Last week I traveled for work up to my favorite city in the world - San Francisco.
Although I'd done a lot of pre-planning for the trip and had my lara bars and special granola in tow, and my mom was wonderfully accommodating in the meals she prepared at home, I still fell off the allergen-free diet wagon, hard.
It was the business lunches that did me in, mainly. First a delicious sushi meal in which I got too frazzled by the line at the counter to carefully order sashimi without tuna or shrimp and instead got the chef's sampler (rice! tuna! shrimp! something in a sauce I'm certain contained soy! Miso soup!) Although I refrained from dipping the sushi in soy sauce, I know the damage was done. Rashalicious.
Day 2 I vowed to be smarter. I told the coworker I'd be dining with that I needed her to choose a restaurant where I could order simple foods--steamed or grilled veggies and meat, or possibly just a simple salad. So what does she pick to accommodate my needs? DIM freaking SUM. Granted, delicious, but clearly my request went in one ear and out the other. We had a client meeting in the afternoon and by the end of it my chest was fully broken out in big raised hives.
It didn't help that being in SF and Marin was like wearing a giant helmet filled with pollen. I started back on my Zyrtec immediately upon arriving and checking the weather.com pollen forecast, but it was too late for me at that point. I was a sniffling, congested mess pretty much the whole week.
Someone remind me of this incident when I decide in a few months whether to opt for allergy-shot treatment for the environmental allergies, at least.
One bright side: I've been wanting to write a post about my allergic shiners (or lack thereof on this diet) for awhile, but I was having trouble finding a good before shot of what my under-eyes look like with a good dose of allergens in my life! Rest assured, I now have the perfect photo to use, so stay tuned for that!
Oh, and bright side #2 - Once I finally said "screw it I'm eating whatever I want" I got to have sourdough. Mmmm sourdough.
What is your alternate option from allergy shots? I have a ton of environmental allergies (wood, grass, dander, etc., etc., etc.) and highly recommend the shots. I hate needles, but love being able to breath with no difficulty.
ReplyDeleteReally there's no option other than medicating forever or suffering. Although to some extent controlling my food allergies seems to help with the nasal stuff. I'm not really adverse to needles--the thing I dread is having to drive through LA traffic to a Dr. office twice a week for months!
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