Close Friend Hater

Looking back to just over a month ago,I am shocked to sy I didn’t speak up for myself. On my last day of work( after 16 years) I was standing in the classroom,listening to someone who I thought was a friend,yell an make fun of me after having an allergy attack. My face was puffy,eyes too, throat too,hoarse voice, and she was making fun of me??? Acused of faking it one minute then wanted to call emt the next.
I had been coughing ,then ran to get a benadryhl,and have epi ready.

Since then I’ve come to realize she wasn’t well herself,but it still hurt to hear that from her. Now that time has passed, I realize I am not stressed anymore,about always wondering when I’m going to run into a banana or other allergy food. Being in a school setting I was running into them a couple times a day, sometimes light sometimes bad reaction. Either way they were getting worse.

So now I work from home,trying to make a living.
I know God has a plan for me and directed me on the path I’m on.
Thank you for visiting 🙂
Donnalou

learned new info… sharing…..

So a few days ago, i fixed chicken and rice with sea salt….. havent used it in quite awhile. I ate a small bowl and headed over to my parents to help out mom, I wasnt in her door a few minutes when I started to have a reaction. I started to clear my throat and cough and I could feel my face and throat swell up like a balloon. My voice got really hoarse and I could feel my chest have that tightness:(
I grabbed a liquid benadryhl and bit it like I was told to do and put it under my tongue, counted to 30 and had my epi pens ready! An hour later I was feeling only slightly better, still hoarse, swollen and in pain with a band around my rib cage. Didnt know what it was that got me…. so I took a guess and looked up shellfish sea salt allergy…. and yep found where Drs at Mayo Clinic have found that some people may experience allergys to sea salt because of having tiny tiny shellfish creatures on them(sea salt).
SO…. other persons with shellfish allergies, be careful.
It took a day in a half to recover from that one, needless to say the sea salt went in the garbage.

sharing news……

More Changes

Morning all,
So I sit here contemplating more changes in my life.
The past 4 years have been rough since starting my allergies to various foods. I can’t believe its been four years , let alone all the foods I have reactions too!
But anyways Im getting off track with my thoughts. The BIG change. So this year would have marked my 18 th year in the school system working with special need children. As the school year began, as usual changes were being made. Long story short I was required to go back in the lunch room! (Swallow really hard) Anxiety sets in…. nope cant do that!!!!!
Flash back to the past…. in a huge school lunchroom… 5-6 classes with about 21 kids each, eating with what ever is served and or their lunch from home. Enter bananas being opened, large amounts of Kiwis, or pineapple, melons and even worse now is fish!!!!!!! Then.. feeling my tongue and throat begin to swell, coughing, gagging, heart racing, tightness in chest, cant take a big breath, gagging and choking, not being able to breathe!!!!!! Then comes throwing up, itchy skin, either red or pale skin……… NO NO I don’t want to go there again. Can you blame me????
I mean last time I went this route, I ended up in ER having 4 yes I said 4 epi pens used on me that day, and spent the night in ICU. That thought alone, terrifies me!! I mean “4” epi pens!! Could I have died, uh yeah! Heck no I don’t want to do that again and if go in that lunchroom,, yes that is what will happen or worse!
So needless to say, I’m now jobless:( no money 😦
But amazingly enough, I feel relieved. Now that its been a week, and I’m realizing how stressed I was!! I mean really stressed, wondering when I was going to run into a open banana, or a bunch of them sitting on the counter in the office or a classroom. Then there was morning duty opening car doors to let kids out.. how many times last year did I run into the nurses station coughing and gagging……. how about once in the classroom and same thing happens and I find out so n so had eaten bananas on cereal, or banana bread!!!! Doesn’t matter to me cause its all the same reaction.
I didn’t realize how I was always dreading, looking around the corner, where is it going to be???? lets be honest here… in a school setting, bananas are EVERYWHERE!!!!! I mean its a portable ready to eat food!! Most kids and adults love them…. I just happen to be allergic to them!
So imagine … me siting home and realizing, I feel relived!!! Im not stressed out anymore!!!
Its huge… relief!
Where do I go from here? I don’t know?
I do know God has a plan for me… so Im keeping the faith things will work out!
And of coarse I still have my Plexus, It has helped me alot this past year:)

Feeling better…… less stress
hugs
Donnalou

Changes

I know I haven’t written in awhile, and for my readers I apologies:(
I have been real busy, dealing with family issues.

As I mentioned before, Ive been helping my mom who is recovering from cancer… Praise the Lord she is better:) still gaining strength:)
Well I had started a new job, its online selling Plexus products:) I researched these products and Pleximonies for months and months before deciding to give it a try.

You see Plexus, is all-natural products that help your body run the way it was naturally supposed to.plexus is a health and wellness company that sells many awesome products to help you lead a more healthy life. Many of the testimonies that I had read lots and lots of people had lost weight on plexus, which yes I needed to do, but also many had been helped with their diabetes, fibromyalgia, anxiety, people sleep better, they had tons of energy, and all around just felt awesome.The big thing that I was looking forward to was having energy again. Those that have anaphylaxis know what I’m talking about, taking Benadryl several times a week and having a anaphylactic attack whether it’s a bad one and you need EpiPen or not it’s very draining on the body.

Long story short, I did slowly start to lose some weight but within the first two weeks I did notice I was sleeping better, and I had energy again…… woooohooooo!

To get off topic a little bit for my doctors and through my research I have learned that people with sinus issues, or hay fever issues tend to develop food allergies. Wow !that sure is me!
so to get back on topic I started out with Fox’s slam, and the accelerator. The plexus Slim is a all natural powder made from fruits and herbs that you just fixed and water and drink it in the morning. It was originally made for people with diabetes or people that are pre diabetic because it helps lower your sugar levels in your lipids.anyways I had been on this for a few months was feeling good, but when I decided to also try their X factor vitamin, the probiotic five, and the bio cleanse.

I didn’t start these last three products until February, but I noticed a couple months before that that my anaphylaxis attacks were changing. I used to start off clearing my throat, cough a few times, then recognize that my throat and my tongue were swelling up. After that hoarse voice, choking and gagging would commence, along with stomach pain, pale skin, heart racing, and I began to have a feeling of tightness in my chest.

so I started the appropriate products and their primary and by the end of March post noting the difference in my allergy attacks. Slowly the coughing and choking and gagging got less and less, however the tightness in chest got more pronounced as well as difficulty breathing. Doctors say that with each exposure to the allergen your body will react differently in the more you’re exposed to the worse they get. by April May in June I was noticing that being near a unopened banana was not near as bad as it used to be, which is a good thing :-)granted I still have a reaction, only my tongue and throat swell up just a little bit as well as having a hoarse voice and that was all.
however eight opened banana, or banana pie, or banana pudding, or banana bread or somebody who had just eaten one of the above still a bad thing.
By June and July, school is out so I’m out for the summer as well and I’ve noticed many of my other allergies are not as bad as they used to be 🙂
so I started doing some more research……… so on my Facebook page, I’ve been posting a lot of plexus stories about people who have lost weight, sleeping better, so on and so forth and or ran across another plexus ambassador to is really pushing the probiotic five. The patriotic five actually kills an overgrowth of bad bacteria and yeast in your stomach and your gut where 70% of your immune system is.(hint: my mom is been telling me that for years, that a big portion of your immune system is in your stomach in your gut). So through my research I have learned that there is a thing called Candida. Candida is an overgrowth of bacteria or yeast in your stomach and that that can cause awful lot of problems.
I am copying and pasting one of the articles I read about about Candida here:

The Fungus is Among Us – READ THE “INFO”
June 18
My sister went SEVEN years without eating pizza. Ohhh, and guess what else she didn’t eat. Hamburgers….or burritos. Or hot rolls…or pancakes, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, or anything else with wheat in it! 7 years! You may be wondering if she was doing some sort of sacrifice, like Lent. No, she developed a very dramatic food allergy to wheat. And you’d be surprised how many things actually contain wheat! If she accidentally ingested wheat, her throat would begin to close….and her breathing would stop. She would swell and break out in rashes…every single time, can’t breathe!!! When I started using these weight loss products and started researching them extensively, I stumbled across info about a syndrome called leaky gut! It’s a very real thing! And armed with only enough info to be ‘dangerous’, I told my sister, I think I know how to get you well!
Now, I’m an optimist….always figuring things will turn out great! All blue skies! And she is too. So, we put a plan together….a plan that made sense to NO ONE! I TELL YOU NO ONE! But I believed! And apparently, so did she. We used the products I had been using for weight loss….that’s right…to seal her leaky gut problem, that I believed was causing her severe food allergy. AND, she quit eating sugar. And, believe me when I tell you this…in one month’s time, it actually worked! Even when she called me to tell me she thought it worked, I was nervous. Her allergy was severe enough, I couldn’t let her just go test to see if she was no longer allergic. So, she went to have her blood tested. A test she had had done a couple of years prior, as well. The original test showed her to be very allergic to DOZENS of common foods….fruits, eggs, etc. But THIS time when they tested, on a scale of 0-5, instead of scoring dozens of 4s and 5s…she got ALL ZEROS! The only thing she didn’t score ZERO on was mold. And it was less than 1 on the scale.
So, she and her husband went to Taco Bueno. And with epi-pen in hand, she ate, for the first time in seven years, a bean burrito. She did NOT tell my mother she was doing that! My mom would have had a cow! Too dangerous! FAR too dangerous! BUT, she called me a few minutes later, in tears. It had worked. It had actually worked!
Another little portion of this story? I had suspicioned that her food allergy/leaky gut/auto-immune issue was the hidden culprit behind the fact that she wanted a baby, but there was no baby in sight…Two months after the bean burrito…..a little bambino appeared in her belly! I told her, it’s gonna be a girl….a little red-headed girl! Because HEY! I already believed for something to happen and it did! So, it is indeed a girl…and in about a couple more months, we will get to see that baby’s beautiful hair! NOW, would anyone like to ask me why I’m obsessed with the products I use? p.s., I have an even more amazing story regarding my step-dad and his RA. YEAH, it’s a God thing that these products entered my family’s lives!

isn’t that amazing!!!!!!! so I am holding out hope, that may be just maybe, one day I will have all these allergies. Some of them have already gotten less severe in reaction but my biggest ones banana, melons, potato, and fish and shellfish I am still having airborne reactions that are pretty severe, I don’t have the nerve to try and eat one!

So basically in a nutshell, plexus products are changing paths life’s in big ways, and it already has made a huge difference in my life:) I’m not giving up, I’m hoping my head high and taking one step at a time one day at a time 🙂
y’all feel free to check out my Facebook page and check out the plexus information that I share thank you all have a good night
Donnalou

a new allergy????

Been eating alot of oatmeal for the winter time, apple cranberry  and have been putting a few peanut mm’s in it….. yetserday, ate my oatmeal as usuall forlunch and right after started to clear my throat, then cough, gagged one time and ran to bathroom to check out… yep sure enough my tongue was swelling up, white as ususal, throat was really swollen, stomach pains, tightness inchest, a little lightheaded….. what was it??????

I bit a liquid benadryhl and got epipen out….. no I didnt have to use it but…wow!!!!!!

came home and later got a little hungry and got 4 peanut mms…… my tongue started to tingle, I swelled up again, hoarse voice an everything… even my eyes swelled up some this time, coughed,  almost threw up……. really??????? now its peanuts???????? too!!!!!!!

Not fair:(

Donnalou

The dangers of open containers

A few days ago, I went over to mom’s, because she wanted me to do a favor. So I standing behind sofa, listening to what she wants me to do, I clear my throat, cough, cough again and start to gag. Run to the door, slip sneakers on really fast and rush out door, gagging so hard I throw up, reach in pocket to get liquid benadryhl, bit it and put under tongue, wait a minute then swollow with some water. Go home put on a sweater cause I’m already getting cold. Go to bathroom mirror, yep whole face swollen, ad well as tongue an throat, dark circles under eyes, I get under a blanket where I shiver for over an hour. I’m miserable rest of day, slept till 13:41, had no energy the whole day!

Turns out dad had eaten a lemon McDonald’s little pie thing and it was sitting on top of the garbage can!!!!!!!!!

I had some tightness in chest, and I could not take a real deep breath! 

First time lemon has git me this bad….. where I came this close to using epipen:(

All I can say is wow!!!!

Donnalou

Feeling Frustrated

Since my last post, things have been a little crazy!
I have had quite a few attacks, but nothing major…….. but then they have started to change😳
On last 3 Drs visits it was suggested I quit my job and stay home, or get a different job……. Where could I go to get away from bananas? They are a readily fast food source and portable!
Drs also said with repeated exposer the attacks would get worse. So…….. the last few attacks, weren’t that bad…… I didn’t do a lot of coughing or gagging,  but I still had swelling in throat and tongue, hoarse voice, but not real bad….but I did get the tightening in the chest which has gotten worse and the feeling that my lungs had shrunk😞

I could still breathe, but could only take little breadths. Then on Thursday this week, after coming in the classroom, I was only there a few minutes when I noticed swelling, cleared my throat, started coughing and my voice was soo hoarse I could barley talk.
I walked over to the teacher and asked her if she would find out who ate what fruit that morning? She said that there weren’t bananas on the menu that day, and they had them yesterday and I was fine! As it turns out one student did have a banana at home that morning, ………I had already taken, and bit on a Benadryl, holding it under my tongue for a minute then swallowing. A few min later I was gagging, so I was told to leave the room.😒
Long story short- later was okay but I did have tightness in chest, and what felt like a band around my upper chest all the way around, yes I could not take a deep breath, but I could still breathe. That afternoon the teacher went and talked to the Principle….. the next day I was asked to cover another room for a short time, a few minutes in the room, I get some swelling and a hoarse voice, some coughing- bit a liquid Benadryl- for an hour or so I have the same tightness in chest and the feeling of shrunk lungs , can only take short little breaths for the rest of the day I feel like a band is around my lungs, and Im freezing, all day.
Later that day I run into a teacher who says that she ate a banana that morning and I didn’t have a reaction! Then that after noon, I was stopped by another person who said they had been eating a banana twice a day all week and I had not been bothered! That was around 1:30. So nobody noticed the dark circles under my eyes, or the slight swelling around my eyes, or the swollen throat, yes I had a hoarse voice, I went home freezing, still cant take a deep breathe, and when I did talk I had to take a little breathe with each word On top of all that I was almost sent to cover the lunchroom!!!!!!!aybe I need another trip to the ER for people to believe me ! Or maybe I need to fall down, not breathing???????????
Feeling frustrated!!!!!!!!
Epipenanaology

To epi or not? Anaphylaxis or not? Confused!!

First off, I’d like to say that I have joined this amazing group called plexus. It is absolutely wonderful and I can’t believe how much it is changed my life so far. Plexus was originally made for persons who suffer with diabetes, however it is helped many others with other issues. Over the last several months I have met many persons both men and women who use this product and I am amazed and in awe of how much Plexes has helped them! Many of these persons did not have diabetes but there were those there that had fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, anxiety, and Plexes has helped them all!😃

I love love love how much Plexes has changed my life thus far❤️💞🎈🎉 yes I have lost weight, yes I sleep great every night but ahove all this I have this amazing energy, and with anaphylaxis that is a big deal😄👍

back to my issue: so last week I went to a Plexus meeting in the next town. So once I got there there were about eight or nine people there, and I asked the hostess Amy to ask if anybody had eaten any fruit recently! One said they had eaten grapes, one said they had eaten apples, and about four or five said they had eaten a banana!!!😳 one said they had eaten one about 20 minutes ago😞

I quickly grabbed my things, Amy handed me a folder, I apologize that I had to leave and I walked out the door. I could already feel the swelling begin and I already had a horse voice as I apologized. By the time I got to the truck, I was not choking and gagging as I expected. Maybe this won’t be so bad I thought!!!! 

I got in the truck, backed out left the parking lot and went one block, when I had to pull over! The swelling was getting bad, with hardly any voice I called mom to let her know I was heading home already but I might be late. I took a Benadryl and sat there a few minutes. I thought I was okay and backed up to leave……….. Went about four blocks and started to cough choke and gag as well as my chest tighten!😞😳

I pulled over into our little library parking lot, took out a liquid Benadryl, bit it , put it under my tounge , took out epi and waited!!!!! Thank you crunchy cook for the advice on bitting the liquid benadryl!🙏 after a minute or two I could tell a little bit of a difference, then another couple minutes the choking and gagging had slowed down however my chest still felt very tight and my lungs felt like they were shrinking 😳😞 I remember at the last doctor appointment the nurse said not to use the epi-pen unless you were having difficulty breathing,…….. So here’s my dilemma I can still breathe but only in little breathes??!!! Do I use my epi pen???? I start to panic,,,, then I try to calm myself down…….. Panicking will not help! I’m thinking to myself should I use it, maybe I should but then I hear that nurse voice again only if you have difficulty breathing…… The other times when I did use the epi I was defiantly havering problems greeting air in my lungs!!! This time I could still breathe but the chest tightness was a new thing as well as the feeling of my lungs had shrunk!  By this time 20 minutes had past and I only felt a tiny bit better! 

The next day I stayed home too exhausted to go to work! Later that day talking to my allergist, who I should say does not believe that I really have anaphylaxis, and she does not believe in airborne attacks, scolded me for not using my EpiPen!  I explained in the past that I have had my tongue swell up, my throat swell up, my eyes and face swell up slightly, as well as having a horse voice, dark circles underneath my eyes, and then later after all the gagging and choking I get cold chills when my body temperature drops and my neck arms and head usually get real itchy! No hives mind you but I’m scratching an itchy! That’s just from breathing by someone who just ate a banana!😞😳

just before talking with my allergist, I came home from a visit with my regular doctor who said that there was a fine line when it came time to use an EpiPen, I still had a little bit of swelling in my throat, I still had a horse voice, and she said that my oxygen level was a little low and my lungs were not performing at full capacity. I was sent home . Then my allergist called, she asked what had happened, and I explained in full detail and she replied did I take pictures? I ask you how do you take pictures when you’re choking and gagging and trying to Breathe? Then she asked if I had went to have that special blood work drawn to see if I had had a true anaphylaxis attack?

wow!!!!!! I don’t know what to say!!!! I really don’t !!!!

last ER visit and ICU visit sure seems like anaphylaxis and they treated me for anaphylaxis , The next morning I got two prescriptions for EpiPen’s from the doctor specialist and he told me to get them filled right away.

any advice from my readers??

donnalou

Growing list

I haven’t been writing much lately, and for that I apologies to my readers.

Life does get hectic sometimes!😄👍

So on thanksgiving day I ran into a few new allergies. One I know for sure, and the other I’m not. Helping mom fix sweet potato casserole, got coconut for her, opened the container, then the bag and handed the bag to her. As she was pouring some out into a bowl, I started to cough, gag! Realized my tongue and throat were swelling up. Then as I run to the bathroom, cause I know what’s coming!😤

As I’m leaning over the toilet coughing and gagging, gagging so hard I start to throw up, I can feel my face blow up like a balloon!😔😳

I finally calmed enough to take two Benadryl ! Get out a epi pen and wait!

What would have happened if I ate some!!!!!!  Then  the day before I opened up cabinet to get a spice for mom……. handed down 3 jars and started to cough, coughing hard…….. then I was  gagging and running to bathroom. When all said and done… my whole face from neck up was swollen, huge dark circles, face , neck chest red, hardly any voice. Ended up taking 2 benadryhl. Have no idea what it was that got me.

Then again on my potato allergy: I have learned so much! It started off just holding potato shells, I was helping mom make twice baked potatoes.  It took a small reaction then a bigger one for me to realize I was having a reaction.  A few weeks later had some chicken soup, after having a bad reaction, my mom and I took apart the ingredients and found potato food starch. After further investigation, discovered 80% of food starch is from potatoes! Then going further in reading food labels have found food starch in soups, any product in a mix, anything with a sauce or gravy, dressings and so much more! And many of these don’t specify what kind of food starch so I just stay away!

On another note found out the other day that check mix has Worcestershire sauce in it. And that is made with anchovies! Which is a fish……. I cant eat fish or shell fish:(

Today was literacy week in school, about 1300 had upper grade come in a pair read to the little ones. Was really enjoying the kids expressions when I felt my tongue, throat and face swell. My face actually felt like a balloon being blown up! I quickly left the room and took benadryhl and  got one of my epis out ready. Did not have to use it:) but it was a close call…… i did not gag or choke ! but it was hard to swallow water! After about 10 minutes I started to get cold and feel slightly light headed. This has happened before and I knew my body temp was dropping as my bp. I was allowed to go home a little early. when I got home I changed clothes, put on a big sweater over the shirt and sweater I was already wearing. High was 62 today, and it was 27 this morning.Two hours later I woke up on the couch still cold. I took temp and it was 97.7. Another hour later was wrapped up in three sweaters and two blankets still shivering! I dont know what else to do to get body temp back up!!

A few times in the past both bananas and kiwi have done that to me so I dont know which one got me?

So…. I am still learning about my food allergies, and what I need to do to stay safe. With airborne allergies you need to be extra careful, and always be prepared. I have learned the hard way that bananas are everywhere and where I can go is often limited. I always always have my 3 epi pens and always have 3 benadryhl in my pocket.

Donnalou

Pondering!

So yesterday was out front during dismissal…. standing..waiting on littleones to come out and help them into parents /caregivers cars…..  only a few minutes ago was standing close to two co-workers who had been talking, when I got that familiar feeling…….. started coughing, almost gagged, stomach started to hurt and feel nauseous ……. hart started to race… took liquid benadryhl capsels  and waited to see if I would have to use epipen…… throat was swollen, tongue, dark circles under eyes…… totally feel like crap……….. luckily didnt have to use epi:} but….. not sure what set me off… I mean I was outside in the open!!!!!

From past experiences, only one thing hits me hard and fast( airborne) Bananas! So I can only conclude that I was close to someone who had eaten one awhile ago, or I was far enough away from someone who had recently eaten one!

 I came home TOTALLY drained, after changing clothes, just crashed on sofa, with my faithful Poohbear( Manx) by my side….. she totally watches over me, looks out for me……..love her:)

Today, Im home, waiting to hear about MOM who is having major surgery, I was planning on going to hospital…. had taken day off two weeks ago ….. but was begged to stay away….. hospitals and schools have one thing in common…… lots of bananas! I see their point but want to be by her side sooooo bad. Feeling torn……..

But!!!!! I am going to see her tomorrow with my brother, will have special mask, benadryhl and epis on me just in-case…….

Still feeling tired from yesterday, an worried about mom……..

donnalou