ON TOPIC - Donna is coming to my house

On 7/17/09 5:17 PM, "Liz" wrote:

On Jul 16, 2:06*pm, ellice wrote:
*snip*


hydrocortisone from the doc all the time. *I picked it up from one of the
horses - the sap can sit on their hair, and, well, I'd done a little casual
ride around the ring - bareback, in shorts. *Very short. *Evidently it got
on my thighs, legs, across my chest (I had been wearing a tank top and
leaned across him during grooming). *You can imagine. *Despite the cool
shower and being careful - it was not a good experience, to say the least.

So, I'm very careful since then.

Hope DS does okay.

Ellice

I used to get a systemic reaction like that until I had 5 poison oak
shots the summer between 8th grade and high school. I didn't get it
at all for about 30 years and now, when I get it, I get it like a
normal person - it is a little patch from where I directly came into
contact with it.

That was pretty smart to get the shots. I just stay away as much as
possible, as I don't really want to go thru allergy shots - and since I have
an autoimmune condition anyhow - well, it's not so straightforward.

I carried an epi pen around with me last year,
though, since I had experienced a couple of apparently unrelated
allergic reactions. I figured it out a few weeks ago. One was a
reaction after DH brought me a bowl of mixed tropical fruit. I had
eaten the same fruit before with no problem. No big deal, I took some
generic benedryl tablets that I had and the reaction went away.
About three months later, I was at the top of a mountain on a hike
when I felt the itchy palms, itchy scalp and then the swelling.
Someone had some benedryl (fortunately) and I was fine. All I had
eaten,though, was a banana and a tuna sandwich, neither of which had
ever bothered me before. A few weeks ago, I was out mowing the
"pasture", came in for lunch and had the same reaction after peanut
butter and jam. Then I had the "Ah Hah" moment! I read the fine
print on the back of the bottle of sun screen I had used. I don't
normally use it but it was handy that day. Did all of you realize
that Hawaiian Tropic sun screen had MANGO in it????? Mango in the
can of tropical fruit and mango in the sun screen. Apparently, I'm
allergic to mango. Not a big problem since it's far from a favorite
fruit, I just have to be aware when I'm at a pot luck that there is no
mango hidden in anything. Even if there is, liquid benedryl (or
generic) seems to work well. Who'd a thunk there would be mango in
sun screen??? :-)))))
Liz from Humbug

Wow - that was the hard way to find out about mango in the sunscreen. I can
eat mango, drink mango juice, but cannot touch the sap, skin, etc.
Evidently there is something in the sap which affects people who like you or
I are sensitive to some things. So, as a kid in Florida - we learned the
hard way that I'm not to be allowed to touch them. After one really bad
experience, my dad would be sure that any mangos in the house were out of my
reach, and he'd take the time to do the prep if we were going to eat them.
Still that way.

When I was in my early 30s a lot of my allergies became suddenly worse, or
new ones active. Evidently there's something which happens so allergies
will peak about that age - 30s or so - and then after that shouldn't worsen
- except of course for environmental exposures that can cause something to
develop.

Guess you'll just have to go back to coconut sun screen! Glad it wasn't a
terrible experience.

Ellice