36 and allergic reaction?

[el_2]

Dear Clarity Friends

A couple of days ago I had an allergic reaction to something (I don't know what yet), which thankfully was rather mild (hives and swelling) and did not lead to anaphylactic shock (the skin problems are a pest though).

I did not ask the Yi about it but I recalled my reading for the month (26 unchanging). However, although I do readings for the month, I always focus on one particular area of my life that I feel I might need guidance. Health issues were of no concern to me so the reading was not focused on health. But I thought that if something serious was going on I'd still get a warning through my monthly reading.

Anyway, I went to the dermatologist, he prescribed some antihistamines etc. and he gave me instruction to give up certain kinds of food for 10 days. The foods I have to avoid include almost everything it seems to me so my diet for the next 10 days or so will consist of some kinds of meat, chicken, carbohydrates and some kinds of vegetables. I was thinking that this is like fasting (or going on a very strict diet at the very least).

And then I remembered! I had recently gotten 36.1,6 > 52 as an answer to a completely different question and I remembered that I couldn't figure out why I'd got this answer. It didn't make sense to me given the context. (The question was "How do I change in order to follow the advice of 25.1", an answer I'd received prior to that - or something along these lines).

Going back to the strict diet I have to follow: 36.1 says among other things: "The superior man does not eat for three days on his wanderings". Do you think that there might be a connection, that I actually received the answer regarding the health problem I was going to face or am I extrapolating too much here? If so, what is the meaning of the answer? (I'm not so well-versed in hex 36).

I'd appreciate any ideas.

Sorry for the long post.

el_2

P.S. I have to avoid alcohol too.

 

[foxx777]

I can tell you that this has happened to me often. For example, I will ask a low-key question about putting off a report, and get 51 - Shock doubled. I am baffled, but 2 days later I will in fact receive a terrible shock from a completely different area of my life. So yes, I can well imagine that the I Ching was anticipating this allergic reaction and the ensuing diet when you received H 36.

 

[persephone]

36.1 'proceed probing' sounds like a diet where you add one food at the time and see how you react. Also the hidden aspect of your problem sounds very 36-ish. 36.6 seems to say that things are getting better already.

But then, this is all speculative because you didn't aks about this allergy problem. So who knows?

Also, 26 unchanging also speaks of 'not eating at home'. Did you by any chance go out to diner or lunch somewhere?

 

[el_2]

I didn't think anyone was going to reply but I checked the forum anyway. Thank you both for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

Persephone,
I hadn't thought about the "proceed probing" phrase that way - it makes more sense this way. Also, I didn't check hex 26 again and I missed the point about "not eating at home". I had a take-away on Saturday night - the symptoms started appearing on Sunday. So, maybe you are right. I have to check all my latest readings.

You know, I started getting a couple of answers that suggested I needed to hide myself (apart from 36.1,6 I also got 2.3,5, again on an issue unrelated to my health) and I could not understand why this theme of "hiding" had suddenly emerged in my readings. It makes much more sense now. Apart from two visits to the doctor, I haven't been out of home because the hives and the swelling are unsightly and because of the physical discomfort they have caused. So, yeah, hiding indeed.

I'll ask the Yi about the cause of this allergic reaction - possibly later today - and I'll post the answer in this thread. Of course, I'll book an appointment with a specialist doctor but I know how allergens are often hard to detect.

Again, thank you both.

el_2

 

[el_2]

A little bit of feedback and thoughts about the hexagrams I got. I don't have my notes with me but I'll try to relate the most important bits.

I am certain now that 36.1,6 was actually referring to the particular health problem. Line 36.1, amongst other things, mentions that "the superior man does not eat for three days in his wonderings". The whole thing actually lasted a full three weeks - not a day less, not a day more. Sometimes Yi is funny.

Re.hex 26, "not eating at home": I now think this was referring to the diet regime I had to follow. Of course I could eat, but my diet was very restricted.

Because the symptoms of the allergy lasted so long, there were times I got really frustrated and somewhat worried and I posed some more questions to the Yi. As I mentioned, I don't have my notes with me but there are a couple of readings that I sort of remember and are quite interesting.

One of them was 27 unchanging. I can't remember the exact wording of the question but the answer meant that I'd have to be careful of what I put in my mouth because it would affect the course my health problem. A very self-evident answer.

Another casting was hex. 46 with three moving lines. I don't recall all the moving lines but I do remember 46.5. I think hex. 46 and especially line 5 describe so well the very very slow progress I was experiencing. Next time I get this hexagram, I will only have to recall the whole experience to remember exactly the kind of progress the hexagam describes.

Finally, at the end of the third week (progress was steady but, oh, so slow) I was very frustrated so I asked the Yi again (don't remember the wording of the question) and the answer was hex. 2.6. I now think this line was actually saying to me that I was making an unnecessary drama out of it. Next day I stopped manifesting new symptoms completely and I've been well since.

Hope someone finds those readings helpful.

Cheers!

el_2

 

[el_2]

Just bumped into this thread and realized a typo I'd made. Re. the last paragraph of my last post: the line I actually got was 3.6, not 2.6 as mentioned above. I'm clueless as to what 2.6 means btw.

el_2

 

[pocossin]

Did you identified the allergen?

 

[el_2]

Um... no, I didn't look further into that. I had never manifested allergies in the past so I thought that might be a one-off. My guess (and it's purely a guess) is that I got that allergic reaction due to a combination of low-intensity stress that had been going on for a few months and a diet of foods high in histamines the day prior and the day when the symptoms first appeared. There was not one thing I'd eaten for the first time during those days. So I really don't know. I hope it doesn't happen again, but if it does I guess I'll have to look into it.

el_2

 

[pocossin]

I have a similar problem. I had an anaphylactic food allergy last month. My understanding is that a person can suddenly become allergic to an accustomed substance, so long-term use is no guarantee that one has not become sensitized to it. After the event I stopped everything in the triggering meal, lived off cornflakes for a week, and have been reintroducing into my diet the items in the triggering meal one at a time, somewhat like Russian roulette but with the confidence from having an EpiPen at hand, and have reduced the list of suspects to three items. I did not feel like going to an allergist when my doctor proposed a referral, and am still undecided about how best to handle the final three.

 

[el_2]

You know it could also be due to any medication you might have been taking recently? I was taking iron capsules when this happened, had been for 10 days or so, and haven't taken them since although I should start again soon. Although I was told by my GP that they were not allergenic, I was told by another doctor that, potentially, any medication can cause an allergic reaction.

On the other hand, if some food was the allergen in your case, you may reintroduce it to your diet and not get an allergic reaction again. If the allergen in my case was some kind of food substance, it hasn't caused me any problems since.

Hope everything turns alright with you.

el_2

 

[el_2]

Plus, I'm sure you are aware of all this information on the web about foods that are high in histamines and foods that are low in this respect. If you haven't checked this kind of information already, then this may give you a clue as to how to go about introducing final three items to your diet.

el_2

 

[pocossin]

Thanks for the advice el_2. I apparently don't have a food-induced histamine intolerance because I garden and use high-histamine eggplant and tomatoes heavily, and have never had a problem with them.