SC - fetal???

[Mordonna22@aol.com]

Greetings, good gentles of the list. In the past few days, I have noticed that
there have been a few misunderstandings on two subjects, and I think they need
cleared up- the first on the subject of my name, and the second on the subject
of allergies.

My mundane name is Philippa Alderton, my SCA name is Philippa Farrour, and I
am not my friend Phillipa Seton, whom I call my cousin, for friendship's sake.
If I am being casual, I sign my name " P H L I P" and that is not a
misspelling. "Philip" is the name of my deceased father, my idiot brother, and
the mundane first name of my loved and trusted friend, Master Adamantius. I
have been gone from the list for a couple of months due to computer problems,
and I'm back.

Secondly, as Anne-Marie started to explain, there is a distinct difference
between an allergy and some of the other food problems we have discussed.

An allergy is a physiological problem which is caused by the body rejecting
certain substances and treating them like an infection, AFTER REPEATED
EXPOSURE. It is impossible to be allergic on one's first exposure to
anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The usual course of symptoms include excessive
swelling at the infection site, as in bee stings, followed usually by hives,
and then by swelling and inflammation of the mucus membranes. This latter
inflammation can be so extreme as to block the breathing passages, leading to
death by asphyxiation. This can happen extremely quickly, and a person can be
clinically dead within 10 to 15 minutes. Asthma is very similar in all
respects- some think it's the same thing. The mechanism is the body attempting
to protect itself as it does in a cold, by sending all its available resources
to kill the "infection". It is not known why the body does that, but this sort
of reaction IS hereditary, and in many children, will disappear by or shortly
after puberty. Many of my relatives on my father's side had/have this problem,
but I took after my mother, and am allergic to nothing. Allergic reactions do
not cause indigestion reactions, other than the fact that if your throat is
swollen shut, it's difficult to swallow food.

The reactions caused by the proteins in milk are NOT allergic reactions. Most
proteins and certain sugars require certain enzymes in order to be digested.
Enzymes can be extremely specific, as in lactase, or they can be rather lax as
is the case with most of the milk proteins and sugars. It's mus\ch like keys
and locks- a highly machined lock, such as a good Master lock, will take only
one exact key- others, like those silly little locks they put on luggage, can
take several. The reason for the indigestion is that the body does not produce
the appropriate enzymes, and can't digest the food. Diabetics produce
insufficient quantities of the various insulins and can't digest sugars, to
varying degrees.

The third sort of reaction is the poisoning reaction. This is found most
commonly with garlic and alcohol. The green shoots of garlic produce a very
mild poison which some people are reactive to. If you love garlic, but can't
eat it without indigestion, only use fresh garlic, and take the green shoots
out- commercial garlic powders and salts don't bother. As far as alcohol goes,
during its metabolization from alcohol to digestible sugars, for a brief time
it becomes a strong poison. This is what kills those kids who chug a bottle of
Everclear on a bet. The nonalcoholic is going to feel mildly ill after
imbibing a couple of drinks and quit. An alcoholic's metabolism will change
the poison so fast, that they don't feel ill, and they go on to enjoy the
pleasureable ( and obnoxious) effects of intoxication.

Then there's psychological indigestion. Lord Ras and I were discussing this on
the list several months ago. Although he can eat all the ingredients of a
potato salad individually, if he were to eat the stuff, it would come up
faster than it went down- even the smell makes him feel ill.

There are many other digestive problems, including ulcers, spastic colons, and
the like, but they're NOT allergies!

The one thing that REALLY irritates me, though, are the people who INSIST they
are allergic to a particular item, and really mean that they don't like it. If
that were the case, then I'm allergic to Green Peppers and Black Licorice.

Phlip

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