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Sep. 12th, 2006 10:10 amMy back itches. Which makes sense when I add in the fact that I had an allergy skin test yesterday. Add in the fact that mosquitoes failed in their attempt to carry me away Friday night and instead settled for feasting. Said bites I didn't want to do much about since I knew I had the allergy test coming up and didn't want to mess up the results.
For those of you who don't know, an allergy skin test is when they put you in a little room, have you strip from the waist up and lay on your tummy. Then they take little needle things and scratch your back 10,000 times. Or maybe 50, depends on how thorough your allergist is. Then they leave the room.
If you ARE allergic to something the scratch they gouged into your skin begins to itch. The severity of the itch determines the severity of the allergy. Or rather, the size of the welt that appears. Yah. it's FUN! Surprisingly the left side of my back (and the one most bitten by mosquitoes) didn't itch nearly as bad as the right side. The right side had me about ready to rend flesh from muscle by the time the chickie came back in to check on me.
I was all alone in the room for five minutes before she came back- which seemed to be a really long time yesterday. The very kind lady wiped the REALLY bad itch areas (there were three, so she says- I'm thinking more like 30) and put Caladryl on them. The itches scoffed at such a puny attempt to discharge them. They persisted. Er, are persisting actually.
Final verdict- I'm allergic to dust (mites and regular) BIG TIME! Those were the really big itches (4s, for those that know), cats (3), dogs (just a leetle bit +/-1), and cockroaches. O_o? Cockroaches? I've never even seen a live one. Which is probably for the best. With the cats... before the doc could even suggest it I let him know that I have two cats and getting rid of them is NOT an option. Nor is keeping them out of the bedroom. This did not please him, but he did have some useful suggestions, and was quite derisive on the actual usefulness of products like Allerpet. Allerpet, as well as chemicals to kill dust mites, have pretty much only gotten good results when tested by their producing companies. Independent tests have not confirmed their usefulness. He suggested possibly bathing the cats regularly, though said the allergic person shouldn't be the person to bathe said cats- as that tends to add more dander to the air. He approved of our having a Dyson and suggested we get a new bed (ours is OLD) and launder sheets weekly in hot water. Oh, and get mite covers for the mattresses and my pillows.
Uh, okay. Good thing hubby and I were already planning to get a new bed. At present we're contributing to three 'savings funds' that we created a short time ago. 1- is for a good digital camera, 2- for a new (bigger) bed, and 3- a trip to Ireland. Yeah, the last one is really a 'work in progress and won't culminate for a few years' it's a long term plan and we like it. :)
In other news, I am NOT allergic to pollen, grass, trees, etc. Or sea food. O_o? My last allergist told me that if I ever wanted to commit suicide a big ole bowl of shrimp would suffice. Yesterday I was pricked with their shell fish mix and a fish mix and nothing happened. Well, the shell fish itched slightly 25 minutes later, but neither had a welt appear. This was also done on my inner arm- which is supposed to be more sensitive, and I was able to monitor it (as opposed to my back, all I could do was itch). Doc said he recommends adults get skin tested ever 5 years because of how allergies can change over time. So weird.
My head is killing me though- 5 days without my Zyrtec and I'm an unhappy girl. I was most relieved to take it after my appointment yesterday (only to almost fall asleep at work at about 4 pm- oops). Oh, that's another thing- they told me my appointment should take about 2 hours. It was scheduled for 8:15 am, their first of the day. I was there at 8:05... between all the waiting and more waiting- I didn't leave until 11:45... Mrs. Boss was not happy- apparently yesterday morning was crisis time as several clients called with big problems and the engineers weren't answering their phones. So she wasn't mad at me, just not used to handling the 'OMG!' panic like I am.
Back to the head... No Zyrtec means I ended up getting even MORE congested than usual. Doctor says I'm not to abuse the Mucinex-D, as pseudophedrine when combined with migraine meds can potentially lead to strokes. See, the migraine meds alter blood vessels in the brain because those blood vessels fluctuate. Right, knew that. Well the decongestant meds can also lead to blood vessel instability- which can lead to strokes. Yeah, not what I wanted to hear. So now I have two nasal sprays, one is an antihistamine the other a decongestant. Since I'm so badly congested, and stuck to my guns and insisted that no, we're not just going to wait, I have to go have my head examined. Yup, doc wants me to have a sinus x-ray. Yippie Skippie. He also wants me to try a few things, and then come back in a few months. His suggestions, when combined with the sinus X-ray could lead to a referral to an ENT if it looks to be necessary. The X-ray could indicate a deep seated chronic sinus infection. Joy. But hey, if that's what it is, and it can be treated- then there could be less pain. And of that I'm a fan.
Finally, there's the asthma issue. Which really isn't an issue unless I'm running. Heh, guess what hobby I've decided that I should pick up? Kyle thinks it's great, and with my nifty new Mizuna Wave Alchemy shoes- I think it's pretty great too. And damned good for my mood. But there's the breathing issue with the running. So I now have an inhaler that I can use before running, but if I have to use it afterwards more than once a week I have to call doc and come back in. So we'll see. Right now I'm not running too much, trying to work up to it. Yesterday was a pass as my head was aching way too badly, and the weather was icky. Instead I curled up on the couch with my puppy, a big ole bowl of banana bread oatmeal and comfy snuggle clothes. :)
And now you know more about my allergies that you probably ever wanted to. :)
For those of you who don't know, an allergy skin test is when they put you in a little room, have you strip from the waist up and lay on your tummy. Then they take little needle things and scratch your back 10,000 times. Or maybe 50, depends on how thorough your allergist is. Then they leave the room.
If you ARE allergic to something the scratch they gouged into your skin begins to itch. The severity of the itch determines the severity of the allergy. Or rather, the size of the welt that appears. Yah. it's FUN! Surprisingly the left side of my back (and the one most bitten by mosquitoes) didn't itch nearly as bad as the right side. The right side had me about ready to rend flesh from muscle by the time the chickie came back in to check on me.
I was all alone in the room for five minutes before she came back- which seemed to be a really long time yesterday. The very kind lady wiped the REALLY bad itch areas (there were three, so she says- I'm thinking more like 30) and put Caladryl on them. The itches scoffed at such a puny attempt to discharge them. They persisted. Er, are persisting actually.
Final verdict- I'm allergic to dust (mites and regular) BIG TIME! Those were the really big itches (4s, for those that know), cats (3), dogs (just a leetle bit +/-1), and cockroaches. O_o? Cockroaches? I've never even seen a live one. Which is probably for the best. With the cats... before the doc could even suggest it I let him know that I have two cats and getting rid of them is NOT an option. Nor is keeping them out of the bedroom. This did not please him, but he did have some useful suggestions, and was quite derisive on the actual usefulness of products like Allerpet. Allerpet, as well as chemicals to kill dust mites, have pretty much only gotten good results when tested by their producing companies. Independent tests have not confirmed their usefulness. He suggested possibly bathing the cats regularly, though said the allergic person shouldn't be the person to bathe said cats- as that tends to add more dander to the air. He approved of our having a Dyson and suggested we get a new bed (ours is OLD) and launder sheets weekly in hot water. Oh, and get mite covers for the mattresses and my pillows.
Uh, okay. Good thing hubby and I were already planning to get a new bed. At present we're contributing to three 'savings funds' that we created a short time ago. 1- is for a good digital camera, 2- for a new (bigger) bed, and 3- a trip to Ireland. Yeah, the last one is really a 'work in progress and won't culminate for a few years' it's a long term plan and we like it. :)
In other news, I am NOT allergic to pollen, grass, trees, etc. Or sea food. O_o? My last allergist told me that if I ever wanted to commit suicide a big ole bowl of shrimp would suffice. Yesterday I was pricked with their shell fish mix and a fish mix and nothing happened. Well, the shell fish itched slightly 25 minutes later, but neither had a welt appear. This was also done on my inner arm- which is supposed to be more sensitive, and I was able to monitor it (as opposed to my back, all I could do was itch). Doc said he recommends adults get skin tested ever 5 years because of how allergies can change over time. So weird.
My head is killing me though- 5 days without my Zyrtec and I'm an unhappy girl. I was most relieved to take it after my appointment yesterday (only to almost fall asleep at work at about 4 pm- oops). Oh, that's another thing- they told me my appointment should take about 2 hours. It was scheduled for 8:15 am, their first of the day. I was there at 8:05... between all the waiting and more waiting- I didn't leave until 11:45... Mrs. Boss was not happy- apparently yesterday morning was crisis time as several clients called with big problems and the engineers weren't answering their phones. So she wasn't mad at me, just not used to handling the 'OMG!' panic like I am.
Back to the head... No Zyrtec means I ended up getting even MORE congested than usual. Doctor says I'm not to abuse the Mucinex-D, as pseudophedrine when combined with migraine meds can potentially lead to strokes. See, the migraine meds alter blood vessels in the brain because those blood vessels fluctuate. Right, knew that. Well the decongestant meds can also lead to blood vessel instability- which can lead to strokes. Yeah, not what I wanted to hear. So now I have two nasal sprays, one is an antihistamine the other a decongestant. Since I'm so badly congested, and stuck to my guns and insisted that no, we're not just going to wait, I have to go have my head examined. Yup, doc wants me to have a sinus x-ray. Yippie Skippie. He also wants me to try a few things, and then come back in a few months. His suggestions, when combined with the sinus X-ray could lead to a referral to an ENT if it looks to be necessary. The X-ray could indicate a deep seated chronic sinus infection. Joy. But hey, if that's what it is, and it can be treated- then there could be less pain. And of that I'm a fan.
Finally, there's the asthma issue. Which really isn't an issue unless I'm running. Heh, guess what hobby I've decided that I should pick up? Kyle thinks it's great, and with my nifty new Mizuna Wave Alchemy shoes- I think it's pretty great too. And damned good for my mood. But there's the breathing issue with the running. So I now have an inhaler that I can use before running, but if I have to use it afterwards more than once a week I have to call doc and come back in. So we'll see. Right now I'm not running too much, trying to work up to it. Yesterday was a pass as my head was aching way too badly, and the weather was icky. Instead I curled up on the couch with my puppy, a big ole bowl of banana bread oatmeal and comfy snuggle clothes. :)
And now you know more about my allergies that you probably ever wanted to. :)
