A while ago, and to select friends, I made mention that the Nebraskan air is tyring to kill me. I thought that, in the interest of fair reporting, I should mention that I went for allergy testing yesterday. Here's how I learned that my body has a death wish.
After listening to my symptoms, the woes/inadequacies of current/past medications, and making sure I was a good girl and abstained from antihistamines for the past 72 hours, I was tested for the more common indoor/outdoor allergens. If you don't know how this is done, I'll explain. A group of allergens are preloaded on to a tray. The tray is then pressed into your back. It both drops a bit of serum and creates a small scratch. Then you wait, for 15 minutes, while your body does what it does. In my case, that was react.
Apparently I am not allergic to mold, dogs, or the vast majority of trees. Out of 14 weeds they tested for, I am allergic to 11...including hemp. That explains why my necklace always makes me itch...I thought it was a texture thing. Out of the 11 grasses that they tested for, I am allergic to 10 of them. But don't worry. We can still have a nice, lush, green lawn of corn out front. In keeping with the total truth theme, I am allergic to three of the 17 trees that were tested for. And, as Nick likes to keep pointing out, I am a little bit cat allergic.
I first suspected that there would be many reactions when four minutes after the test was started my back felt like it was smoldering. Thankfully, just before it erupted into flames, the doctor came back and said, "It looks like you're in the right clinic."
Decisions so far? We're still getting a cat. And I was lied to. I've never, EVER, seen a mosquito bite that made a red spot bigger than a quarter and a bump the size of a penny. I looked like I was beat with a belt!
2 comments:
At least you know what it is. My allergy specialist sat down, banged his head on the desk, and said "you are enviromentally sensative", as I stood there in near choking spasm with tears dripping off my chin, and my chest racked with pain, gasping for breath. "and I can't do anything for you because how do I know what's comming by on the next breeze?" Didn't go back there anymore. Just learned one thing at a time what to quietly avoid, and live with the rest. Good luck and best wishes in your quest.
I've done a LOT of that over the years. We were trying it here, until my outside time was limited to 15 minutes a day. Then I started to feel like a hostage.
We're probably going to have the immunotherapy done. It really hit Nick hard when they changed my meds from two generics to five brand new drugs. :) The truly sad thing is that's it's been almost a week and I'm not sure if they are working any better.
I would love to be down to the occasional Claritin! My wallet would love it too.
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