Milk, egg, peanut, fish, shellfish, wheat, nuts from trees and soya…

Then there are dermatitus, eczema, psoriasis and hayfever… the list goes on!

I certainly don’t recall too many kids on the playground at school when I was little who couldn’t eat pretty much whatever they liked or touch anything they wanted, other than one poor kid who blew up like a blowfish when someone threw some peanuts at him.

Then again he may have been choking on the nut rather than having an anaphylactic fit… the details are vague…

It seems we’re becoming more and more allergic to things that once seemed part of the everyday.

I say we, because I’m including me in this sentence…

Once upon a time I could eat whatever the hell I wanted and put whatever skin creams full of perfumes and pathogens on my skin whenever I liked, until one day when I was about 24 I used some skin cleanser that turned my face into a bubbling lava pit of blisters (yes it was as sexy as it sounds) and I started to “react” to certain creams.

About a year later, I’d gotten on top of the skin issues by using non-fragranced and PH neutral products to wash, moisturise and beautify myself, then I discovered I’m lactose intolerant.

I’d always assumed being gassy and bloated by dairy products was a normal part of consuming them, apparently not.

I now come to a familiar cross-roads in my life prior to going to Vietnam, a malarial risk country.

The question is “to take the antimalarials?”

I have been informed (by a travel specialist doc…. FANCY!) I should be ok if I cover myself in DEET laden insect repellant… aside from the fact that I’m pretty much allergic or “react” to most insect repellents, there are many reasons I don’t really want to take the antimalarials…

1. They can make you sun-sensitive… CMON I’m already a pasty ranga, I don’t need to be ANY more sun sensitive
2. They cause yeast infections… ew
3. They negate the Pill…
4. Nausea and vomiting

…and a whole bunch of other, albeit rare side effects that are pretty gross… I’m talking about Doxycycline by the way, one of the only antimalarials that the pesky mozzies aren’t resistant to yet, and the most commonly used of the bunch.

So tell me? Are there any good sensitive insect repellents out there that DO contain DEET?

Do I put up, shut up and take the malarials? 

Gin and Tonics could be the answer! Tonic water contains Quinine – which has anti-malarial properties… so I could just get rip-snortingly drunk each day… the Quinine can fight off the malaria and the alcohol could fight off the stomach bugs (as discussed in “don’t trust a ham sandwich“)…

UPDATE! – Thanks Mum 🙂 Apparently you can get a safe for sensitive skin insect repellant containing “Picaridin” instead of DEET… huzzah! OFF is the only brand I can seem to find in Australia that has it.