Can you imagine Ron Swanson waking up to discover he was suddenly allergic to meat? No steaks, no brats, no bacon, no cheeseburgers. Can you imagine his reaction? It would have made a great episode, but maybe it sounds too far fetched. Believe it or not, a meat allergy is a real thing, and I was as horrified to discover I had it as Ron Swanson would have been.

Two years ago, I developed what I thought was strep throat. I found myself with a cough and having trouble swallowing. Quickly it worsened into headaches and then dizziness and then the hives—hives on my chest, back, arms, and face.

The doctor was confident it was an anaphylactic reaction, but we couldn’t determine to what. I had never been allergic to anything, not even poison ivy. I didn’t even know what hives looked liked until I had them. We tried everything. I changed soap, and laundry detergent, and vitamins, but for three weeks, I continued to deteriorate. Each afternoon I would lay under a fan in my underwear, dizzy, short of breath, and miserable with hives. But things would get much worse.

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