ysabet_the_red: (coffee)
[personal profile] ysabet_the_red
Turns out that the puffy face I had yesterday, despite being only mildly uncomfortable, was a possibly life-threatening allergic reaction. To, most likely, the paracetamol in the cold and flu drugs I had taken the previous day to deal with having a cold.

So I'm now on daily antihistamines for the next couple of weeks, and I'm not allowed to have dairy for a few days (dairy being something I used to be sensitive to) and I should probably avoid handling clothes in shops as well (some new clothes make my hands itch).

No icecream, chocolate, cheese, cream, or coffee for me *sigh*... even my other favourite comfort food, mashed spud, is out, because I usually do that with quite a bit of milk and butter.

On the bright side, I'll probably only have this cold for another couple of days.

Date: 2006-08-10 09:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] liberationparty.livejournal.com
Are non-dairy alternatives available in your area? Soy milk and vegan margarine make reasonably good mashed potatoes if you get the ratios right. I've had palatable nondairy ice cream, too. (The yogurt is awful.)

Allergies are evil. I sympathize.

Date: 2006-08-10 11:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aiofe.livejournal.com
Unfortunately, I can't stand the taste of soy milk, and not for lack of trying. *sigh* I'll live. The majorly annoying thing is that I haven't had to bother with nondairy alternatives for about a decade now - and I've been introducing more and more dairy into my diet to try and make up for the lack of it when I was a kid, especially since there's a lot of osteo in my family. It's quite an abrupt change in diet for me - oh well, at least I love chinese and thai, which tend to have less dairy than french and italian.

Date: 2006-08-10 11:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] silne.livejournal.com
What specifically is it in dairy that you're allergic to? You can get low/no lactose milk (which tastes like crap on its own since lactose is a sugar but is palatable in coffee/milo/cooking/etc) if it's the lactose you're intolerant to (like half of my family).

One of my brothers is lactose intolerant AND allergic to soy :-) He can't have any form of dairy (including goat milk and sheep milk) or soy milk. Calcium supplements for him!

If you're off dairy, just get a good calcium supplement. I think the one I had while pregnant (as I went off dairy when I had morning sickness) is called Caltrate. They're enormous, but if you have no trouble swallowing them they dont' leave a horrible aftertaste.

There's actually more calcium in cheese and yoghurt than there is in milk anyway, and some people find that while they have problems with milk they're eased somewhat when consuming cheese or yoghurt. (I'm not suggesting this will work for you, just a btw.)

Date: 2006-08-10 11:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aiofe.livejournal.com
I wish it was lactose intolerance - but it isn't. It's a different protein (casein maybe?). Yogurt actually sets me off worse than milk. I think the a2 milk might be okay - but I'm really not willing to risk it at this point. And do you have any idea how many things butter is in and on? Argh. It's driving me up the wall. Yes, trace amounts *probably* won't set me off - but I'd rather not find that out by a trip to the hospital :/

The problem with calcium supplements is that they are quite large, usually. I have issues with swallowing pills, especially large ones. :/ I had chewable ones as a kid, but for an adult dosage, I'd have to be constantly chomping at them. I'm going to go to the health food store and ask for advice, etc. My daily multivitamin has some calcium, but not enough.

Oh well, these things happen. And it would of course happen during ekka week, when all the lovely cheeses are available for tasting!

Date: 2006-08-10 11:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] silne.livejournal.com
I had some chewable adult ones when I was pregnant with E.... same brand as the others but I think they were discontinued line as I got them at a REALLY markdown price. You could always ask though. And they weren't chalky chewable ones either, they were like chewing the new chewy quick-eze tablets :-) (In other words, like chewing lollies!) And I think I only had to chew 3 or 4 to get a full adult daily dosage (I was just using them as supplements though so only doing 2 per day)

Soy milk can be used in cooking but I wouldn't use it in anything that relies on milk for its flavour.

And yup, I do know what sorts of things butter is in. With a brother who's allergic in some way or anohter to 80% of the foods on the planet, I know all about reading labels. Plus E's allergic to nuts. The amount of things that have a label that says "may contain traces of nuts" is ridiculous. Hoping to get her allergy tested soon to see if she's grown out of the allergy yet. It's been nearly a year since her reaction to peanut butter so I really hope she grows out of it. Not because I want to feed her peanut butter, but because I don't want to have to restrict her diet for too much longer!

Date: 2006-08-10 11:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] puzzlement.livejournal.com
So does that mean you're off paracetamol for life? It's so annoying trying to find Cold+Flu drugs without it :( (Andrew has Gilbert's syndrome, and there's some slight suggestion that people with Gilbert's should avoid taking paracetamol if possible, because it's hard on livers.)

Date: 2006-08-10 11:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] silne.livejournal.com
Nyal makes a 'natural' cold and flu tablet that doesn't contain paracetamol. It has the most revolting aftertaste though :-/

Date: 2006-08-11 12:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aiofe.livejournal.com
Well, I'm certainly off it until I get to see an allergist, and confirm what it was, precisely, that I reacted to. If it turns out that the culprit is paracetamol - yep, off it for life, I think. It was the first time I'd had paracetamol in quite some time - usually I just take an antihistamine or a decongestant, but I actually had a packet lying around for a change. Oh well, there are worse things.

Date: 2006-08-11 12:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] puzzlement.livejournal.com
Yeah, in Andrew's case he's just switched to aspirin as a painkiller. It's just that the cold+flu mixtures with decongestants and painkillers always seem to use paracetamol as the pain killer.

Date: 2006-08-11 06:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aiofe.livejournal.com
I sometimes use codiene for headaches - but a lot of codiene preparations contain paracetamol. *sigh* I'll live, I guess.

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