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

[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.