Silence is chocolate.

On Tuesday I ate my afternoon ding dong as I worked in the office doing some documentation. It was my second to last ding dong as I had been working on the box for 3 weeks now. As I finished my post-lunch treat and tossed the foil into the trash, I realized my throat started to feel tight and my lungs felt as though they were coated with molasses. For the rest of the evening, I had to use my inhaler to breathe and had a nasty cough.

Wednesday morning proved to be much better. I awoke normal again and able to breathe. The morning went well as did lunch. However, chocolate tragedy would strike again. That afternoon as I drove to my last meeting of the day I again enjoyed an afternoon sweet, another ding dong, the last in the box. Before I could even crumple the wrapper, I again felt the tightness in my chest and felt as if I were breathing into a paper bag. This feeling continued for the rest of the evening. I didn't seem to be able to get enough air. Thursday morning was not as good as the previous and I awoke with my voice completely gone. Never mind that I was facilitating two meetings and presenting my first training at work that day and was unable to utter a word; was I allergic to chocolate, I wondered?

I spoke with my mom about this concern and apparently it is something that runs on the maternal side of the family: my mom and her mom both tend to have an intolerance for "cheaper" chocolate, such as the kind that covers my cakey ding dong delight, to the point that it affects their asthma as well. What?? I couldn't believe it. How could it bother me now when I had been eating them for weeks? I don't know. I don't get it. Sigh... all I know is that Valentine's Day is around the corner and I just discovered I might allergic to chocolate. How depressing.