The wrong brand awareness?

I dropped off, very carefully, my urine sample at the doctors this morning. I made the brim of the bottle after ten hours which means I will have to call them later to see if they want another go at a 24 hour test. The beta blockers are still sedating me to an uncomfortable level and I feel they do not have a long future. They seem to have done nothing for the symptoms and I have no intention of becoming drug dependent.

I flushed on Saturday after a couple of pints and again yesterday but still don’t believe it is alcohol. Yesterday I noticed that only my right hand had red blotches, the left one was fine. Interestingly the skin graft also had a bright red patch so it may be that my arms also flush but I can’t see it under the ink. On reflection this morning I realised that I was leaning on my left arm so may have constricted the blood enough to stop the redness, so that may be irrelevant.

I battled a third pint but the heat was getting uncomfortable so I left. Leaving the warm pub for the bracing east coast air would fix it right? Oddly not, it was like pouring petrol on a smouldering fire. My skin started crawling as the burn spread over my chest and shoulders. My chest tightened up and breathing, whilst still happening, took considerably more effort. By the time I got home the stairs were a real battle and I had to stop and take a break midway.

Once home I checked the extent of the problem, my face was now purple and shoulders and chest were smothered in scarlet patches. Interestingly the cold air had triggered raynauds so my hands had darkened to a more ‘normal’ shade of blue. I confirmed raynauds and then checked my legs and feet, something the doctor asked, and all was well.

Ten minutes on the couch with a cold wet flannel on my face was enough to recover my breathing. The temperature reduced a little and the flannel was hot when I removed it. As I set about cooking dinner the colour of my face returned to a more natural shade as the ‘episode’ subsided. At this point I needed some wine for cooking and, in the interest of research, I poured a glass as well. Two large glasses of chardonnay did not start the process again, no change in temperature or colour.

My conclusions from this experiment are vague to say the least. I wondered if I was allergic to the pub, hardly a good situation for a publican, but that made no sense. Could it be beer that I was allergic to? But I drank on Thursday this week with no trouble. I have also burned up on a number of occasions at work with no alcohol associated. I remember a similar issue a few years back that I narrowed down to a change in Becks beer. One bottle of Becks, it only happened with bottles, would bring about the burning and chest tightness so I stopped drinking it. Could this be the same reaction to a different brand? Or more accurately something in that brand since I must come into contact with the ingredient at other times.

There are now two tests that I need to complete the first is to avoid lager and the second to drink becks. I considered yeast, gluten and various more common allergies but that doesn’t match with a brand specific reaction. I am very interested in the Becks results but this test needs to be performed at home because historically the reaction was severe. Since I don’t drink in the week both of these tests will have to be scheduled for next weekend so there is time to work on the detail.

I also have bloods on friday and doubtless a repeat of 24 hour urine but something tells me that Dr Gav will turn up a more accurate diagnosis.

No warning and poor information

I rush to you with news ‘hot off the press’ related to public safety. It would appear that the Food Standards Agency have identified a safety risk with some foodstuffs that could be fatal to the consumer. Whilst the ever watchful FSA has removed remaining product from the shelves they are warning anyone that may have purchased the product to be on their guard. The product in question is bags of Monkey Nuts, apparently they do not contain any warning that they may contain nuts! Please contact anyone that has a nut allergy and warn them before we have a health disaster on our hands.

I have checked nut allergy out using Dr Google and it makes no mention of it degrading your brain to the point that you are an imbecile, so I am a little confused. I get that the allergy can be very serious and that, for that reason, we have to label products that may contain or have been processed alongside the dreaded nut. But surely bags of nuts must contain nuts or it would be a matter for the Trading Standards Agency since it would clearly be false advertising. If I have a serious and life threatening allergy to nuts why would I go anywhere near them? Let alone purchase a bag of them? Who are these people that we are trying to protect? It would seem to me that this is natural selection, if your only means of identifying nuts is a warning label then I am sorry but maybe it is your time. The product is called Monkey Nuts, the contents are nuts so why do we need a warning that the bag may, and here’s a thought, actually contain nuts. Anybody that needs this level of warning is not safe in the world at large, they will get run over at the first crossing that does not have a sign saying ‘may contain moving vehicles’ .

When the zombies take over will you have to wear a sign if you have eaten nuts? In fact I wonder if the government has already produced labels to go on the inside of your front door that say ‘caution: caution there man be zombies out there’

In other news I received a valuable lesson in information filtering from Andrew today. Having been told last night that he was unable to move a washing machine from a flat because he couldn’t detach the pipes I told him I would be with him at 10 to sort it. Myself and Marc were debating that clearly they needed some mechanical expertise, after all worse case you just cut the pipes don’t you? Well Andrew took this all in his stride and off we set this morning to carry out the disconnection. Here was where I discovered the true facts. The supply to the washing machine hoses is derived from two gated valves, one of these had the handle sheared off. It also transpired that whilst the other one moves it does not actually fully close to shut off the supply. I must say that I am impressed that Andrew didn’t start laughing until we left the property, the washing machine remains where it was. Like a small child I have relearnt the lesson that the wise man gathers facts patiently before using his energy, cheers mate.