Environmental Factors

Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. Today’s blog post and podcasts I will focus on the little respected world of environmental allergies. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…

On one of our daily walks with Sam the Wonder Dog, I was reminded abruptly about something that I had almost forgotten. I smelled something akin to skunk. Within seconds I was disabused of this skunk notion, however by the growing feeling of nausea. Some things that no one would expect to be a problem because it’s freely available and not illegal, is a huge problem to me. This is marijuana. Of all the things one can have an allergy to, this is one of the worst things now. Literally seconds of exposure can leave me nauseated and unable to spell or actually function very well. I retain this for days. Right now, I struggle through this blog post/podcast trying to form coherent thoughts and spell them. I actually just want to go lie down and curl up in a ball. But, dear readers and listeners, I have an obligation to do a blog post for you weekly and won’t let you down.

People seem to take these types of allergies less seriously than they do others. Even allergies to pollen are received better. I mean, you get the “oh you just don’t like the smell”. “You just want to be a buzz kill.” You get the disbelief, they must be making it up. But, no such luck. I really do wish I was. My life would be a lot simpler. It’s miserable and it is each time I get accidental exposure. Now, if I had an allergy to peanuts, would people think that way? I doubt it. I’ve known people having to be rushed to hospital over peanut allergies. Though my allergy is not serious in the same way, it does pretty much knock out several days to a week of my life. So does my wheat allergy. I call it the two w’s…wheat and weed. Both are very bad for me. Either are taken less seriously than other allergies.

I’m pretty certain that most people do not experience this or there would be a lot more furor about the legalization of weed. To be honest, I don’t care if people smoke it or not. I just have an issue when it is smoked near me. Obvious reasons of course. I lose days to a week of my life for each exposure. It kind of makes a mine field of my world. I never know when someone will drive by after smoking. If I can smell it, whatever I have an allergy to finds its way into my system. Then I’m doomed to several days of illness. I admit that many people think it is a weird allergy. No, I’m not happy about it, though I have no interest in using it. I sympathize people should be allowed to live their own lives. On the other hand, I kind of like to not lose a week of my life every time someone is living their own life. The earth is all our ancestral homes. We have to live on it together. If it is being taken for medical reasons, I sympathize even further. It still doesn’t make the allergy go away.

As, Daniel Handler says “If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats.” So you see, very often allergies are a misused and joked about and the average person has no idea of how bad it can be. The real allergy. The one that leaves you sick and unable to function properly, these are less funny, at least to the sufferer. When you put the actual symptoms to an allergen, then you can separate allergen from just don’t like it. For example, “I'm allergic to a lot of fruit and veg, but if I hide them in a drink, somehow my body doesn't notice.” by Lolly Adefope likely does not demonstrate actual allergy rather a dislike. The fact that we misuse the term makes it harder for those who have true allergies. Then we wonder why people don’t always take it seriously. However, at the same time, there are people who genuinely have allergies and exposure to the allergen is either painful or deadly.

I often think that the first hints of difficulty with wheat were evident in childhood. I was not a fan of pasta. I tended to eat the spaghetti sauce and then try to get through the spaghetti as a kid. I never had exposure to the other thing until later in life. I literally would leave parties where they had it. But, the first real exposure I got was going to a concert. We didn’t drive very far before my husband had to pull off the road so I could be sick. Thereafter, I could not figure out why it would be popular with anyone. It always made me sick. Now, even a little exposure someone driving by or someone walking out in stores, if I smell it, I get sick. I’m done for the week. It takes very little of wheat as well. I realized it was quite serious when I was sick after having a few dots of bread get into my margarine. I felt like I was out of energy. Then there were the ones who were ‘allergic’ but took their chances as it only gave them a tummy ache. If only that was all I got.

It doesn’t get better from there for me. If it is bad enough reaction, it can also trigger my medical condition and sometimes this can make a month before I can get things under control again. I can sympathize with general public because so many people claim allergy when they don’t like something. I don’t like lemon pie. I don’t claim allergy to it though. That would be a lie. I know claiming allergies is seen as an epidemic because before COVID, I went out to eat and the server asked me is it a real allergy…suggesting that maybe I was just one of those (eye roll here) customers who just didn’t like wheat product or one of those people on those weird fad diets. Believe me, if I didn’t get sick, wheat product is far more cost effective than wheat free/gluten free…though the weed allergy is far more cost effective overall….and I don’t feel like crap for days avoiding both.

The long and short of it is…likely this is rambling and nonsensical … which also shows what happens when I get exposure and still try to do anything. People need to understand that they may have the right to do something. It doesn’t mean that it would be something good to do around everyone. There are people who have strange reactions to different things. Some people are allergic to pollen, which here I can seem to tolerate a bit better. Yes, that is one of them too. Sometimes a person can outgrow an allergy. This seems to have happened with dogs and cats as I’m supposed to be allergic to them, but tolerate both Sam and Ramses very well. So, though I did outgrow some of the allergies, I still persist with some. Of my existing allergies, I’ve had the odd accidental exposure and it has led me to become quite ill. True allergies are not a lot of fun. We don’t do it to make your life miserable. It is there and painfully real. As they say, it is what it is. I don’t blame people for accidental exposure, but I certainly wish I didn’t get exposed. So, understand that people have a right to live their lives, but it doesn’t mean that one should expose others to the allergen. I stopped wearing perfume in public for the same reason.

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