Last night, on my birthday, I had organic cereal. I poured the cereal into the bowl and then added some vanilla flavored soy milk.

Shortly afterward, I began to have severe allergic reactions. I could barely breathe, and my throat swelled up. My chest started hurting, my stomach region was in pain, and my head ached. I felt cold and hot at the same time and my skin felt odd. I started feeling a little dizzy. It got worse as time progressed, too.

I ended up running to Harris Teeter, a local 24-hour grocery store and bought some Benadryl. I quickly paid for the stuff, dashed outside and took two of the little chewables (I had to buy the “children’s” version, as it seemed to be the only non-pill type at the store and I figured that I might have some sort of issue swallowing something).

Almost as soon as the reactions started with whatever sort of trigger food, they stopped upon taking the Benadryl. It was just a couple of minutes, it seemed (although I could be slightly off with the time, considering the circumstances).

I really don’t know what caused it. I checked the ingredient listing for both products and I noticed that I happened to have had every single ingredient over the past week, except for the soy milk, which was almost exactly a week prior since the last time I had it.

Whatever it is, whether some sort of nut, oat, bread, or soy, I think I will have to change what I eat. If soy is actually the culprit, then does that mean I shouldn’t be a vegetarian any longer? I have to get enough protein somehow, I would think. Many veggie-friendly things are made with soy (although not everything).

I am planning on trying some very small tests here in a bit with some Benadryl handy, just to try to isolate the culprit….

Anyway, it was not a fun birthday surprise, as I’m sure you could imagine.

Does anyone have any experience with any of this stuff? Does anyone have any suggestions or comments about my situation?

*Sigh*