Husband’s Danish glazed potatoes

Upon posting a photo of a huntsman spider on twitter, I was asked if I was scared of them. No, I replied, as long as they don’t touch me because I’m allergic to a spider’s hair, I just don’t know which. Wait… what? Yeah, you read that right, there is a kind of spider I am allergic to the hair of, and I don’t know which kind of spider it is. I know it’s brown, and has thin legs.

Some people are allergic to peanuts, to lactose, or to gluten. I’m allergic to spider hair.

The story is I woke up one morning with half a spider (that’s right, half) in the bed and my face and legs covered in red spots. Didn’t think too much of it, except that I threw the spider in the bin, and went on my merry way. Two days later those small red dots had become GIANT RED WELTS and were itchy as anything. I’d been bitten, I assumed, and made an urgent appointment with the doctor. Over I went (and got in trouble for disposing of afore mentioned spider) and the doctor assured me I had not been bitten, the pattern indicated the spider had simply walked across me and I’d had an allergic reaction to the hair on its legs. Ew.

Unfortunately, not my only strange allergy. I’m also allergic to cats and grass, fairly normal, except that I own a cat and have had one since I was about 7 years old – and only developed an allergy in my teens.

Image being allergic to these babies?

I am also allergic to one antibiotic and caramel. Yes, caramel. No I’m not allergic to milk, no I’m not allergic to sugar, no I’m not allergic to butter, but caramel? Yeuch! It makes me nauseated, hyper active and, sometimes, throw up. I don’t even have to eat the caramel, it can be enough to smell it cooking. Which doesn’t go very well with the fact that Husband is half Danish and at Danish Christmas much time is spent creating Danish Glazed Potatoes. Much time is also spent with Tamsin gagging and attempting to leave the house.

(I’d like to also note that I realise if the reaction is inconsistent it’s an intolerance, not an allergy, but shhh)

However there are some weirder allergies out there. Some people are allergic to chocolate (sad!), water (hazardous!) and shoes (disaster!). As far as allergies go, I’m pretty lucky mine are mild. I don’t die from anything and, apart from the antibiotic (which I should probably know the name of) it’s all manageable and easily avoidable. Up until now I wasn’t scared of spiders but now, you’ll have a hard time trying to get me near one if it’s brown!

Do you have any allergies? Are they unusual? How did you discover yours?

T.

Image 1 author’s own Image 2

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