Last Banana

It was Thursday afternoon. I was going to be heading home from work within the hour, but I decided that I needed one more snack to tide me over until my next pre-dinner snack. So I ate a banana*.

Minutes later, my neck began to swell up and it hurt to breathe. I was completely baffled as to how what seemed like a flu-like illness could come on so suddenly. Later that night, my chest hurt when I lay down, so I had to sleep propped up high on my pillows.

The next day, it was pretty much more of the same. Swollen neck. Aching in my lower neck and chest while breathing. I went shopping after work, and that's where I started to feel truly sick. I had gone to an outlet mall that I had never been to before, and had parked (unfortunately) very far away from the stores I wanted to visit. During the walk, it was hard to breathe, my neck and chest hurt...my face even hurt and my lips began to feel kind of numb and tingly. I started to get really scared, because I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me.

After two stores, three stops to the bathroom, and a short rest on a bench, I headed home. Thinking that maybe I had contracted the swine flu, I took my temperature. Normal, no fever. My other idea was that I was having an allergic reaction to the banana I had eaten. This was perplexing, though, because I had never been allergic to bananas before, and my symptoms did not really match the MayoClinic.com definition of anaphylactic shock.

I had an idea that I would probably end up going to the hospital, so I made a point to eat dinner before calling my doctor. (Being sick and hungry in a waiting room would have been torture.) The doctor confirmed that it was probably an allergic reaction, and urged me to go to the emergency room since the reaction could get worse suddenly. (I.e., I could stop breathing.)

I drove myself to the emergency room--hubby was at work--and, thankfully I didn't have to wait long. I guess when they read the words "pregnant" and "chest pain", they whisk you right through to the head of the line. After having my vitals checked (all normal), and watching Lord of the Rings in a hospital bed for a couple of hours, the doctor (who was also pregnant) confirmed that I was having an allergic reaction. But, she was a little baffled because I did not have the classic signs of anaphylaxis. (My theory is that because I had been taking Benadryl for my regular seasonal allergies, my reaction to the banana was not as severe as it could have been.) She prescribed a steroid (prednisone), which she said I did not have to take if I didn't feel comfortable doing so (because of my pregnancy). She also told me to keep taking Benadryl every six hours over the weekend.

When I got home, I did a quick Google search, and it turns out that sometimes pregnant women can suddenly develop allergies to foods they had never been allergic to before. One woman even posted on BabyCenter.com that she had never been allergic to bananas before, but she became allergic to them during pregnancy. Pregnancy is even stranger and more mysterious than I had previously thought.

Anyway, it boils down to this. Unless I want to risk having a full-blown allergic shock reaction, I am going to avoid bananas indefinitely. From what I've read, subsequent reactions are usually much worse than the first.

Today, it still hurts to breathe when I lie down, except when the Benadryl has kicked in. I have spent the whole day in a sort of Benadryl haze, sleeping off and on propped up on the sofa. I have decided not to fill the prednisone prescription for now, but if breathing still hurts me by Monday, I may change my mind. Steroids really do help to reduce pain and inflammation. (I was on prednisone years ago during my first lupus flare-up, and it made me feel better almost instantly.)

Thanks for reading this long, boring post about why, as of Thursday afternoon, I have eaten my last banana.


*It was an organic banana, which I had washed before peeling, so I don't think I was reacting to pesticides.