Qorn

I think I have an explanation for the return and growth of the splodge on my chest. Over the last few weeks I've spent some time in the company of a vegetarian. I have nothing against vegetarians. But meals tend to get produced  which appear to be chicken but are in fact made with the Qorn meat substitute.

What is Qorn? It's a fungus, like mushroom. So this tends to confirm the theory that I am reacting to fungi. Originally the dietitian said mushrooms were problematic and it depended where they were grown. I assumed this meant that if they were grown in salicylate rich compost - as most commercial mushrooms would be - they were off limits. On this basis Qorn should be okay as, according to Wikipedia, it's grown in vats, not in compost, and fed merely with glucose, vitamins and minerals. But it's obviously not okay.

Thanks to a small amount of sunshine over the weekend the splodge is fading a little and is less red and itchy. Let's hope this continues. Meanwhile I have told everyone, sorry, I won't be eating Qorn again.

RAS

Trying blue cheese

Some blue cheese appeared in our fridge. I used to eat a lot as it seemed like the only thing food I could eat with any taste.

Then The Splodge appeared on my chest. A dose of penicillin for a tooth infection led The Splodge to grow, covering much of my chest - and that led me to discover that the blue bits in Stilton cheese are actually penicillin. So blue cheese had to be abandoned and the  Splodge became Australia before finally being burnt off by the sun during our holiday last year.

With The Splodge well and truly gone I thought I might be safe to try a little cheese. Well The Splodge has not reappeared on my chest. But a red, scabby rash about the size of a finger-nail has appeared on my tummy. It could be a coincidence but I don't think I will risk it. No more blue cheese for a while, I think.

RAS

Rash about radish

For some reason I got it into my head that radish is okay. I even picked up a bag of the round red crunchy vegetables at the supermarket. I like them but, boy, did they sting my mouth.

That may explain why for the last couple of days the Splodge - which is now the Strawberry - has been itching quite a lot and why my left eye got quite sore and blurred. In fact my left jaw also got quite sore and I began thinking, yet again, it was probably a tooth infection.

Then as I crunched a radish for breakfast - sometimes I do desperate things - I thought I had better check. The list does not say radishes are low in salicylate. In fact it says they are "very high". So I've had to abandon the bag of radishes and try and persuade someone else to eat them.

The list does say beetroot is low and I've tried it recently without obvious effects. I think I should try more beetroot.

RAS

Strawberries and splodge

One or two people have noticed I've been a little erratic in posting over the last few weeks. In fact I had wanted, time permitting, to do some commentaries on some of the allergy news that has been around. I thought the report that burgers aggravate asthma - but fish relieves - it, was interesting and relevant, especially as the researchers did not really get to the bottom of  the causes. The study found no link between meat and IgE allergy - the kind you can detect with a blood test and which causes normal hay fever. But the link between burgers, fish and asthma was strong. That may simply mean that children who eat lots of burgers tend to be overweight and do their asthma no good at all. Or it could reflect the impact of a smaller group whose problems are caused by salicylate sensitivity. Does anyone know how many people have problems with salicylate?

I've also been inattentive to myself. I've noticed over the last few days that the Splodge is no longer the shape of a reverse Australia. In fact it's beginning to itch a little. This may have been aggravated by a rare bout of sunshine and heat in England. Last night I was at a buffet and the "dessert" was a kind of chocolate-topped meringue nest with a strawberry cream in it - topped by a strawberry. I removed the strawberry and spooned out the strawberry cream. Not all of it, of course. Then I tried to eat around the edges. It wasn't very nice - like cardboard - so I had no qualms about giving up. But the reactions were almost instant and my left eye got quite sore for a short period.

Last night the Splodge was really red and itchy. This morning it had calmed down a little but still itches. I went to get a montelukast only to discover I had run out. The Splodge is now a splodge-shape, like a squashed strawberry. I think I had better measure it to make sure it's not growing. And must get some more montelukast.

RAS

Scuba diving and wisdom teeth

I have found an NHS dentist and booked an appointment for the coming week. I thought by now I would be agony as for most of the last week I have been convinced a wisdom tooth on my left jaw was about to blow. Oddly, I have survived Easter and a great deal of chocolate and food - and some whisky - with minimal harm.

What happened last week was alarming. The left-side syndrome concentrated on my jaw, my ear, my left eye and my left neck. I wondered for a while whether it was in fact meningitis triggered by a tooth infection. Am I becoming a hypochondriac?

I assumed it was an infection, triggered by allergic inflammation, and took regular mouthwashes of warm salty water. I imagine that is what worked. My leg is a lot better and Australia (on my chest) is quite faint - which is what makes me alarmed that the current problems are caused by infection

I have now found the procedure for getting a medical certificate for scuba diving. It's been simplified recently -  you start off with a telephone conversation with a local expert and you may be called for examination. However they are likely to be concerned about ear problems - and at the moment I have a faint sensation in my left ear.

If there's a wisdom tooth aggravating the problems, I want it pulled before I make that call.

RAS

Pain and gain

I think I overdosed on redbush tea.

Last night and this morning I had an aching pain in the index finger of my left hand - and a fair amount of aching on my left arm.

I took it to mean I had overdosed - and in fact when I woke up this morning there were few signs of the cold. And Australia, which was the Splodge, was quite red.

So I've given up redbush tea again and taken up decaf instant coffee - which doesn't taste too bad now. Tonight I took a montelukast and the ache has almost gone.

RAS

Taking the brakes off...

This weekend I took the brakes off. I drank wine with my meals. I had a pecular Chinese concoction when I went out for a pub lunch. It was based on bean sprouts and egg fried rice - which are all okay - but had other vegetables too, such as onions.

I thought last week's cold might have made a difference. And I wasn't sure whether it was still around. It seemed to turn into a chronically stuffy noise - but then I have lived with one of those for some years, and it's not caused by a cold virus.

I was wrong. When you take the brakes off, you slam into a brick wall. Today I have red blotches all over me. There's not been too much itching I'm pleased to say. But Australia - which was the Splodge and before that The Ring - has been quite red. And there is chronically stuffy nose.

It's helpful to be reminded sometimes that
a) there is a problem and
b) the diagnosis seems to be correct.

RAS

Australia fades

As luck would have it, I was due to go to a Chinese buffet meal last night. As I've said before a cold should be a cause for partying, not for misery - as it was over the weekend.

I had some sandwiches at lunchtime yesterday and they were quite spicy. I'd love to say that last night I really indulged - but habits are hard to break. What happened was I didn't worry about what I was eating. I chose essentially low salicylate food - plain meat, so-called crab feet, chicken and sweet-corn soup, egg fried rice and banana fritter. And cheese cake, sweet, plain cheese cake.

In the last stages of a cold it's difficult to know, yet again, whether breaking the diet is going to aggravate the runny nose and sore throat. Today I'm still feeling a little sneezy and tired but it's mainly gone. My left eye has been sore, on and off, over the weekend. So is that the cold causing sinusitis - or sinusitis caused by attempts to get rid of the cold by drinking redbush tea.

The Splodge, which was The Ring, has been looking like Australia for a couple of weeks, almost so that I could uncover in the summer and pretend it was a tattoo of down under. Alarmingly over the weekend it seemed to darken in the area of New South Wales.

Today it's very faint, in spite of last night's excesses. In the back of my mind, I've been wondering whether the cold meant the allergic problems are going away - or even that the virus itself might solve them. If that happened, I wouldn't be able to write so much on this blog. But I'd be able to enjoy my summer holidays.

RAS