Drama! Life in the ER!

I don't know if I have brought this up on these pages, but I am allergic to bloodworms. I have the usual airborne allergies, like pollen and ragweed, and have also relatively recently developed some allergies to certain fruits and nuts.

One other new allergen for me is bloodworms. I discovered that when I pop a frozen cube out of the tray and put it in a cup, if I don't wash my hands they would become itchy where they came in contact with the cube. Then I started sneezing when I handled bloodworms, especially the freeze-dried type, the particles of which can be inhaled as you shake out the treat into the tank. I decided to be extremely careful, and use gloves or have my husband feed the frozen bloodworms, or if I did use them I'd immediately wash my hands. The last time I forgot to wash my hands I rubbed my eyes and they swelled up, and I sneezed violently for a good 30 minutes.

I have not handled bloodworms myself for a month or two, and for some reason last night, late, I decided to give the 150-gallon a treat - frozen bloodworms. Everybody knows how fish go nuts for these bright red morsels, and it makes you feel good knowing how much they like it.

I forgot to wash my hands. It was bedtime, and I rubbed eyes, and they became itchy, and I realized what I had done. I washed my hands thoroughly and flushed my eyes thoroughly as well. I took 2 Benadryl immediately, but by then my eyes had swollen almost shut. Then my voice started going scratchy and I could feel my throat closing. I lost my voice almost completely as I was being driven pell-mell to the nearby ER. Not the way you'd want to spend your evening. I think if I had waited any longer I would have had to call 911, because it was progressing very, very quickly - by the minute.

I know it is not common to be allergic to bloodworms, but you do read about it. If you Google "bloodworm allergy" you will get lots and lots of hits, so it is not unheard of. The ER staff did not seem confused or surprised when I explained what had triggered this severe response.

For obvious reasons, I won't be feeding bloodworms in any form ever again. It is not worth it! My reaction to each exposure is more severe than the last, so next time I would be in even more trouble, I fear. I have also heard tales of people being allergic to bloodworms and blackworms, so I won't feed those anymore, either.

The only fish that worries me is my Figure-8 puffer. His diet is very limited, unlike my other fish. He enjoys snails, for sure, but I am not sure if that is a complete diet if it is all he will eat. He loves blackworms and bloodworms, but those are no longer on his menu. I will see how he does on raw shrimp and that kind of thing.

I know, from my research, that some people discover their allergy to bloodworms late, since if you have an allergic reaction like that you don't first think of fish food. You try to think of something you ate or drank as being the culprit, or an insect bite perhaps, and you may blame it on something completely different initially. Who would think frozen bloodworms could cause this? Not me.

So, if you find that you get sneezy sometimes when you feed your fish, you may correlate the symptoms to the use of bloodworms. If so, I'd nix them. Oftentimes allergic reactions are progressive, as in my case, and worsen with each exposure. If I had been stung by a bee and had this reaction, then I would just write it off to random misfortune, but I brought this drama on myself, and it could have easily been avoided. It is not worth my life to keep aquarium fish happy! It sounds so crazy to think that fish food could literally kill you, but I think, in my case, that could happen if I get exposed again and am not able to get help rapidly.

I reckon it is time for me to visit the allergist and address these sensitivities of mine, and perhaps be prescribed an Epi-Pen for emergencies.