Allergies May 21, 2008

Whoa — ‘Tis the season to have the sneezes —-blow blow blow blow blow blow blow blow blow!  You get my point!  I thought that I had the normal hay-fever that everyone seems to experience in the spring time!  I didn’t realize how much the seasonal allergies really effect me!  I live in Texas and took my boys to baseball last night and my allergies seemed under control – thanks to my Allegra.  This morning when I woke up I felt congested, sneezing and ohhhhh so tired!  I can tolerate the sneezing and congestion but the fatigue is another story!  Trying to get up the motivation to do something productive takes a lot out of a person!  My allergy pill for the day finally did kick in and I was able to join the boys at their school for field day. 

I went to the allergist last month.  I figured I had some type of food allergies going on because I seemed to have really bad indigestion.  At my first visit, the doctor did the skin testing on my back for different food allergies.  I seemed to welt up on a few allergies that the doctor was surprised about.  The doctor said that normally food allergies start more as a child.  Well here I am mid-life and I’ve got food allergies.  I am very allergic to peanuts (which is actually a legume), almonds (tree nuts), tomatoes, wheat and corn.  My doctor has asked me to totally avoid nuts but also tomatoes, as well, because it can cause a lot of gastric reflux which I have been experiencing.  At first I thought avoiding tomatoes would be no big deal.  I really don’t like tomatoes in my salads (except for a Greek Salad) but then I realized it meant avoiding spaghetti sauce, ketchup, salsa – oh my!!!!  That was really hard to get my head around.  I loved ketchup on burgers, fries, eggs.  The doctor told me not to avoid wheat and corn because otherwise I would hardly be able to eat anything. 

The first few days that I avoided those foods I immediately dropped 3-4 pounds.  I started to feel not so inflamed all over!  That was really important!  I felt swollen all over – in my arms, legs, abdomen, face, etc.  It finally felt as if the inflammation started to subside. I had even took ginger capsules, which I read helps inflammation in the body.  Well, the ginger capsules had the opposite effect on me – I inflamed!  I ended up with itching hives all over my body.  Luckily, getting my allergies under control has taken away some of the inflammation.

At my second visit to the allergist we tested environmental allergens.  Oh my word!!!  They tested trees, grass, weeds, molds and ‘environmentals’.  I immediately said to the nurse, “I can feel I am allergic to a lot of those pricks that are on my back!”  She said, “Honey, your problem isn’t with food it’s with outdoor allergens!”  My back immediately started to welt all over.  Allergist seem to measure how allergic you are to something by checking the size of the welt that develops.  It measures from nothing to ++++.  Pretty much I am allergic to trees, grass and weeds, cats and feather mixes.  Strangely, I am not allergic to any molds.  Originally, I thought that I was allergic to mold, thinking my house is causing my inflammation and lethargic feeling but it basically comes down to being allergic to the outside year round!

This past weekend we went to an outdoor concert to see Loverboy and Pat Benatar (which was a great concert).  We were all enjoying the concert sitting on the blanket but after the concert when trying to get up, I felt stiff as a board.  I thought it was primarily from sitting on the ground the whole time (except for getting up to have a potty break).  The next day I felt like I had the flu and I was irritable and tired – just miserable.   The next day, I was fine.  I called my allergist office to ask them if achy muscles are a sign of allergies like sneezing and watery eyes.  The nurse told me ‘no’ and to go see my primary care doctor.  For some reason I don’t believe her.  Every time I go out for the day I always seem to ‘react’ with lethargy, achy muscles and a general unwell feeling.  I need to realize that if I go outside for a day the next day I’ll have an allergy hangover!  Folks, follow your own instincts about your bodies, no one knows them better than you!