Here I sit with my red welts finally starting to subside; itching finally relieved.... Three days after allergy testing.
Thursday afternoon I spent hours being pricked by at least forty needles (but who's counting...?). My allergies have been making me steadily more miserable over the past decade. Great news! I'm not allergic to cats. Bad news... I'm allergic to just about everything else.
The worst of it is grass, unavoidable, miserable, scratch-my-eyes-out, drive-me-indoors-to-seal-myself-in GRASS!!! My arm reddened, swelled, swelled bigger, and ITCHED LIKE HELL - Until earlier today, even despite liberal and frequent applications of Benadryl. (Much akin to how my sinuses and eyes react to grass pollens...) Ragweed, feathers, mold, tree pollens, house dust and a couple of other things (that I can't remember) showed themselves to be nasty perpetrators as well, though by comparison, not as severely symptom-inducing. The allergist seems to think that if I wasn't SO ALLERGIC to grass, I would realize how awful the other things were making me feel also. In other words, she suggested my sense of feeling "normal," given all these irritants, is probably a range of crummy that I don't even realize because it has probably always been there, or may haven been worsening slowly over time, and is measured against the worst of the symptoms which were what drove me to be tested in the first place.
Despite my desire for a magic pill to eradicate all the miserable symptoms, I must begin the long process of immunotherapy. How wonderful that this option is available. How exciting that I may be able to enjoy the outdoors one day.....
3 comments:
I also developed allergies later in life. They trigger some serious asthma in me. And I'm basically allergic to everything but mold. It's awesome!
I've been getting allergy shots every 2 to 3 weeks for some time now. 3 shots every time, since I have to get so many combinations of stuff. It makes a *huge* difference, and I can tell when it's about time again.
Oh, and the only medication I'm allergic to, and have been as long as I remember? Pseudophedrin. So no allergy relief for me on those fronts!
I hope the shots work and you get some relief.
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