(no subject)

[the_rck]

Scott had an allergic reaction to something starting at about 3 p.m. today. In the preceding couple of days, he hadn't eaten anything that was likely to have been beef contaminated (most of it was stuff we cooked at home). The timing was weird, too, because he usually has problems somewhere between eight and twelve hours after he eats the problem food. The entire period that we'd normally focus on as the problem was while he was asleep.

He has had a lot of pork products in the last couple of days. Not an amount out of the ordinary for him but pork roast last night and pork sausages this morning. This allergy has been mostly stable for eighteen years, so having it suddenly increase in scope is worrying. It's possible that the casings for the sausages are beef derived (Google indicates that 'collagen casings' generally are), but he's had this brand of sausage before without issues. Unfortunately, we don't have a label from a previous batch to compare to this one. Of course, the sausages were less than five hours before he started having problems, and the pork roast was about twenty hours before.

Easter dinner was ham, so if pork products are now a problem, Scott's going to continue being sick tomorrow. He can't stay home from work because he's used all of his sick days (two every six months), so he's hoping benadryl and immodium will see him through the day.

I'm actually really hoping it was the sausage casings.

I was a bit worried because the Easter gathering was half an hour from home, but Scott was certain he could drive home. He'd had to drive out to buy benadryl because no one at the gathering had any.

I'm going to have to pitch the sandwich I made for Scott for tomorrow because that's ham. (Cordelia won't eat it because there's margarine on the bread. I won't eat it because this particular brand of ham lunchmeat has a lot of fat and is likely to make me sick.) Fortunately, all of the remaining lunchmeat we've got is turkey.

Comments

[lunabee34]

I hope you figure out what's causing the problem.

[loligo]

I do think the sausages sound like the most likely culprit. It annoys me no end that so many turkey sausage products use beef casings -- I understand that if people are avoiding pork for religious reasons, the beef is fine, but for allergy avoidance it isn't.

[the_rck]

He tried some ham about 11 hours ago and is still feeling okay (he's working on trying to fix my laptop, and we're watching Doctor Who).

That makes the sausages more likely to have been the problem. A great relief.

[kyrielle]

I hope it's the sausage too - fingers crossed!

[badfalcon]

Oh no, that sounds terrible. I hope you figure out what's causing the problem and that Scott starts feeling better

[evalerie]

I'd call the sausage manufacturer to ask for more info about what the casings are made of. (But I'm "that person" who calls manufacturers pretty often to ask detailed ingredient questions.)

[the_rck]

According to what I pulled up on Google, all collagen casings are made with 'cattle hide.' So Scott's going to have to look at sausage packages and avoid the collagen casings. If the ingredients don't specify, he'll have to talk to the manufacturers before eating.