Isn't it funny how your body works? And how randomly it will develop allergies to even more random things?
I have a few allergies: melon and almonds make my tongue and throat swell, and tomatoes make my hands itch (but I can eat them...)
But the weirdest of all is my toothpaste allergy. In fact, it's not even to toothpaste that I'm allergic (aren't you glad) but rather to a chemical commonly found in it called sodium lauryl sulfate.
SLS is highly effective surfactant used in any task requiring the removal of oily stains and residues. For that reason it's found in a lot of cleaning products as well as hygiene product such as tooth paste, shampoo and other foamy things.
Pretty random isn't it? Now here is how I found out that I was allergic to it. I've always had a big problem with canker sores, I would get them all the time. Then, around this time last year, I got the biggest canker sore I had ever had, and it just wound't go away. I tried everything, and still it hung to by inner lower lip like you won't believe it.
So I decided to search the good ol' world wide web and see what I could find. Lo and behold I found out that SLS dries up the skin inside your mouth and the protective layer of the oral tissue, making it more vulnerable to different irritants such as acidic foods.
After reading that, I decided to test it out. So I didn't brush my teeth for a whole week. Just kidding. I just didn't brush it one night, and what do you know, in the morning, the sore was gone!
And that is when I switched over to SLS-free tooth paste. Not an easy taks however, there is only 1 (ONE) toothpaste that doesn't have SLS. And yes, I did check all of them. But since I made the sitch I haven't had a single canker sore!
Not too long ago, I used to work in the English department here at the school. And everyday, I would fill a little jar up with mixed nuts. And everyday there was a certain teacher that would come bay after his classes and grab a hand full of nuts. Until one day when 5 minutes after he grabbed his daily handful of nut he came back sweating, dizzy, with a swollen itchy throat and had to be rushed to the hospital. I guess one day his body just had enough of nuts... ?
So do you have any weird allergies? And random reactions to even more random things?
... I hope you all enjoyed my random shpill. I'm been working this week, and there hasn't been much to do. So today, as I was going out to buy some sls-free toothpaste... I got thinking about all this, and adding to my boredom I thought I would sharemy little toothpaste drama with you all :o). Maybe I'll start blogging about more useful things every once in a while. sounds good? or no good?
