I feel like I’ve been through the wringer again this week. Sigh …

Remember last week when I told you that we’d purchased two fresh pineapples at Costco and I was happy to be eating them because 1. they taste delicious, and 2. because, since I have Crohn’s, I thought the natural anti-inflammatory action and digestive enzymes in pineapples might actually help me?

Well … it seems I was wrong. My body has decided that it hates pineapples.

I cut up the first one the Sunday before last … then the next day I had horrible horrible abdominal pain all day. I can’t remember much of that day other than horrid pain and muttering under my breath “kill me now, kill me now”. Yes, that’s how bad I felt. On the Tuesday I felt a little better but I was dizzy and weak. By last Wednesday I was starting to feel a little bit more like myself and by Thursday of last week I actually felt pretty good.

I think I only ate pineapple on the Sunday – a while after it was freshly cut – and then didn’t eat anymore until maybe Wednesday night. Since I felt ok on Thursday I didn’t think it was the pineapple that had made me feel bad. I just thought I’d gone into a really bad Crohn’s flare … one that didn’t last that long ..

Last Thursday I cut up the second fresh pineapple and my husband and I ate some for desert later that evening after dinner.

Shortly after eating the fresh pineapple the edges of my lips started to burn as if I’d eaten some hot spicy food. I think my tongue tip felt a little tingly as well, but it was my lips and the edges of my mouth that bothered me the most. It was a very irritating almost like I had a bad sunburn on my lips.

Shortly after my lips started burning I did a search on the internet to see if pineapple could cause the symptoms that I was experiencing and I found out that some people get a tingling itchy tongue when they eat fresh pineapple. Apparently the core of the pineapple contains most of the Bromelain (digestive enzyme) and that if you eat some of the core you might have a tingling tongue or itchy mouth for about an hour. If you experience this storing fresh cut pineapple in the fridge for a day usually stops this reaction from happening.

Well my symptoms were a little different than described and they didn’t just last an hour. By 11 pm when my lips felt like they were on fire and I was starting to get itchy skin (yet no hives) I decided that maybe I was having more than just a reaction to the Bromelain in the pineapple and that I might either be extremely sensitive or even allergic to pineapple.

Last Friday, the day after eating fresh pineapple, my abdomen was again in severe pain. Bad enough that I found myself wishing I’d just die rather than go through such severe pain any longer. I don’t get that bad very often, but I’d say my pain was a 15 out of 10 that day. Bad! Oh and my lips were slightly swollen (stayed swollen until Sunday) and still burning although not as severely as in the first few hours after eating the pineapple.

By this past Saturday I was again feeling a little bit better but it wasn’t until Sunday that I felt more like myself.

I guess I won’t be eating pineapple anymore!

Oh and last night my husband was finishing up the last of the fresh pineapple and I pulled out two pieces with my fingers to put in my dogs food bowl. Without thinking I reflexively licked the tiny bit of pineapple juice off my fingers and almost right away one side of my lip was burning and a little bit swollen. I got hives later in the evening … so it seems more and more like an allergic reaction.

My husband is disappointed because 1. he really likes having fresh pineapple (I told him we could still buy some, he’d just have to cut it up and eat it all himself) and 2. he’d hoped the pineapple would help me out … not make me sick.

I’m trying so hard to get healthier and get out of these constant Crohn’s flares that I keep having. It’s like for every step forward I take I take two steps back when something goes wrong. I also want to quit smoking (yes I’m bad, I smoke) so I’m thinking of trying one of those e cigarettes but I think I’ll wait until my Crohn’s settles again before making another big change.

In the meantime .. I’ve also started taking drinkable Aloe Vera gel and probiotics as both of those can help people with Crohns. I didn’t start them until this past Sunday, once I was sure I was over my pineapple reaction and so far so good.

Have you ever had a problem eating pineapples – maybe a reaction to the Bromelain? Or do you have or have you heard of someone being allergic to pineapple?