Poisoned at work!
In celebration of a coworkers upcoming wedding the managers brought in cupcakes and (from what I was told) gluten-free granola bars for after our staff meeting. I grabbed one to eat with my cottage cheese and fruit for breakfast and STUPIDLY didn’t read the label before opening the package and breaking off a little piece to eat.
About 5 minutes later, someone called to ask if I ate a granola bar and said she didn’t think they were gluten-free. Upon inspection of the label, I noticed that it clearly said “Contains: wheat”. I told her that only had a small bite and it hopefully wouldn’t bother me much, even though I realized I’d already been scratching above my eyebrow even though there wasn’t a mark or anything there. Turns out the person who brought those in and declared them GF was told at the store that they were okay.
A few minutes after that another co-worker stopped by my office and asked if I ate a bar. He’s been gluten-free for several months (with no known allergy) and after he ate a bar he started to feel like his sinuses and throat were stuffy and itchy and looked at the label and noticed the “wheat”.
Five minutes later and I was getting itchy all over. Eventually that turned into itching like a meth addict until I finally asked a co-worker for a Benadryl. Luckily my lunch hour was within 45 minutes because I got SLEEPY! I napped on my office floor for the hour and woke up groggy and dizzy. I kept dropping things and blanking on what I was working on. An hour or so later it had mostly worn off and I was feeling okay again. My stomach/digestion never felt too bad, so it could have been worse. But it was ONLY a tiny piece – just one corner!
Lesson of the day? ALWAYS read the label if you have an allergy, even if someone said it’s okay. Especially if there’s a chance that the person who said it’s okay doesn’t actually know what gluten is or what to look for. I’m usually so good about that and really disappointed that I didn’t look this time.
In other news, check out this sign that I saw on the side of the road while at a very long red light. What the sign says isn’t important, but look at the top border. I’m sure someone didn’t put it up like that and it top was too jagged to even be torn. I think an animal was biting off pieces of it!
