I Woke Up with an Allergy to Cold

People develop sensitivities to just about everything these days, but can you really be allergic to frigid temperatures?

如今，人们对一切事物都变得敏感，但你真的会对寒冷的气温过敏吗？

Our writer takes us on a wild—and potentially life threatening—journey to find out.

我们的作者带我们踏上一段狂野且可能危及生命的旅程来寻找答案。

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A month before my 30th birthday, I start getting hives whenever I’m in the water.

在我 30 岁生日前一个月，每当我在水中时，我就会开始出现荨麻疹。

And during that summer, I am always in water.

那个夏天，我总是在水里。

My boyfriend, Matt, and I are taking a big road trip, from the coast of Rhode Island all the way up to the Bonaventure River in Quebec.

我和男朋友马特正在进行一次公路旅行，从罗德岛海岸一直到魁北克省的博纳文图尔河。

He is a fly-fisherman, and I want to learn.

他是一名飞蝇钓鱼者，我想学习。

But each time I stand knee-deep in the water, my feet begin to itch.

但每次我站在齐膝深的水里，我的脚就开始发痒。

The hives form in a line up a vein in my foot.

荨麻疹沿着我脚上的静脉排列。

It’s confusing, not to mention alarming.

这令人困惑，更不用说令人震惊了。

I get out of the water and say, “But it can’t be the water.

我从水里爬出来，说道：“但这不可能是水。

It has to be something in the water, right?”

一定是水里有什么东西吧？”

We’ve been saying this ever since we left Rhode Island, where we were certain it was caused by something strange in the ocean.

自从我们离开罗德岛以来，我们就一直在这么说，我们确信这是由海洋中的一些奇怪的东西引起的。

Maybe it’s the salt, Matt said.

马特说，也许是盐的原因。

Maybe it’s the sunscreen, I said.

也许是防晒霜的问题，我说。

And we agreed that it was probably the sunscreen.

我们一致认为这可能是防晒霜的问题。

The ocean is the source of all life, an organic and beautiful thing, and the sunscreen was the cheapest one at CVS.

海洋是一切生命的源泉，是一种有机而美丽的东西，而防晒霜是CVS上最便宜的。

Maybe this is why my mother always bought the good stuff.

也许这就是为什么妈妈总是买好东西的原因。

So I bought the good stuff, we drove north, and yet the hives continued.

所以我买了好东西，我们开车向北，但荨麻疹仍在继续。

“Are you sure you’re not allergic to anything?” Matt asks, looking at my arms and my stomach with horror.

“你确定你没有对什么过敏吗？”马特惊恐地看着我的手臂和肚子问道。

The hives cover every inch of my skin, make me appear covered in bubble wrap.

荨麻疹覆盖了我的每一寸皮肤，让我看起来像是被泡沫包装覆盖了。

Earlier that summer, a nurse injected me with pollen, cat dandruff, cockroach dust, three times over, in increasing quantities.

那年夏天早些时候，一名护士给我注射了花粉、猫头皮屑、蟑螂粉，注射了三次，而且剂量越来越多。

My body accepted the cockroach dust without question.

我的身体毫无疑问地接受了蟑螂灰尘。

I was strangely disappointed, if only because it seemed right that a body should reject something like that.

我感到奇怪的失望，哪怕只是因为身体应该拒绝这样的东西似乎是正确的。