You may feel fine. You've lived for roughly two decades and you have no knowledge of any allergy you have. "Other people have allergies, not me" you may think. Well, maybe you're right. Maybe you are just fine. However, many people have lived for long periods of time and have no idea what lies in their body. I was one of the latter.

Allergies today are labeled as a nuisance. You go outside in April or October and get the sniffles and are forced to spend all your guac-at-chipotle money on enough Kleenex boxes to stack up to the ceiling of your room. Okay, okay maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. Even if you do have the symptoms above, you should at least know what is going on with your body, not just accept the "inevitable" or worse, go to WebMD and think that you need to tell Baxter the Dog your goodbyes immediately.

The above scenario is a best-case one and does not take away from the fact that many people suffer from life threatening allergies and reactions from anything from peanuts to bee stings.

My story is somewhere in the middle of the two. It started in the spring of 2013. My dad offered me one of his roasted cashews. I accepted, but never being a fan of the taste of these nuts, I decided to slice it into pill-sized pieces and swallow them with water. Well, I immediately regretted that. I began to feel as though the piece of the nut was stuck in my throat, making swallowing difficult. I began to feel nauseous, and when I threw up (sorry if it's TMI) I assumed that I had gotten the piece of the nut out of my throat.

This repeated several times over the next few years, like when eating a macadamia nut cookie and sometimes when I ate Indian food with the curry sauce. I was clueless and confused, what could cause this? Maybe these foods with nuts and their products got stuck in my throat, and that I would panic myself to the point of nausea?

Well, this story peaked about two-and-a-half weeks ago. I was eating a chicken egg roll, and soon after I began to get the dreaded throat sensation again. Along with the usual symptoms, I'd have experienced, I began to feel dizzy, lightheaded and short of breath. My mother took me to the ER. Soon enough, the symptoms passed by, and I left the ER without additional drama.

We agreed it would be best for me to get tested for allergies. I tested positive for allergies to cashews, pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds. That "nut stuck in my throat" sensation was a literal case of my throat swelling. That and everything else was a rush of real antihistamines being released in my body. I now carry an Epi-pen everywhere I go.

My message is simply to let people know that allergies are no joke and those wired symptoms you may get from anything may not just be a coincidence or your imagination. Get tested and encourage your friends to get tested. Allergies are no different than cancer screenings and STD testing. All the above can save a life!