allergies

So my husband tried to kill me today. And 2 of the 4 people who read my blog have already heard the story but that's okay.

For anyone who doesn't know, I am allergic to artificial sweetener. Deathly allergic. And by artificial sweetener I mean Equal, Sweet n Low, Saccharin, Splenda (even though it's made with sugar, it's considered a blend because it's 1/2 sugar 1/2 artificial sweetener), and anything with sucralose and aspartame. So I can't have anything that is sugar-free. And in this day and age, there are a lot of products that are sugar-free.

Anyways, Aaron bought the girls popsicles last night and Emma gave me one today. It tasted funny but it wasn't until that after taste set in did I figure it was sugar-free. I checked the box and it was. For this particular allergic reaction it means a headache and my tongue swelling up. Nice. I don't have any Benadryl so I took an allergy pill. Not that bad though compared to other reactions I have had.

And for someone who is very aware of their allergy, I have way too many slip ups.

The first time I had an allergic reaction I was 17. I loved Mountain Dew and my mom accidentally bought Diet. I have never liked the taste of diet soda but I loved Mountain Dew so much I figured it would be okay. Nope. I got sick, throwing up, headache, not too bad.

My 2nd allergic reaction was the most severe I have ever had. I was 20 and I worked with my mom. We had gone to dinner and went back to work. I was thirsty and grabbed my mom's drink and took a drink. It wasn't soda though, it was iced tea sweetened with Equal. I immediately knew it was bad.

I went to the bathroom and started throwing up. When I walked back into out office I was white and the underneath of my eyes were black. Everyone freaked out and someone called 911. By then, my throat was starting to close off. 911 told them to call poison control. Poison control told them to give me Benadryl.

Someone left to go get some Benadryl and it was getting harder and harder to breath. That was so scary. So they made me drink half a bottle of Benadryl (gross). You need to know that I don't do well with liquid medicine...it tastes like it has artificial sweetener in it and I automatically want to spit it out. That is what is messed up with my allergic reaction today...I normally can taste the artificial sweetener in something.

So that was that reaction. I have had little ones since then. Once my MIL got some cola from the dollar store and even though it wasn't diet, it had sucralose in it. That freaked her out a little.

Then my kids got snowcones from outside Wal-mart and I took a taste...sugar-free. I was with my mom and I had her take me to a gas station to buy a little pack of Benadryl. Ever since then she carries one with her because it freaked her out a little. I guess it would freak me out too if my daughter said "I'm having an allergic reaction and my throat is closing up".

So I looked through my medicine cabinet for some Benadryl and actually found a bottle of my kid's Benadryl. Are you ready for this? It's sugar-free. lol

The one thing that could save my life would also kill me. I also found regular kid's Benadryl so I'm all good.