I walked into this most recent checkup as I did every other appointment. I just did not expect this visit to be life-altering. I left my sixth visit floating on a cloud of excitement, but also confusion after being told I can add CORN back into my diet again.

Flashback about eight months ago, when I had asked my primary doctor if she knew anyone who would be able to help me with my food allergy to corn. I explained how I am always itchy and feeling sick; and that I just do not think I am fully understanding how to manage this allergy correctly. The allergist I was originally seeing, who diagnosed my food allergy to corn, was not entirely helpful with how to live with the allergy. Most of my knowledge came from researching books and online forums and blogs. My primary doctor told me about the doctor I am seeing now, how she used her and she helped her a lot with her own allergies and symptoms. I decided I would give it a shot.

From then, you all know the journey I have been on since week one. Twenty-eight weeks later and six checkups in, and here we are:

I have yet to wrap my mind around what they have told me. Hearing the words "you can have corn now" put me into a bit of a shock.

Just like all the other foods I have gotten back, I must follow the same timeframe of eating something with the ingredients in it and waiting three days before eating it again. They advised me to start with organic corn chips and eat a few to see what my physical reaction will be. Since corn is very known for being difficult to digest for anyone, I am better off starting with something made from corn flour or cornstarch than eating corn on the cob.

After sitting on these details for a couple of days, I finally went out to purchase the bag of chips and gave them a try Sunday afternoon. After a couple of hours, there was no noticeable reaction: no itching, no hives, and no redness! However, after years of dealing with my corn allergy, I knew to wait overnight. Yet, I woke up this morning perfectly fine; as if I did not just put corn into my system.

I have been allergic to corn and living this corn-free lifestyle for seven years. Honestly, I am still unsure how to handle this wonderful, scary, confusing, joyful news.

Update as of September 2020:

Shortly after publishing this blog, and continuing on eating corn in small doses, I started to react to the ingredient again, I was able to have corn back in my diet for about one month before it was put back on my restrictions list again. Today, corn still remains on my restriction list, but I did get back all nuts, including peanuts and pistachios, which once were two big contributors to my food reactions.