DR Jennifer, I know how embarrassing it can be. It is difficult to be polite when your head begins pounding & your throat tightens up. My throat is ok, unless I have a reaction to food, but sometimes I wheeze. My head bothers me the most & can make me very irritable. Sometimes my motion sickness also puts me in embarrassing situations.
We are having a very bad allergy season here, if you are also it can be making you more sensitive. I'm glad you were able to maneuver this situation a bit better.
I don't usually have this problem. It just felt like bad luck since i was so sick yesterday.
The weird thing is i've been at many dinners with my aunt's friend. I guess i just never sat beside her before!
Maybe i should have said something to her. I just didn't want to make her feel bad.
The funny part was my brother-in=law wanted me to explain to her why we were switching seats. But i thought that would defeat the purpose.
Well i didn't get sit next my niece while eating. But at least i did not die at the table!

I thought my allergic reaction had improved. I never used to even be able to walk thru a department store's perfume section. But now i can do that!
I think maybe it was just that my eyes were still burning a bit from yesterday. So they were overly sensitive.
I told my sis, i actually don't think this woman's perfume was that strong. Not like my family members was.