FAQ - Ways to think about this "allergy of accumulation"

From my Facebook post of May 24th, 2017
Why we have to keep total exposure in mind beyond Ni accumulation in our foods. An example from my own life - recently, I had some exposure to my other big allergy - formaldehyde releasers. So, my hand was acting up. A bit of DE, some cracking and peeling. Then a chest rash, then a rash all over my shoulder blade. I haven't changed my laundry products, so I doubted that the chest rash was a formaldehyde reaction. I had worn a bra with underwire a couple of weeks ago, with a mild reaction, but it had cleared up, and bang suddenly it was back 5-fold. Plus the back rash. My flirtation with chocolate was behind me, and that reaction had subsided. But I had some bread that turned out to have soy in it (I am slightly IgE allergic to soy, plus the nickel allergy), so another reaction. By last night, the itching was sooooo bad, after a low nickel meal. WTF, I asked myself.

Then I took a good look in the mirror. No eye swelling, hmmm ... but in my ears - a pair of gold hoop earrings! I have always been able to wear 18k gold and above, and these are the earrings I default to when I do try to wear jewellery these days. I took them off, had a shower, and didn't even bother with taking any of my rescue meds or extra vitamin C. I simply went to bed, and meditated my way through itching so intense it felt like nerve pain. Woke up this morning much improved. A food reaction doesn't reverse this quickly with me. My body is hopefully letting go of the last of the soy. But I took a good look at the earings, with a magnifying glass, and yep ... I had assumed they were 18k, but nope, they are 10k! Probably up to 8% nickel. Had them on for about 4 days, and with each day the tiny rashes were growing.
Today, no itching. Coincidence, or total accumulation and exposure?

That's today's aha moment!