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

[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.