Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Good bye, Tomato


I spent another uncomfortable night paying for indulgence. What, pray tell, would be so bad that it kept me up all night?

Chocolate? Ice cream? Some totally amazing and decadent dessert?

No.

I had spaghetti for dinner.

I love spaghetti - but spaghetti does NOT love me.

As a kid, I hated tomatoes. Sure, the firm part was nice and sweet, but the slimey part where the seeds are was just too... squidgey to be in my mouth. I had the same problem with mushrooms, but that one I never outgrew. But tomatoes I grew to love. Especially fresh from the garden ones.

Last year, I developed a horrible case of acid reflux. The kind that burned my throat so badly that I couldn't eat the next day. The kind that made me sleep sitting up in a chair and wishing that I'd bought stock in Mylanta or Milk of Magnesia. There were all kinds of things that set me off. Potatoes. Tomatoes. Milk. Chocolate.

My pallate narrowed down considerably until my doctor prescribed Nexium for me. After about a week, I was able to sleep in a bed again. I still had to be careful about eating those foods - I could eat them but in very small amounts. And I tootled along.

Until last night. Granted, I missed taking my pill that morning, but after eating a small helping of spagetti, I started feeling like someone had inserted a pump into some orifice and began pumping me up with air. It got hard to breathe. My back hurt. My skin got hot and I felt dizzy.

Gas-X didn't help. So I started drinking water. LOTS of water. Spent the rest of the night getting rid of the water. Finally, somewhere around 2am, I was able to lie down. I slept in the computer room because I knew I'd be getting up and down and up and down getting rid of water all night. Poor Darling Man didn't need to be disturbed like that.

I feel better now - and worse. Does this mean that my intolerance for tomatoes had turned into a full blown allergy? If so, what a bummer.

Damn. No more Italian food for me.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

My mom is severely allergic to tomatoes. It's the seeds. Sadly I think I'm starting to develop her same problems. Cheese too. Sigh, I love cheese, but it doesn't like me too much.

Anonymous said...

Sorry. I wonder if it is an age thing. I used to NEVER have any heartburn/acid reflux whatever. Then, here recently, I get it from time to time. Can't stand it.

Anonymous said...

Tomatoes, potatoes, green peppers, eggplant---All are nightshades, and some people just can't handle them. I have had a sensitivity all my life, and for a long time I avoided them altogether. Then I read somewhere that it was possible to desensitize myself by eating small amounts in carefully controled circumstances, and now I do indulge in all of them. But not in great quantities. I double peel potatoes, because the offending compound is near the skin, and I take the seeds out of fresh tomatoes. (Canned ones don't seem to bother me.)I use green pepper sparingly, mostly in omelets and turkey tetrazini. I'm so sorry you are having this problem--you probably inherited it from me. Jerry has the same difficulty with tomatoes--remember he would never eat pizza or ketchup? It was interesting when you were all home and I had to keep track of who could eat what.
Mom

Anonymous said...

The wisdom of Mom.

As I was reading I was already answering you. Unfortunately it is a wicked thing called age.
Do you remember buying "Lil Debbie cakes" and dang near eating a whole box with several glasses of milk?
I am nearly in sugar overload when I eat just one now.

It is funny how our body changes from one season to the next when we hit a certain age. I haven't figured out what that number is for specific discoveries but the ladies I work with are constantly telling me " just wait till ????? shows up or you feel this way.

The worst thing I have been told is that our bodies change every seven years. That was right before I turned 42. Sure enough, some things changed.

Like Mom said small amounts every few days or daily to desensitize helps greatly.

It would appear that we have crossed that line into "THE OLDER ZONE"

Stephanie

Anonymous said...

Tomato sensitivity. That sucks. Try Roma tomatoes. They're low in acid.