MANKATO, Minn. — Adrian Peterson loves seafood and had just finished some jambalaya in the dorm cafeteria at training camp on Monday before going upstairs to his room.
Peterson felt fine, and was resting when things started to go terribly wrong. Peterson was having an allergic reaction to something he had eaten at lunch.
Feeling much better Tuesday, and after he returned to practice to rehab his surgically-repaired knee, Peterson recounted some of the moments a day earlier when he was rushed to the hospital after an allergic reaction caused facial swelling and shortness of breath.
"It was like 20 minutes after I ate," Peterson said. "I went to lay down and I felt my throat itching and my ears itching and all of a sudden my face swelled up, my eyes swelled up. I couldn't breathe out of my nose and I finally made a phone call to (head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman), and he must heard it in my voice because he came with a doc and everything I needed. I gave him a second call after I was having trouble breathing through my throat and those guys were coming off the elevator. Those guys did a good job. It was pretty scary, but I didn't panic."
Following the team's protocol, Peterson called Sugarman, who arrived and was able to alleviate some of Peterson's breathing problems. Peterson said it was a "scary" situation at first.
"Scary, yeah, but those guys, Sugarman, those really acted fast," Peterson said. "It was a critical situation. They had an EPI pin and stuck me with it and it helped out a lot. Opened my lungs up so I could breathe a lot better…I'm feeling good now."
Peterson was rushed to the hospital where he received an IV and he was back at his dorm room later in the afternoon resting.
Peterson said seafood is one of his favorite foods and he doesn't know of any allergies, though he feels he needs to be checked out now to determine if he might have developed an allergy.
"I had some jambalaya," Peterson said. "I eat that all the time, you know, crawfish, crab legs. I don't know what was in the jambalaya, but obviously my body reacted to it in the wrong way."
Peterson later added: "I just know some people go their whole life eating seafood, and once they end up a certain age they find they are allergic to it. I hope that is not the case, I want to continue to eat seafood. But I will have to wait and get some blood work done."
Peterson did return to the practice field Tuesday, and continued his rehab from December knee surgery during the afternoon practice session at training camp. Peterson is still hoping he will be ready for the first regular season game on Sept. 9 against the Jacksonville Jaguars and doesn't think Monday's incident has set him back.
"It felt good," Peterson said of working out Tuesday. "I felt like I was able to flush my body. They had a pretty good work out for me today. I feel pretty good. I feel rejuvenated. I'm just ready to get back in the rhythm of things."
The Vikings put Peterson on the active physically unable to perform list before training camp started last week. Add Monday's allergic reaction to a very different sort of offseason for Peterson since he was injured in a late December game last year.
"Life, man," Peterson said, summarizing his offseason. "Life is full of ups and downs. It's all about how you bounce back from it."
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