“Anaphylaxis is the most serious — and, fortunately, the most uncommon and unmistakable — allergy symptom. Anaphylaxis, or anaphylactic shock, is a whole-body allergic reaction that causes difficulty breathing due to swelling in the airways and a rapid drop in blood pressure due to dilated blood vessels. Anaphylaxis usually develops quickly upon exposure to the allergen that triggers it, so the cause is often easily identifiable.

Anaphylaxis is a medical emergency. If symptoms develop, call 911 immediately and administer any rescue medication you may have been prescribed as your physician has instructed.” - About.com

There were a few times when I have to rely on small amounts of red wine to be able to sleep early. But I don’t really like the taste of it so I tried a different alcoholic drink: the chu-hi. It’s fruit-flavored and it has just about 5% alcohol level content. A few sips of red wine could easily make me feel dizzy and sleepy but a few seconds after drinking chuhi, I started to have breathing difficulties. The first time I tried it, I wasn’t able to sleep immediately because I experienced chest pains. I just ignored it and very fortunately slept through it. As I thought it over, I realized that I may be allergic to chuhi. So I gave it another shot last night. As expected, just a few minutes after I drank it, I started to have chest pains and breathing difficulties. Last night was a lot worse than the first time. I almost asked my roommate to take me to the hospital.

As a person who reacts to many food allergens, I always keep with me my anti-allergy medications. Fortunately, it soothed the anaphylactic shock and not long after taking my medication, I could breath again. I still had mild breathing difficulties until I flushed the liquid all out.

Chuhi might not be the only alcoholic drink I’m allergic to. I also experienced the same thing with beer and red wine, if taken in higher quantity. So, I can no longer depend on wine to put me to sleep, but I now have a very valid reason to say no to alcohol. I don’t really drink alcohol, if not for my insomnia attacks. But here in Japan, some may find you rude if you refuse to drink alcohol. Fortunately, I’m a gaijin* so I have an excuse to be different.

gaijin - colloquial term for foreigners

Recent Entries

• Wordless Wednesday #25: At Home
• Boxing Fanatic
• Who doesn’t like free stuffs?
• Photohunt: Metal
• Another Sayonara
• Dollar Stores
• Memory Loss?
• Blame it on the recession
• My Father’s Stuffs
• Not Much Price Difference

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 3:40 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.