the allergic reaction or getting a cold or flu game

[cimorene]

Sometimes my throat swells most of the way closed, which feels similar to the intensely sore throat that usually precedes the nasal congestion stage of a cold for me.

Not counting colds - I don't think it swells quite as much with a cold? - this has happened to me maybe an average of (I think) less than once a year for the last 12 or 13 years.

I'm fairly certain the reaction is caused by perfumes, but perfumes and perfumed cosmetics have so many ingredients that I can't really be sure which one(s). Lavender is a suspect, but I am exposed to lavender a lot of times when it doesn't happen (this could be because it's a small concentration and doesn't go in my nose and mouth enough, I guess). Most of the times have been caused by perfumed stuff actually on my face - the first time memorably by smearing a streak of Bath & Bodyworks hand sanitizer that hadn't fully dried on my hand accidentally on my cheek next to my nose, and the second-latest time by a Body Shop cream face cleanser with a billion ingredients. (The reason I suspect lavender is because the only time when perfumes weren't involved, it happened after drinking a cup of herbal lavender tea.) (My mom used to have lavender soap in the linens though, and I guess it made me sneeze maybe, but it never caused a big bother. That I know of.)

Anyway, I thought I was getting better at guessing but today I was almost certain I was getting sick, but then my throat started feeling almost all the way better so I guess it was an allergic reaction after all. Depressing. And maybe I should see a doctor or something about it.

Comments

[harpers_child]

It may be a fake lavender vs. real lavender thing in scent. Or if all natural it could be a differentiation in variety. I'm allergic to certain varieties but not others myself. Synthetic lavender is a strict no go.

[twistedchick]

It is possible to have an allergy not to the fragrance itself but to the preservatives (if any) in it or the base that holds it together. I have that problem with many perfumes.

[cimorene]

Huh, I don't have a wide knowledge of the industry or whatever but I would think I would encounter it more often if it were a preservative ingredient. I would expect those to be present in a larger percentage of different perfumes.

[cimorene]

That does seem to make it more plausible as a suspect. But OTOH, I wasn't really rooting for it to win because it's in so much stuff...