Hi all
Okay, where to begin... I guess it all started about two-three months ago, when I had an allergy to something, and my eyes were swollen and my nose felt all blocked, basically your average allergy symptoms. It kept persisting and I couldn't find out what the cause was, so one day I just got really fed up and decided to do some research on the internet about what could be causing it. I saw on the internet an article about tomato allergy, but disregarded it and ate breakfast (which contained cherry tomatoes) and went back to the computer. I looked at the internet again about tomato allergy, and suddenly I felt fearful that I was allergic to tomato, and because at the time I was at home alone, I was really scared that I was going to get a really severe allergic reaction and die. It felt like my neck was really tense, a bit hard to breath, felt like I had to force myself to breathe, my heart started beating really fast, I was trembling and I just felt so horrible, like it was the worst feeling in the world. Anyway, I ended up staying with my neighbours until I calmed down. It was strange though, because I ate cherry tomatoes the previous day and felt fine. But now, I've been having more onsets of it, and doesn't seem like it's a food allergy because each incident seem to contradict eachother. For instance, yesterday I drank some orange juice (which had preservative and flavours in it) at school and felt perfectly fine, but then today at recess I drank the same brand of orange juice, and the next period in science class in a science test, it felt like my throat was getting tight and it felt a bit hard to breathe, and I felt really panicky, but just asked for a drink of water and managed to calm myself down. Then this afternoon, (I was a bit stressed out and was at home alone) I ate the same food that I ate yesterday for dinner, and then I started getting that 'choking' and fearful feeling, and now that I cried for a while I feel a lot better. It always seems to be worse when I am not around other people, because I fear that if I have an allergic reaction no one will be able to help me. Most of the time, it seems that it will only go away after I cry. Another time (I hadn't eaten anything previously) it just felt like my neck was really tense and I was a bit afraid, but my parents were at home, and I just ended up crying and it went away. The night before I had to start school (term 2) my neck felt all tight again, and I was really scared and started crying... And then the day I went back to school, I drank 300ml of cola and got that neck tightness/choking and felt really panicky and went to the infirmary and it went away, which was also weird because the previous day I had drunk the same brand and amount of cola and felt fine. I have been under a bit of stress lately, and my older sister left to go to university about two months ago, so maybe stress could be triggering these 'episodes'... Oh, and my swollen eyes went away a few weeks ago when I slept in a different room of the house. So, does this sound like panic attacks, or does it seem like a food allergy? Or maybe the fear of having another reaction/attack? I really hate experiencing this, it's such a horrible feeling.
Thanks.
