Saturday, January 13, 2007

bigotry and bias

I am sad to say that the attitude of some people is still very sad. Having had a sever allergic reaction the first reaction of more than a few people has been one of: (1) it must be because you were in Korea and China and what you ate there; or (2) it must have something from traveling in Korea or China; or (3) it must be some sushi you ate. I am disgusted by this behavior and it will cloud the rest of this post.

My doctor said that the reaction had to have been caused by something in the 48 hours prior to the first reactions. The doctor at the hospital was also of the same view. They thought it was likely it was something like a new detergent or insect spray, and if not this something I had eaten. As I have not been using any new detergents, insect sprays or other such chemicals, it was probably caused by food. At fist I suspected the American Food I had on the day I was ill (KFC) as there was something a little unusual about the chicken. Though I did not stop eating it. The next obvious possible cause was the Italian food I had had the day before (Spaghetti bolognese). I had not finished the meal as I felt full. But maybe there was more to it.

So I have been gradually adding things back into what I eat. I emptied the half full bottle of wine, on the grounds to be better safe than sorry. However, in the end it looks like it was the tub of Cadbury peppermint icecream. I had eaten this for weeks before the illness (it is a 2 litre tub) so originally I had not considered this a possible cause. However, Tony says that Sandra will get ill from Oranges only after eating them for a week, so maybe this is the case. I had the iceream on the day I got ill, on the day I got worse and only a few days ago when I tried some more and had a small and instant reaction for 48 hours. However, I am not 100% sure this is the cause, or perhaps the only cause. I did have peppermint tea the day before I was sick for the first time in a long time.

So my current analysis of the cause is:

85% - Peppermint icecream
5% - KFC
5% - spaghetti bolognese
5% - some other cause

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