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For as long as I can remember, bananas have made me severely ill. When I was very little, I called it a stomach ache or heartburn, since I didn't know what it was. As I grew older, I realized it was very much like an allergic reaction: My head, nose, throat, ears, eyes, and chest would itch terribly and my chest would get very tight feeling and painful. I've never had a problem breathing, but I also learned from an early age to avoid bananas when I could. My mom didn't believe there was anything actually wrong; she thought I was just being "picky" because I didn't like bananas. Fortunately, she never force-fed them to me.
She did trick me into eating one once, though. I think I mentioned this story once before somewhere either here or on CS, but here it is again. I was about 18, living at home, and my mom was insisting that we all eat healthier, so she started making smoothies for us for lunch. One day she asked if I wanted some, and I asked her what kind it was. She said blueberry. Okay, sure. It looked blue, at any rate. So I started drinking it. After I'd had several large gulps, she got this smug look on her face and said triumphantly, "There, I bet you didn't even know there was banana in that, did you?" I spit out what I had in my mouth and ran to the bathroom to drink some water and take Advil (I didn't know at the time that an anti-histamine like Benedryl would help allieviate some of the symptoms.) I yelled at her and started crying as the allergic reaction very quickly came upon me. She claimed she didn't know I was allergic to bananas, again reiterating that she always thought I was just being picky.
I got allergy tested a couple of years ago, and turns out, I'm allergic to a LOT of fruits and vegetables. Just to name a few: Bananas, apples, peaches, kiwi, avocodo, carrot, celery, broccoli, and cauliflower. For most of these, I can eat them if they're cooked, canned, or frozen, since doing one of those somehow changes the chemical composition of the food and doesn't trigger the allergic reaction in my body. This makes sense since I remember not liking to eat a lot of those things fresh and raw, like apples and peaches. I love apples and peaches, but I distinctly remember my mother serving us fresh, raw apples and peaches when they were in season and getting pretty pissed at me when I refused to eat them. I didn't know at the time it was an allergy, I just knew they didn't agree with me.
She still, to this very day, doesn't believe I have food allergies.
I started weight watchers earlier this week and made the very unfortunate mistake of telling her about it. She has always hounded me about my weight...that is another thread, though. Today she told me, "I bet if you finally lose some weight, you can eat more fruit like banana that you never liked. I bet your digestive system is just so screwed up that it can't digest it right."
Yes, because my digestive system is definitely causing itchiness in my face/throat/ears, watery eyes/nose, and a feeling like my chest is going to explode (this is how I've described it to her, so she knows very well how severe it is and can't feign ignorance anymore.)
I don't get it. She has never believed that I have food allergies, even after the allergic reactions, the testing, everything. Why doesn't she believe me? I can bet you anything that if and when I do start to lose weight, she will insist that I try eating a banana and see how I react to it. I'd be tempted to, just to prove to her that nothing will have changed, but I also don't want to end up in the ER for her sake.
She did trick me into eating one once, though. I think I mentioned this story once before somewhere either here or on CS, but here it is again. I was about 18, living at home, and my mom was insisting that we all eat healthier, so she started making smoothies for us for lunch. One day she asked if I wanted some, and I asked her what kind it was. She said blueberry. Okay, sure. It looked blue, at any rate. So I started drinking it. After I'd had several large gulps, she got this smug look on her face and said triumphantly, "There, I bet you didn't even know there was banana in that, did you?" I spit out what I had in my mouth and ran to the bathroom to drink some water and take Advil (I didn't know at the time that an anti-histamine like Benedryl would help allieviate some of the symptoms.) I yelled at her and started crying as the allergic reaction very quickly came upon me. She claimed she didn't know I was allergic to bananas, again reiterating that she always thought I was just being picky.
I got allergy tested a couple of years ago, and turns out, I'm allergic to a LOT of fruits and vegetables. Just to name a few: Bananas, apples, peaches, kiwi, avocodo, carrot, celery, broccoli, and cauliflower. For most of these, I can eat them if they're cooked, canned, or frozen, since doing one of those somehow changes the chemical composition of the food and doesn't trigger the allergic reaction in my body. This makes sense since I remember not liking to eat a lot of those things fresh and raw, like apples and peaches. I love apples and peaches, but I distinctly remember my mother serving us fresh, raw apples and peaches when they were in season and getting pretty pissed at me when I refused to eat them. I didn't know at the time it was an allergy, I just knew they didn't agree with me.
She still, to this very day, doesn't believe I have food allergies.
I started weight watchers earlier this week and made the very unfortunate mistake of telling her about it. She has always hounded me about my weight...that is another thread, though. Today she told me, "I bet if you finally lose some weight, you can eat more fruit like banana that you never liked. I bet your digestive system is just so screwed up that it can't digest it right."
Yes, because my digestive system is definitely causing itchiness in my face/throat/ears, watery eyes/nose, and a feeling like my chest is going to explode (this is how I've described it to her, so she knows very well how severe it is and can't feign ignorance anymore.)
I don't get it. She has never believed that I have food allergies, even after the allergic reactions, the testing, everything. Why doesn't she believe me? I can bet you anything that if and when I do start to lose weight, she will insist that I try eating a banana and see how I react to it. I'd be tempted to, just to prove to her that nothing will have changed, but I also don't want to end up in the ER for her sake.
And like RavenStarr said...just because you haven't gone into anaphylactic shock yet doesn't mean it couldn't happen. And THEN what would your mother do? Would she actually admit she fucked up then? 
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