Here's the bad news: I think I'm allergic to wine.
This has been a long time coming. I love wine in a fairly casual way - a good bottle with a good meal is always a great thing. I'm not a connaisseur and I'm not big up on names, years, or specific ch�teaux. But, as I don't like liquor and I'm not the beer type, I defaulted to wine when I first came to France.
Unfortunately, I might have to default to orange juice, soon.
For the last six months, every time I drink wine, I eventually lose my ability to breathe out my nose. It makes no difference if I have one glass or six; I will be stuffed up for the rest of the evening and the entire following day. Last night, my nose was so clogged that I did a eucalyptus steam in order to be able to sleep. Again, this morning, I had to do another.
The older I get, the more allergies I seem to develop. My friend thinks it's strange that the wine allergy just "popped up" after all these years, but I remember when I was 10 just suddenly discovering I was quite allergic to cats. I went from petting the creatures and snuggling with them one day, to suffering through an embarassing dinner party in a house with a cat whose fur managed to make my eye swell to the size of a golf ball the next. That was uncomfortable.
There are other allergies, I'm sure. Some I know (dust is a biggie) but others attack me unexpectedly. My sister has always been an allergy-sufferer; I remember vaguely thinking she was making a big deal out of nothing whenever the seasons hit when her eyes turned watery and her sinuses clogged. Clearly, I was wrong to ever judge -- this allergy shit is real, man! My brother has a shrimp allergy (maybe all shellfish?), but his reaction (vomiting) was pretty clear-cut: eat the shrimp, start the puking. I'm worried my allergies are a bit more vague - I can't quite pinpoint what's causing the reactions, but for the last almost-year I've had sinus problems pretty much constantly. I'm even more concerned I might be allergic to our dog.
One of the only cut-and-dry allergic reactions I am aware of is the wine one. It's very distinct, and I can't pretend I don't know that wine is the culprit.
I'm thinking about going to see a specialist. Unfortunately, I STILL don't have my carte vitale, and so I have to pay for my doctor's visits upfront and get reimbursed later. This is not really possible at the moment. I think the visit is around 30 euros, but that is over half of my weekly budget, and I'd prefer to spend that money on groceries for the moment.
I'm also wondering what one can actually do for allergies, other than take decongestents and avoid, as much as possible, the allergy-causing element. Dust is really not avoidable, but I suppose wine is. Maybe I'm just scared that this wine-allergy hunch I have is true. Even my friends, who really didn't want to believe me when I first suggested the possibility, are starting to think I should get it checked out. But for what? So the doctor can tell me that every time I drink wine I'll have a stuffy nose? I think I know that already.
I must admit my knowledge of wine is pretty limited (thankfully in Normandy that isn't really punished as long as you drink cider), but perhaps it could be something in the barrels they age the wine in? I don't know if they still use cedar barrels or what not, but maybe it could be more related to what is in contact with the wine than the actual wine itself (because it seems to me that if you are allergic to wine, you would be allergic to grapes too, but lord knows this allergy stuff is weird).
Personally, my cat allergy didn't show up until I was like 18 or so, and since then it just seems to continue. Two summers ago I randomly developed an allergy to some sort of pollen that thrives here between June and mid-July, etc. I also think I may have had a carrot-allergy because for the longest time eating carrots would make my throat itch, but it seems to have gone away in the last couple of years (perhaps eating all those carottes rap�es here bit that one in the butt).
But yeah. I understand your wanting to wait (especially since you have to go to the doctor to get a recommendation for the specialist now in order to get fully reimbursed). And when you do go, do fill us in on the allergy tests etc., because I've considered doing them myself and I'm a curious lil' monkey.
Kim's suggestion about it being something to do with the wine barrels made me think of something. I remember ridiculing my dad (who does suffer from many annoying food and environmental sensitivities, it has to be said), who was finding that drinking ginger ale was giving him stuffiness and sniffles the way he gets with dust allergies. So he concluded that because the ginger ale was "aged" (according to the label) this meant that it was dusty (cos old things are dusty) and that he was reacting to the dust. While I believed him, I found his explanation to be absurd. But who knows? Anyway, he's switched brands and seems not to have the problem anymore.
So what can you do for allergies? Having grown up in a very allergic household I know certain things are strongly advised: pillow covers, and mattress coverss, specifically ones meant for people with allergies. These are a very good idea. Carpeting is very bad. HEPA filters in your vacuum are supposedly good.
Don't know if you already know these ones...?
Good luck with it.
If it's dust related, you 'll have to stick to new wines... Beaujolais etc. It might be an interesting to "study" the allergy factor between wines that are a year or two old and other wines.
Linguistically, my previous comment makes no sense because I made changes and then didn't reread/proof. Naughty Dobby. Cheers.
I googled it and general consensus says it's either the sulphates or the histamines. I personally like the dust theory -- it sort of implies there's interconnectedness in everything. Which I guess there is, and I don't need dust in wine barrels to prove it, but I still like it.
Actually, Kim, I've been trying to keep a mental note as to whether certain wines do it or not. I haven't noticed much of a difference so far.
My next step is to test the red vs white theory... I've pretty much only had red wine for the last year or so.
This actually sounds like a systemic reaction to the alcohol itself as a vasoconstrictor. Ethynol in the bloodstream will cause blood vessels to dialate - especially around the face. Causing stuffy nose. Taking anything else recently for blood pressure"
Red wines and some white wines stimluate your body to produce histamine. And, some contain histamine as a product of fermentation (so do pickles),
if you get itchy and achy, it may be that you are not processing the "alcohol to acetaldehyde to acetic acid" chain....
I was going with histamines, myself, but I'd be interested in your first theory. I'll admit to not understanding all of what you're saying, but I will tell you that I have excessively low blood pressure that has actually turned out to be problematic (chronic fainting for several years). So I don't know if there could be any link there, but it would be interesting to follow up on that. I don't get itchy and achy, just an incredibly stuffed nose -- to the point where it's not even worth it to talk because I'm too stuffed up (and I love to talk!).
Have just read an article about this.... as I have weekly periods of blocked nose and have not until now thought about the red wine I drink.
The article states it could be a reaction to the alcohol content, or the pesticides used but is most likely due to the sulphar added to wines to stop fermentation. Try a low-sulphar organic wine - !
Hmmmmmmm I drink FITOU mostly.
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