Living with Allergies

It was sometime around 5th grade that I remember first experiencing seasonal allergies.  We were learning how to type, and I was having trouble because my nose was running, so I kept wanting to (disgusting, I know) wipe my nose with the back of my hand/sleeve, but I couldn't because we had to keep our hands on the keyboard.  I remember going to cheer leading tryouts at the end of 6th grade, and having a box of tissues in the car on the way there because I couldn't stop sneezing.  I've tried just about every allergy medicine known to man.  Claritin is my least favorite, and Zyrtec followed by Allegra are my favorite.  Unfortunately, now insurances don't cover these because they are now over-the-counter medicines.  So instead of paying a measly $5 co-pay for a whole month's supply, you have to pay $25 for half a month or less.  They do however still cover Flonase which is a nasal steroid that reduces the swelling in your nose so you can breathe. This has continued all the way until I moved to California, where I have much less issues than in Illinois.

When I was about 13 or 14, I sprained my ankle running.  I wore one of those latex ankle braces.  I remember waking up before my oldest sister and parents had gone to bed and feeling like my ankle was suffocating and itching all at the same time.  I got out of bed and went into the hallway to where I could see my leg in the light, and it was swollen and covered in hives.  It took us days to figure out that it was the latex in the ankle brace causing me so many problems.  My mom had just kept feeding me Benadryl to keep everything in check until it finally donned on us what the problem was.

When I was 15, the doctors wanted to try putting me on a medicine called Inderal.  About a day or two after I started taking the medicine, my lips swelled up, I got hives on my face and then they my throat started to close because the hives got in my throat.  My mom got back from the dollar store with Benadryl just in time.

When I started college, I soon realized that I was allergic to bananas when my mouth and throat would swell and itch.  Then I discovered the same for kiwis.  I would eat something that I used to be able to eat, leave the dining hall, go to my room, grab my Benadryl, and take a nap while the itching and swelling would go down.  One late night, I went to the late night across campus for some things.  I saw a package of sunflower seeds and thought how good those always are, and I hadn't had them in a while so I figured, why not?  Later, back in my dorm room, I was dumping the seeds into my left hand and popping them into my mouth.  Lets just say I was eating them rather quickly and not paying attention to anything other than my notes to study.  Suddenly I realized, my left hand wouldn't stop itching.  My lips, tongue, and throat were swelling up quickly, and it was all itchy.  My eyes got so big from shock when I looked at myself in the mirror.  I quickly found my Benadryl which I had learned to carry with me in my purse.

That was when I decided that I should probably go see an allergist to find out what else I was allergic to.  I made the appointment the next day.  They did a skin prick test on my back.  They would take a small needle, prick my skin and then put a drop of a solution of a possible allergen on that spot.  I remember halfway through, the nurse kept saying, "Oh my!  Oh my!"  They ended up reading the results of the test early because I was having such a bad reaction to so many things, that they wanted to give me allergy medicine as soon as possible.  They also sent me to have blood work done to test me for some other allergies.

This is what the results of the skin prick test looked like for the most part (though this is not me).

The results came back very positive or negative depending on how you look at it.  I am allergic to all 15 of the tree types they test for, all 10 of the weed types, 7 of the mold types, dust, mites, cockroaches, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, apples, bananas, carrots, kiwi, oats, peas, peanuts, potatoes, strawberries, walnuts, green bell peppers, sunflower, chestnut, and a few other things.  The severity of them varied.  I can still eat apples for example, I just have to be aware that in the future my body could develop an increased intolerance for them.  But eating a raw potato or a raw carrot will cause my mouth and throat to itch, known as oral allergy syndrome.  There are also more complicated components to some of them, such as the molds.  Molds are everywhere--mushrooms, wine, and down comforters for example.  Some of them are related to the latex-fruit syndrome or the pollen-fruit syndrome.  Bananas for example, have the same protein in them that causes the allergic reaction to latex....hence why I am allergic to both.  And carrot proteins are similar in structure to mugwort weed....hence why I am allergic to carrots and mugwort.

Getting tested was definitely a necessary step in helping figure things out.  I have to choice to completely cut out at least all of the foods that came back with a positive result, but I don't really want to give up apples, peas, and peanut butter just yet.  Doing so would help clear up my skin and keep me from having a running nose quite so often, but it also would make it more difficult to eat a balanced diet.  The doctor also trained me on how to use an Epi-Pen in case I show signs of going into anaphylactic shock.  I usually carry my Epi-Pen and a bottle of Benadryl with me wherever I go.

I try to find humor in it most of the time.  For example, trying to convince my niece that eating carrots is yummy, I popped a bite of carrot in my mouth only to remember after that, "Oh hey, that makes me not feel so great," is a laughable moment.  Sometimes it is frustrating, like when I really want to have a peanut butter and banana sandwich, but can't because eating everything I'm allergic to at once probably isn't a good idea at all.  It can also make me nervous sometimes.  Like the other day, I went hiking with a group of women, and one of them offered me an extra snack bar (Clif bar type thing), but I turned it down.  I didn't want to have to go through explaining that I have food allergies, and chances are there are sunflower seeds or something in that little bar that could potentially kill me since I was 3 miles of mountainous terrain away from my Epi-Pen and Benadryl.

Right now, I really want a strawberry-banana smoothie, which is what promted me to write this.  But there you have it....my allergies explained somewhat.