I read up on potato allergy and nightshades. Apparently there are alkaloid compounds in potato skin that are poison intended to repel insects. These alkaloids are also found in tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. Spices that are nightshades include flaked red pepper, paprika and cayenne pepper. I've suspected some kind of food spice is setting me off - maybe this is it? Sweet paprika is low histamine, but smoked paprika is high histamine. Guess what I used in those Jamaican beef hand pies? Whole lot of smoked paprika and some cayenne. Also some little red hot peppers with a Chinese label I can't read from the international market.

I'm wondering if I have a nightshade sensitivity that gets ratcheted up during parts of my cycle. Plus a little histamine intolerance to boot.

"Solanine poisoning is primarily displayed by gastrointestinal and neurological disorders. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps, burning of the throat, cardiac dysrhythmia, nightmares, headache, dizziness, itching, eczema, thyroid problems, and inflammation and pain in the joints."

I don't have any digestion problems, but def got the burning of the throat. The potatoes I have been eating are local Alaskan potatoes and I dunno if they were stored improperly or I am storing them improperly, but they do have the green skin that indicates solanine production. I've been gobbling those suckers up! And had bizarre sore throat off and on and a weird tickle in my throat that makes me cough for no reason. Plus my ears are still stuffed and I seem to have an overabundance of mucus generation.

I haven't had tomatoes or eggplant since I started this low histamine elimination diet. Just potatoes, bell peppers, jalepeno, some green chile, these little red mystery peppers. And of course, flaked red pepper, paprika and cayenne. Supposedly sweet peppers are low histamine and spicy peppers are high histamine, but I haven't cut down on the hot ones.

I'm going to try eliminating nightshades and see what happens. I like a bit of spicy hot so I'm not thrilled, but on the other hand paprika is a meh spice so it could be worse. I'd much rather give up paprika than cumin or cinnamon. What flavor is paprika anyway? Red? It looks pretty on food because of the color, but I can't put a finger on the flavor like other spices.

What stinks is I was so happy to get potatoes back and now they're on the naughty list again. At least I still have sweet potatoes. Now we wait 3 weeks to play headache roulette and see what prize we've won.

"Let’s say you decide to go on a solanine-free diet. Daily excretion of solanines is around 5% the first day and 1-2% every day thereafter. So in scientific terms the half-life of a solanine is 1-2 months. Meaning that to get to half of the levels of where you are today it will take 1 to 2 months. This means it may take a while to notice a change in your symptoms. At 1 or 2 months you may only feel 50 percent better."

This may take longer than I would like ...

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I went to value village the other day and got lucky. I got good winter boots 50% off (my xtra tuffs are plenty waterproof but freezing cold), a pair of Fly London boots (always liked Fly London, but never got around to buying a pair), and some Merrell dressy wedges. I also found a really nice sheath dress in a petrol blue stretch wool, brand new with a $400 neiman marcus tag, marked down to $14. It's got a retro Mad Men sort of vibe, with a draped crossover front and a fishtail flounce in the back instead of a kickpleat. I'm such a sucker for a fishtail. It's the sort of dress that would be perfect to match spouse in a suit, maybe for a work related event. Well, they don't have fitting rooms at value village anymore (probably due to homeless people - seems to be a growing problem) so I had to buy the dress to get it home to try on.

It doesn't fit. Reality is horrible; I am fat. Damn these infernal stretchy pants and their lies!! I can get the dress on, but I wouldn't sit down, ha ha. If I dropped a little weight, it would be a real stunner. I know, buying aspirational clothing is a bad idea. But I think I am in the right headspace now to make it work, maybe? I'm already doing the elimination diet, and this is a good time of year to get excited about exercise as the weather warms up.

I need to put some extra effort into getting the exercise area set up in the office. Right now I have a bunch of art supply boxes on the floor, which means I need to put up the last shelf in the project area so I can store the art supplies. Which means I need to finish cleaning the clutter in the project area.

I've done some good work in the kitchen. It's all little stuff, but the kitchen is actually functional now and things have homes. It's much easier to keep the chaos down. Sometimes it feels like I've done very little and I get discouraged, but the background organization is slow and steady.

I'm feeling optimistic and motivated today. It's a sunny day and it feels like spring is coming. Feels like good things are around the corner.