recently and now I want to persuade my GP to put it on repeat prescription.

Interesting stuff about food allergy or intolerance too - btw allergy and intolerance aren't the same thing. There's a comm called we_got_guts which is mostly quiet but got chatting today.

[davefish.livejournal.com]

some cobnuts, to find out what they were like.

They sound like they should be a swear word. Which I think that your body agrees with me on.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I've certainly encountered (in books) people saying "cobnuts" in the same way you might say "bollocks" to indicate that someone is talking rubbish.

[rapperaddict.livejournal.com]

So, not content with trying to injure your limbs, you've now decided to go for the 'not being able to breathe' option? THe things people do to avoid having to come to practice... We're going to have to wrap you in cotton wool and feed you on milk and rice.
Glad you're OK though

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

Cobnut season! There are orchards around Sevenoaks. They are varieties of hazelnut, but eaten green. I came across a supplier who did cobnut fudge, which was amazing.


Glad you are OK.