Finding an Allergy.

Mr. J has an allergy condition which was discovered less than a decade ago. An anaphylactic shock which would potentially send him to a state of shock, and ultimately death. Like how some are allergic to peanuts, Mr J is allergic to a food ingredient which we have yet to find out till now. Mr J lets the case rest since it has not been back for almost a decade but I refuse to let it rest. I mean, how would I know what is permissible and what not? All we knew until now was a simple broccoli-mushroom chinese dish which sent him to the hospital twice. This allergy causes his face and internal organs to swell, he could barely breathe.

Over the past few months of dating, I tried to observe his eating habits. Everything seems normal until I tried some facial products on him. The first product which instantly gave him red patches was the ZA Dewy Emulsion which on the reverse, worked perfect for me.

I first dapped it on the lower half of the face after his return from cold France which left his skin flaking, and just within a minute, the area turned red. After washing off immediately, everything seems fine again.

The second time happened just last night. Taking all these grace for granted, I totally forgot about how sensitive his skin was and given the fact that I did applied a facial mask on him before so I wasn't too worried. This facial mask is from Taiwan and it has not given me or my friends any problem at all.

This round I left it there a tad longer, since I wasn't expecting an allergy reaction. True enough, Mr J complained of it stinging, I peeled away the mask and all I see was a RED FACE staring back at me. To my horror, I got Mr J to wash it off immediately. Mr. J's face was burning red and swollen, like a bulldog. For a moment I thought I might have disfigured him or the facial might have melted his face away. It was THAT scary.

I quickly got some ice water to cool down the swelling and within 5-10 minutes, the swelling went down. *phew*

With last night's ordeal, I am determined to find out the what is that ingredient which he is so allergic to, and could that same ingredient be found in the chinese dish?
If I am lucky, I will be able to hit two birds with one stone. If I'm not or Mr J is not, it means he is allergic to more than one ingredient and can be found in both food and facial products.

SHORTLISTING POSSIBILITIES
First up, since I have both facial products in my hand -- I shortlisted all ingredients which appeared in both products. They are:

• Propylene Glycol
• Glycerin
• Carbomer
• Trehalose
• Phenoxythenol
• Dimethicone

If you google it, almost every ingredient has potential for an allergic reaction. There will probably be no end to testing it based on faulty products.

So I took out the ingredient list for the sunscreen he used in Redang - Sunplay SPF130++, which was fine on him.

If any of Sunplay's ingredient appears on the shortlist, it means that ingredient is safe. From here, I cancelled out Dimethicone. Leaving me with only five possibilities:

• Propylene Glycol
• Glycerin
• Carbomer
• Trehalose
• Phenoxythenol

On the same day, I also applied my all-time favorite Garnier BB cream on him as sunscreen for his brief play at the beach. From here, I also cancelled out Glycerin, Propylene Glycol and Phenoxythenol. A little too good to be true, since two of those are high allergy causes. Still half heartedly, I let these go for now, leaving me with only:

• Carbomer
• Trehalose

DESKTOP RESEARCH
Taking the easy way out, I first find out about briefly what are both of these.
1. Carbomer - Commonly found in toothpastes, gels and shampoos
2. Trehalose - A form of sugar, used in food (mainly mushrooms) and cosmetics:

From Wiki: Within the fungi, it is prevalent in some mushrooms, such as shiitake (Lentinula edodes), maitake (Grifola fondosa), nameko (Pholiota nameko), and Judas's ear (Auricularia auricula-judae), which can contain 1% to 17% percent of trehalose in dry weight form.

Shiitake Mushrooms

I think I'm coming close to an answer. Carbomer seems like it is non existent in food, while Trehalose is a common food sweetener, and is also found in mushrooms. My best guess is that Trehalose is the culprit even though Mr J does not have a problem just eating the mushrooms on its own at home.

Still I'm not outruling Carbomer - There could only be three outcomes:
#1 - Mr J is allergic to both Carbomer and Trehalose
#2 - WORST CASE SCENARIO: Mr J is allergic to only Carbomer in facial products, and another ingredient found in food.
#3 - BEST CASE SCENARIO: Mr J is only allergic to Trehalose, which happens to be in food and facial products.


ACTUAL TEST
I will need to do further actual physical tests on his face alone, seems like the serum from the facial pack didn't affect neck and below. I'll be on the lookout for products with only Trehalose and Carbomer separately. From there, I should be able to find out what is it.

Wish me luck!