They tried to make me give up sulfites, I said "no, no, no"

So on February 1st, I had this major allergic reaction. My lips swelled up to about five times their normal size. I called my sister the pharmacist who suggested Benadryl. I only had the kids' version. She figured out an appropriate dose for me. About a half hour later the swelling had spread. Long story short, she took me to Emergency. The result was about three hours of observation, a shot of epi, and some prednisone. I may have had the beginnings of an anaphylactic reaction (who knew it could happen so slowly?) or what's known as an angioedema, unexplained swelling. The only thing I could assume that triggered the reaction was a bottle of French wine, one of the Nouveu Beaujolais. Further deduction led me to believe that it may have contained a high quantity of sulfites.

Now, anyone who knows me knows I enjoy my wine. The thought that I might be allergic to them was fairly traumatic. A few days later I tried some of our u-vin wine. No reaction. However, sporadically throughout the month of February, I'd break out in hives. They were very hot and itchy. Clearly, my body was reacting to something.

I had already been scheduled for allergy testing for other reasons and the plan was to have this appointment moved up. Managed to visit the allergist last week and I told him my tale. He gave me a standard allergy test, which included many pokes and exposure to various potential allergens. My arm turned beet red. I had bumps for every poke, the most significant being for cats. He said that because I had been getting hives so frequently, that this test wasn't going to work for me and that I'd have to have a blood test. I told him about my sulfite theory and he agreed that this may be the case. He recommended a daily dose of Reactine to see if the hives would calm down. I told him that I had tickets to the wine festival, he laughed. He said that I definitely should take Reactine beforehand.

Flash forward to Saturday night to the Vancouver Wine Festival . Indeed, I took the antihistamine. It worked. I was fairly tentative in my wine-tasting at first, but during the course of the night, I was thrilled that I was having no reaction to the wines. I was able to relax (I'm sure the wine helped here) and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. Side note: I have not seen so many people with red complexions (including my many trips down South) as I did that night. Clearly, I am not the only person to be affected by the wine!

I have started to research sulfite allergies and am learnig that they tend to affect the respiratory system more than the skin. So now, I am not sure that sulfites are the culprit. Nonetheless, I will continue my course of Reactine for the next little while and see what happens. Between my husband's gluten allergy and my potential sulfite sensitivity, the journey to 40 is turning out to be more challenging than I had expected.