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Satan Tomato, my old foe ...
Sep. 6th, 2010 02:04 amAs a child, one of my chores when I stayed with Grandma and Grandpa during the summer and after school in the fall was to pick vegetables out in the garden and then clean it off for canning or eating - snapping green beans, shucking ears of sweet corn (which is not like the field corn you see acres and acres of driving along the highway), washing off green onions, and washing and cutting spots out of tomatoes.
Ah, tomatoes. No more special, really, than any other fruit or food growing up. There were always a LOT of them every summer, and Mom and I ate as fast as we could, the ones Grandma sent home. At about age 21, 22, I started developing a mysterious itchy rash every so often, that just made me miserable, at random spots on my body. Four years later I finally went to an allergist, who determined two things: I was allergic to anything that produced pollen, it seemed, and; I was allergic to tomatoes and any product from them. I underwent just over two years of weekly vaccinations, which took care of my pollen allergy and as a side effect, eradicated my tomato allergy. I had to stop eventually, as I lost a job and the health insurance with it.
Last year, I noticed I was developing the itchy, poison-ivy-like rashes again, and chalked it up to tomatoes. I've learned I can eat a little and not have problems, or eat a lot and deal with the itching. I really do like tomatoes, and the crappy ones you get in the winter that are too hard and kind of tasteless are expensive, so I don't eat as many. (I don't eat as many fresh vegetables in the winter either, also because they're not plentiful or cheap - although I may well eat more than the average person, still.) So, I dealt.
Well - what new surprise do you think awaited me this year with the tomatoes? I've learned if I eat too many, I FUCKING SNEEZE. Who sneezes with a tomato allergy? (Then again, who is allergic to tomatoes in the first place?) I DO. Damn it. I can handle the itching, but the sneezing is sort of insult on top of injury.
It'd be nice if I could just stick to the wonders of lemons to supply all my citric needs ...
Ah, tomatoes. No more special, really, than any other fruit or food growing up. There were always a LOT of them every summer, and Mom and I ate as fast as we could, the ones Grandma sent home. At about age 21, 22, I started developing a mysterious itchy rash every so often, that just made me miserable, at random spots on my body. Four years later I finally went to an allergist, who determined two things: I was allergic to anything that produced pollen, it seemed, and; I was allergic to tomatoes and any product from them. I underwent just over two years of weekly vaccinations, which took care of my pollen allergy and as a side effect, eradicated my tomato allergy. I had to stop eventually, as I lost a job and the health insurance with it.
Last year, I noticed I was developing the itchy, poison-ivy-like rashes again, and chalked it up to tomatoes. I've learned I can eat a little and not have problems, or eat a lot and deal with the itching. I really do like tomatoes, and the crappy ones you get in the winter that are too hard and kind of tasteless are expensive, so I don't eat as many. (I don't eat as many fresh vegetables in the winter either, also because they're not plentiful or cheap - although I may well eat more than the average person, still.) So, I dealt.
Well - what new surprise do you think awaited me this year with the tomatoes? I've learned if I eat too many, I FUCKING SNEEZE. Who sneezes with a tomato allergy? (Then again, who is allergic to tomatoes in the first place?) I DO. Damn it. I can handle the itching, but the sneezing is sort of insult on top of injury.
It'd be nice if I could just stick to the wonders of lemons to supply all my citric needs ...
