College diet and fear of anaphylaxis

[youngtravelingnerd]

This may be kind of weird to do, because I'm only 20 years old, and male. Sophomore in college. Throughout this semester I basically developed a fear of suddenly being extremely allergic to foods that I've had countless times before, due to the fact that...I'm gonna go ahead and say my diet is bad.

As your typical college student would do, I've snacked on things like chips, Haribo, Hostess cakes, sugar cereals and chocolates on a nearly daily basis, all of which I kept in my dorm. The difference is that I've hoarded that kind of crap in my house bedroom, which has cabinets, ever since freshman year of high school.

Additionally, I grab a bottle of Coke from a vending machine or the college cafeteria at least once a week. With that, I usually consume heavy meals, and even bring them to class or a club I go to.

This semester, I've come to notice that sugar causes inflammation and my throat collecting mucus. In August, I really noticed this when eating Reese's cups (I don't even like peanut butter otherwise). That put me off of them. But it didn't put me off of other chocolates and candies, most of which has been made on nut lines, in addition to the confusing "may contain" label, or Milka chocolate which has hazelnuts. Nuts themselves I can live without.

Even while eating all those chocolates, especially at my desktop computer, I started to fear anaphylaxis, probably because I've ran into other people with that condition, and this is a horrible allergy season as it is. Last month, I grabbed a Reese's cup from the vending machine to bite the bullet. Upper lip feels off before I even eat it. I eat it, pins and needles on the tongue. I'm running around the hallway, water bottle in hand. Stumbling in the bathroom, thinking I'm gonna throw up and pass out. Looked in the mirror, no swelling, but I popped a Benadryl anyway. Because Benadryl doesn't work on anaphylaxis, I still was scared. I ran to the ground floor of the residence hall, and it took me a while to calm down. Never got drowsy. I drank so much water that night. According to the DSM-5, at least 9 symptoms of panic attack.

I've still eaten those chocolates and everything else, especially at my computer, without issue. But I slowly stopped that habit, and my anxiety is really getting out of hand, especially this week. My tongue can feel off, my throat and lymph nodes always feel tight, I'm constantly going around checking foods, I have trouble going to sleep, I've lost weight, and it's gotten to a point where I'm nervous eating everything now.

Because I'm Italian, and we're not allergic to things, I try to call this nonsense. My parents and sisters assure me that I'm not allergic. This week, I started meditating, went back on the treadmill, but it's only a matter of time before it's on my mind again. I've heard about adult onset food allergies, and despite the statistics, I'm sure what I'm going through is worse than anyone else who has this fear, judging by how long my story is.

[au Lait]

I’ve been down that particular HA rabbit hole as well. For me it also included a fear of having a severe allergic reaction to cosmetics. I started designating certain foods and cosmetics as “safe” or “unsafe.” It got to the point where I was avoiding eating things that I used to enjoy, for fear of having a reaction. Or not trying out a new skincare product that I wanted because I’d think “what if I have a reaction?” But I don’t want to live my life being afraid of everything all the time anymore.

It’s always a good idea to eat healthier, but it has to be for the right reasons and not because HA made you. From the sound of it, you definitely were having a panic attack when you ate that Reese’s. You’d already started to panic a bit before hand (hence why your lip felt weird before you even had your first bite), because your mind was already anticipating a problem would occur.

The best and hardest thing to do is to resist the urge to play the avoidance game. Each day challenge yourself to eat something that makes you nervous. You might have another panic attack, and that’s ok. Every time you eat something that makes you anxious and nothing terrible happens your brain will start to see that there’s no reason to panic. Eventually the panic attacks will subside. Every time you choose to avoid something that makes you anxious, you validate your anxiety a little more and the cycle continues. I’m trying to work on breaking this cycle as well.

[youngtravelingnerd]

I’ve been down that particular HA rabbit hole as well. For me it also included a fear of having a severe allergic reaction to cosmetics. I started designating certain foods and cosmetics as “safe” or “unsafe.” It got to the point where I was avoiding eating things that I used to enjoy, for fear of having a reaction. Or not trying out a new skincare product that I wanted because I’d think “what if I have a reaction?” But I don’t want to live my life being afraid of everything all the time anymore.

It’s always a good idea to eat healthier, but it has to be for the right reasons and not because HA made you. From the sound of it, you definitely were having a panic attack when you ate that Reese’s. You’d already started to panic a bit before hand (hence why your lip felt weird before you even had your first bite), because your mind was already anticipating a problem would occur.

The best and hardest thing to do is to resist the urge to play the avoidance game. Each day challenge yourself to eat something that makes you nervous. You might have another panic attack, and that’s ok. Every time you eat something that makes you anxious and nothing terrible happens your brain will start to see that there’s no reason to panic. Eventually the panic attacks will subside. Every time you choose to avoid something that makes you anxious, you validate your anxiety a little more and the cycle continues. I’m trying to work on breaking this cycle as well.

It's weird, because I thought a tingling tongue was a sign of anaphylaxis, or at least a mild reaction.

As far as eating something that makes me nervous, yesterday I started off with fried shrimp at a seafood restaurant. I did the exact same thing a few months ago, because for a while I already was afraid of shellfish in particular, especially considering some people literally can't even walk into a restaurant that serves it, and next year I'm going to a city in Norway that has a fish market. I've had shrimp at least a few other times in the past few months, particularly lo mein, but my anxiety made the fear creep back up on me until yesterday.

At least I know I can have seafood, and we Italians eat a lot of it, but that still leaves peanuts and tree nuts for me to go through.