Onions: A Pain in the Neck?

Sometimes it takes a lousy day to make you figure out what's wrong. And today was a lousy day.

First, it took an half an hour to get through the line at the understaffed Kroger. When I came home, the house still smelled like onions from canning chili the day before, and my headache and sore neck started getting worse. I ate some leftover chili and roused myself to go shop for a new washer, since mine is leaking from the bottom, as the plumber I called for a clogged drain discovered. An appliance repairman on YouTube said washers are badly built nowadays; I bought a brand unlikely to break down for a good seven years or so. It set me back three times what I paid in the 90s for a Kenmore that lasted at least 20 years. There was no use shopping for a used one here in Indianapolis: people here use appliances until they're worn out.

By mid-afternoon, I was back home and took some Mucinex for my sinus pain...and realized I'd felt OK while I was out shopping. It was like Christmas 2015 when I made wasabi almonds: I was sick to my stomach, I felt better when I went outside, so I aired out the house and felt better. 

Savory staple or mucosal menace? Photo from Pexels.

Biggs had been after me to go outside with him. Did he know I needed to go outside, too? He might have just wanted me to throw his ball (but I can do that indoors). We may never know what was in his mind. 

Hero dog or just a hedonistic ball-catcher?

Is there a connection between onions and wasabi? An article from the University of California at San Francisco says, "Acrid smoke and fresh-chopped onions don’t have much in common – other than evoking an eye-watering urge to run to another room. Remarkably, the irritant chemicals in both smoke and onions – as well as garlic, horseradish and wasabi, and an assortment of potent toxins such as formaldehyde – all trigger this protective response by activating a single sensory molecule in the nerve cells of our mucous membranes."

I've always been allergic to cigarette smoke, and smoke from a barbecue grill irritates my eyes. If one molecule senses smoke, onion and wasabi, it makes sense that all of them would bother me equally. It's just the scent of cooking onions and wasabi that bother me; I love to eat them. 

But can sinus irritation lead to neck pain? A study in the Journal of Manual & Manipulative Therapy says, "Neck pain and cervical musculoskeletal dysfunction are common among persons with SRSH [self-reported sinus headaches] and may be a comorbid feature or contributing factor to headaches attributed to rhinosinusitis. Further research is needed to understand these associations."

Suspecting it was the smell of onions that was bothering me, I turned on the HVAC fan, opened the windows and went outside with Biggs. I felt better after a few hours (the two aspirin I took probably helped; the Mucinex didn't). 

Making wing sauce tomorrow is off (it has onions). I ordered a ductless range hood and won't be cooking any more onions until it arrives, and maybe not even after that.