Severe Allergic Reaction From Running Too Hard

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On Tuesday, August 21, I went out for my evening "mileage" as I like to call it. Generally, I try to get in 2-4 miles a day, walking, with jogging interspersed. I had been slowly building up my distance running, and Tuesday's weather was so remarkably cool and breezy that I ran twice as much as usual, and walked an extra mile.

Let me preface this next section by mentioning that the previous week, I had experienced an odd allergic reaction after my evening run that I chalked up to running by some property while they were mowing. Tuesday, I specifically took a different route.

I noticed something was wrong when I came within a half-mile of the house. I had just been thinking how great the breeze felt. I wasn't out of breath, anxious, or overworking - frankly, I felt wonderful until my mouth started going numb.

By the time I was in sight of the house, the numbness had spread across the front of my face. I briefly considered the idea of Bells Palsy, which runs in my family. At that point, my thinking became very slow and foggy - and I uttered a quick prayer that I might make it back up to the house before anything further happened.

When I got inside, I immediately washed my face and started gargling with water over the sink, convinced that I had something "stuck in my throat." I thought perhaps I had managed to "catch a bug" so to speak.

It was only after I swept my throat with my finger that I realized my throat was swelling shut; that stuck feeling was from the sides of my throat touching themselves. Since I frequently use Young Living Lavender oil for hay fever allergies, I put several drops under my tongue.

I vaguely recognized a stiff, swollen feeling in my lips, and went to check in the mirror. It was then that I called for my husband. My eyes, nose, and mouth had a red, raised look and appeared to be rapidly swelling. My husband looked extremely concerned, and started taking over the situation immediately.

My thinking had become increasingly slowed, and he recognized that confused stare all too well from other stress-related reactions. He instructed me to rub Lavender all over my face and neck, which he later told me had already swollen to the point of developing white blotches; he saw an immediate softening of the areas where I applied the Lavender.

He instructed me to go shower, in case I had "gotten into" something, which is where I noticed that my entire body was covered in hives. I could only tolerate the shower for a few moments, but my husband was concerned that I might fall asleep in a bath.

When I got dressed again, he had gotten out our essential oils reference book (5th Edition) and been looking up the various helps for hives. I applied the Stress Away oil blend liberally to my arms, face, and neck. It recommended Chamomile, but since we didn't have any, he made me a cup of chamomile tea.

By this time, my face was completely disfigured and my eyes were nearly swollen shut. My mouth was so swollen that it resembled a beak. I continued taking Lavender by mouth every 15 minutes or so.

Each time, my breathing eased and the swelling in my mouth tissues reduced. In less than two hours, the swelling had almost completely disappeared, leaving only fatigue and one swollen eye in its wake - the same swollen eye from the week before.

During this time, I was able to research and discovered that there is a rare condition in which a person can actually induce an allergic reaction from running. Evidently, in these people, when you reach your personal threshold, you induce genuine anaphlaxia.

It would be as if you were giving Snickers to a person with a severe peanut allergy. In the study I read, 14 out of the 16 people were accomplished athletes, suggesting that you had to push the body to extreme levels before it would react so violently.

I am convinced that had I not had a bottle of Lavender handy, we would have had to go to the emergency room within 10 minutes of my run. I believe that the timely application of the antihistamines in the Lavender kept my airway open, as well as lowering my blood pressure and mildly sedating the nervous system.

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Additional keyword(s) assigned by the editor: anaphylactic shock, anaphylaxia, anaphylaxis, exercise, jogger, sports.