Career News 24/7: The Cynical Girl: F@%k It Friday: Allergies

Saturday, September 17, 2011

The Cynical Girl: F@%k It Friday: Allergies

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 03:45 AM PDT

Turns out that Emma, my poonchy cat, might have allergies.

Huh.

I was never allergic to anything as a child. Then I developed hay fever and cat allergies when I moved to St. Louis. I was 18. And I already had a cat. Oops. She wasn’t going anywhere.

Then, in my early 20s, I had an anaphylactic reaction at work. It was combined with a reaction called dyskinesia. I had to be rushed to the ER by a colleague.

Lame.

That’s when I had a full allergy test done and found out that I am allergic to tons of stupid shit like raw apples, raw pears, and raw strawberries. Tempered soy protein. Dogs. Ridiculous.

Then I read that food allergies are actually overstated. No surprise. Big pharma has its hand in everything. So I had another allergy test done, a few years ago, and was prepared to learn that I was a sucker. Unfortunately, some of my allergies are actually worse. I still take a pill and nasal spray. I still carry around an epipen. Now I get shots for the cat & dog & tree & grass allergies.

Unbelievable.

Every once in awhile, I’ll tell myself that it is okay to drink a strawberry daiquiri. “It’s just strawberry preservatives.”

If it’s not, I have an almost immediate gastrointestinal reaction.

So that’s my stupid story about allergies. And Emma’s allergies. She is allergic to my kisses, obvs.

What about you? What are you allergic to?