Allergic to Bananas?!

Okay.  Many of you are aware of my sister, Heather's, health adventures and mystery symptoms that she's been dealing with for over a year now.  Whether it's food allergies or who knows what... the doctors are still trying to find answers.  I've been trying to be my own doctor this week as I've noticed my own weird symptoms.  

I love eating a bowl of cereal at night.  I may eat several bowls of cereal late at night.  And then I started noticing how I would be super itchy before I went to bed... just itchy everywhere!  And I'd just sit and scratch and scratch my back and sides and legs and stomach and arms and head and.... where is all this itching coming from?!  It just kind of showed up out of no where.  

Was it the cereal?  The milk?  The delicious banana slices?

Well...I kept eating my nightly snack because I loved it and looked forward to it.  But man, that crazy itching is just that-- crazy.  And not normal.  I've never had something like that before.  

This week I finally decided I should try to figure out where the itching was coming from.  I went a few days without the cereal.  Maybe it was the Kix and I'm "gluten intolerant".  I devoured Wheat Chex and didn't feel the itching.  I was just kind of making up my own experiment.  

Today I finally decided to test the bananas.  I had the perfectly colored banana that I got the day before.  Just when a banana turns from green to yellow is the PERFECT banana.  Any sign of spots or brown is way too ripe.  But that yellow-green color is just what I love.  And this banana was just that.  I ate it for breakfast and loved it.  And slowly but surely, throughout the day, I felt the itching.  I even itch behind and in my ears! And all around my neck. It's weird.  It wasn't as intense as my night itching... but definitely there.  Then tonight I went to Red Mango and I usually get the peanut butter yogurt with banana slices.  I sighed and thought, "Dang... I might be allergic to bananas.  This is sad."  But instead, I decided to chance it one more time.  I went ahead and ordered my usual-- with banana slices.  It has been 2 hours since then and I am ITCHING LIKE CRAZY!!!  Even my finger tips itch this very moment.  It's so weird.

COULD I POSSIBLY BE ALLERGIC TO BANANAS?!  Just like that?!

I *LOVE* bananas.  I'm not a berry girl at all.  I will pass up strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, or any berry without a second thought.  Apples and bananas are my "go to" fruit, with bananas being my #1.  The interesting thing is my dad is allergic to bananas, so growing up, we always had to make him his own little bowl of jello or whatever the dessert was that might include bananas.  Did I somehow "inherit" this lovely allergy of his?

It makes me sad.

And then I think of Heather and other friends who have all kinds of food allergies and restrictions!  Perhaps this is my own little taste of their struggle.  It could be a lot worse.

So this is my plan.

I'm going to just not eat bananas at all for many days... and see if this itching appears at all.  If so, then I need to switch my experiment.  If not... I just may have discovered a new allergy.  I'll keep you posted!

:::::itchy wrists now, too!!:::::::