After cutting up an avocado, some tomatoes and a cucumber last week, I broke out in hives. The kind that has me stumbling to the kitchen for an antihistamine in the middle of the night. I’ve cut up these veggies many times without a problem before.

I made a beef vegetable soup with carrots, onions, tomatoes, corn and peas. Ditto. I had a cup of soy chocolate milk. Ditto. I took an antihistamine with a spoonful of applesauce. The hives lasted twice as long. I ate a lot of grapes one afternoon with no apparent reaction. The day after, I ate a few grapes. Almost instant hives.

Clearly, I needed some expert advice and allergy testing. Today, I met my allergist. She checked me out before setting up some skin tests, but she wanted to make sure I was up to it. She made some slight marks on my arm with the back of her fingernail and waited. Within a couple of minutes the marks got redder and raised. Not hives, but enough to tell her I could not do the skin tests.

More later.