What has tea got to do with it?

The only thing I'm possibly not allergic to up till now is air and it's only a matter of time now .

Over the time I have realized how much we are affected by the things we put into our bodies. From something complex like fast foods to something as simple as tea and this is what has been happening for a while now.

Many a times there would be moments in my day, sometimes few and far in between, sometimes regularly that I'd become extremely stressed, anxious, upset to the point of nausea and heartburn and feel absolutely cynical and resentful and on the precipice of meltdown and often times I'd just begin crying.

I often thought I was depressed but the feeling would dissolve in a bit and I'd be alright and in fact even forget about that awful moment when I randomly started crying while cooking food.

It was odd that mostly these moments of extreme sadness and hurt came in the evening and by the time I sat down for dinner they'd dissipate.
Almost every time that I went through something like this I'd immediately blame the cup of coffee I had which sometimes can upset the stomach and give heartburn resulting in mild nausea and shortness of breath, symptoms of acid overload in the system and I'd immediately go on a caffeine purge for weeks which is why over the time I have started drinking a much milder version of coffee or just avoiding it completely on days that I feel unwell but this utterly black void of a mood sometimes overshadowed my evenings completely and I couldn't for the life of me understand what was depressing me.

Yesterday while I went about cooking food in the evening, the same feeling which I can only explain as a sudden eruption of an extremely dark cloud bursting into a tirade of dark thoughts and sinking feeling began thrusting my totally normal mood into a very hurtful place and I remember turning off the flame and sitting on the floor and crying.
The only time I surfaced up, trying to breathe and hold back my nausea was to sip some tea from my large mug in which I'd steeped some absolutely luscious rooibos tea.
Which is why it was strange that I kept feeling dehydrated and out of breath, my heart palpitations were screaming, my pulse shooting over 120 I and wanted to kick myself for drinking some coffee in the afternoon, but then something clicked and I realized that I'd been feeling absolutely fine after the coffee and it had no ill effects on me and that I'd been feeling this way only the past fifteen minutes, ever since I started drinking my favourite rooibos tea.

What on earth.

I staggered to my diary where I log my daily health and meals and everyday that I'd written about going through depression, mood swings, upset mood and meltdowns were the days I'd drank Rooibos tea.
In fact I'd regularly gone through this mood during days of caffeine purge when I was drinking more of non caffeinated teas because rooibos was my tea of choice.
I could not believe it.
I would not believe it.
I stared at the pack of 60 I'd bought yesterday from the imported goods shop and wanted to tell myself differently.
Half an hour later I was fine and my mood was much better.
I had mascara tracks running done my cheeks from mindless crying for no reason and my heartbeat felt it was coming back to normal.

This is silly I'd thought.
A non caffeinated tea made from some shrubs, full of antioxidants and what not can't do this to anyone and I looked up the Internet to reiterate my foolish thoughts except the Internet very precisely mentioned every symptom I suffered for anyone who was allergic to rooibos tea.

So there was such a thing as tea allergy!
I have been allergic to this tea, my absolute favourite for which I have often raved on the blog and it was harming me every time I drank it and I didn't even realize it.

The tea is since packed to be given away to someone who'd be able to reap its benefits better than me and it's sad that in my long list of allergens I've had to add rooibos tea as well.

Oh the things we learn.
Of all my mindfulness and careful planning and eating and drinking only the best for me I was duped by a tea..and one of my favourite ones at that.

Perhaps oolong tea is all I'll stick to apart from the usual black milk tea I have each morning.

Sighs.