Things not getting done

I’ve finished three garments lately (the forth was a fail) but it seems I can’t find the time to take pictures of them. I used to take pictures of my finished garments during my lunch hour but work is crazy lately and my lunch hour is quite shorter than it used to be. Also, I’m so tired after I finish work that I don’t spend too much time at the computer. I just sew when I have the time, and I keep working on how to improve my very limited diet.

The list of foods I can eat has been reduced considerably in the last weeks. I was tested again by one of the three alergists that are seeing me and I’m allergic to potatoes, corn, rice, wheat, and lots of vegetables (cauliflower and the family, asparagus, almost all fruits and a long etc). Due to my problems eating I’ve lost 6 kilos in the last 2 months, and not being able to eat any of the most well known sources of carbs has made things even more difficult. I’ve tried sweet potato and I also got swollen lips and throat. I could eat normal potatoes until one month ago, when I dreamed of gaining weight by eating fries, but soon that became impossible. After trial and error, some money and lots of time, I have found that I can eat yuca (tapioca). The problem is that due to other issues, I can’t make the typical recipes everybody makes. I can’t neither use milk, rice milk, almond milk nor egg. I’ve learned to make some variant of a Brazilian recipe of yuca bread, but without all the regular ingredients, the final product is a bit, how to say, different. I’m still tweaking the recipe, and even the result is not wonderful, it’s quite ok, and honestly, I just want to be able to take a normal quantity of vegetables, carbs and proteins. Since broccoli started to give me symptoms too I started to freeze it and overcook it, so I guess I’m killing all the vitamins and good things in it. When I started the elimination diet, I used to eat plain (and boring) broccoli. I add now a bit of lemon and to hell with it. I haven’t noticed  that the allergy has become worse because of it. I’m still eating a bit of brown rice in the evenings. I can’t tolerate the regular one or my loved basmati but the brown one still works with corn from a can. I can’t eat corn in any other form (fresh, flour, pasta) but the one from the can is fine so I keep eating it.

About proteins, pork meat is fine. Not ham in any shape. Cured ham gives me nausea, and the sweet ham that you find in the shop has either potato starch, corn dextrose, or soy. I ended up in the ER after two slices almost two months ago. No ham for me. With chicken things go not so well. I’ve been eating it from time to time in small amounts because I react a bit to it. Pork fills me more, and I can eat also more quantities. I am not sure why. I’ve read that soy fed chickens can be allergenic to soy allergic people. I don’t know if this is the reason behind, but I don’t really have access to organic meat so I guess I won’t eat it again. Yesterday I ate it again and apart from swollen lips I felt a bit of nausea. Those are typical symptoms of chicken allergy. It’s not a very common allergy and the first tests came negative about that one. It’s also true that the first tests to wheat or corn were also negative. We’ll have to see.

My allergist from the Public Health System has abandoned me. They don’t know about OAS (Oral Allergy Syndrome) here in Spain and he refused to keep seeing me. I guess my case is a difficult one and he doesn’t want to have too much work. He told me I should receive a complete report from him and look for another doctor. This has been 18 days ago. No sign of a letter yet.

Just the weekend after that I woke up on a Saturday almost without voice. I blamed my allergies and let it pass. Some days ago I went to see my GP and he guessed it was just a cold. The week after I went to see a otolaryngologist with my private insurance, and after an examination she informed me that my right vocal cord was paralyzed. This Thursday I’m getting a CT scan for this and then I have to see her again. This has gotten me a bit worried lately, since there could be many causes for a paralyzed vocal cord. Mostly this happens to the left one, since the nerve is much longer that the right one and there are more chances or a problem. The CT scan worries me because they will probably use contrast (and I’m afraid of an allergic reaction) and the results also worry me. I’m trying not to think too much about it, but sometimes it’s quite difficult. Especially when I go to the shop and people don’t hear me when I ask for bread, broccoli or whatever it is I’m buying. And I’m also a bit tired of excusing myself because of being hoarse.