apparent food allergy

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Whenever I make butternut sqash I get this wierd thing that happens to my

skin after handling it when cutting it up where my skin becomes tight and

extra-smooth in some spots and it feels a little wierd. That's usually the

extent of it, and I never get any reaction from eating it. However, I just

put some in now, and my hand became very itchy and I broke out in tiny

barely-visible hives, little white bumps that you can only see if I stretch

my hand the right way. I'm wondering if the two symptoms are connected (I

did get the original symptom this time, before my hand became itchy). If

they are, I think maybe it is safe to eat the squash, since I never had a

reaction to eating it but only handling it. But I wonder if there is a

chance that there is something different about this particular squash or my

body chemistry at this time, and that I might have a reaction to it.

Does anyone have any idea what might be going on and whether I should eat it

or not?

Thanks,

Chris

____

" What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a

heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and

animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of

them make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense

compassion, which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to

bear the sight of the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature.

Thus they pray ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the

truth, and for those who do them wrong. "

--Saint Isaac the Syrian