The Glade 4.0

Soooo. Went to the allergist today. This is the first time I've ever been, and they did the standard allergy scratch tests. The picture shows a small portion of the results. I should note that their scale goes from 0 to 4+. I scored 4++ several times. My allergies apparently go to eleven.

What they found was that I'm very, very allergic to most grasses (they're the 4++ scores), a number of weeds (3+ and 2+), very allergic to hickory, oak, pecan and more trees (more 4+), fairly allergic to molds (2+), slightly allergic to cats and dogs (moreso dogs), and very allergic to cockroaches, feathers, and dust mites. The doctor referred to me as being "allergic to everything on God's green earth," and the nurse said "I'm not going to sugarcoat it - you need allergy shots." No food allergies, though. That's nice.

They gave me some fancy new antihistamines to try (Xyzal, which is fun to say, and sounds like a villain from Scientology), nose sprays, and eyedrops. They're going to start production on an allergy serum (which sounds cooler than it should), so I should be able to start the shots in a couple of weeks. I've also been off of antihistamines for a week (because tests), so afterward they gave me some liquid Zyrtec, which dropped me like a ton a bricks. I've been at home since Phe picked me up, sleeping it off.

All in all, I'm glad I finally went. It's also nice to have proof of what I've known all along: that my allergies, and their severity, aren't just in my head, and that I'm not just being a hypersensitive wuss when I ask to shut doors during spring or not sit and eat outside. Don't get me wrong; on the scale of zero to cancer, allergies are naught but the smallest of potatoes (at least, my kind are; the life-threatening ones are a different story obviously), but having medical proof of something that's largely invisible and hand-waved away as being more psychological than medical is gratifying.

Sounds like you picked a bad part of the country in which to settle down

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

Fixed that for ya.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

While I haven't been to an allergist, I'm allergic enough to grass that my wife convinced me to get a lawn service. Because my snoring the night I cut the grass was keeping her up at night. I normally don't snore, and I would cut the grass at 8AM.

Okay, let's be realistic here: You may have allergies, but you're still a hypersensitive wuss.

But yeah, people don't seem to understand that allergies are an immune response and should not be dismissed.

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The Dude abides.

After seeing what my wife has gone thru, I think it may be possible there are lots of people who are allergic to wheat and wheat gluten, and don't know it. She use to need allergy shots, before she stopped eating wheat products. And apparently, the medical community is slightly behind on this stuff, since originally they misdiagnosed her as having lupus.

Good luck with the shots.

Dammit! It's never lupus! Don't those doctors ever watch House?!

Yeah, my test was littered with 4++ "OPH." The OPH being that the standard test is to see how bad of a reaction there is in 10 - 20 minutes time, anything with OPH means that the swelling maxed-out in under 5. Anything tree, grass, or weed related scored this, pretty much.

In fact the only thing that I didn't get much of a reaction to were molds.

I've been doing allergen immunotherapy for two years now and it's worked wonders. I can count on one hand in those two years how many times I've had to take an allergy pill (or anything else to relieve symptoms) because of excessive allergies. And that number is around half the amount of fingers I have on said hand.

In fact, just last weekend I went camping and I didn't take a single pill. I think I sneezed two or three times, at max, the morning of the third day. And.... that was it.

Cutting grass, spending any length of time out of doors and around trees, is no problem. It's like Lasik for the nose. Only a billion times better because of the torture relief.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

How long did it take for you to see results?

It was pretty fast. Within a few months I was already noticing much less severe reactions. By the next summer I was at the point where I am now.

It's a long term investment and is not the cheapest of solutions. But it is treating the cause, not the symptom. Worth it, IMO.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

As long S Phe is not on the list you will eventually be fine

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

That's awesome, Numbuk! They haven't worked as well for me, but they still help enough to be worth it.

Good luck, FarSky!

(I also had sinus surgery - I don't get nearly the number of respiratory illnesses that I used to!)

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When he's underwater does he get wet? Or does the water get him instead?

Welp! So I spent yesterday in the emergency room.

I waited the requisite 30 minutes after my shots, and was perfectly fine. About half an hour past that, however, I rapidly broke out in hives, my lips swelled, and felt a powerful pressure on my chest and throat that made it difficult to breathe and swallow.

I called the allergist and they told me to immediately go to the ER. I had a coworker rush me over, and they shot me full of prednisone and Benadryl. Which, holy crap. Intravenous Benadryl? Zero to stoned in under 3 seconds.

I'm better now...I stayed at the hospital for a couple of hours for them to monitor me, and was ok. The doctor said the symptoms would likely return, because the serum is still in me but the medicine will wear off, of course...but when they return, they'll be greatly lessened. He gave me scripts for prednisone and Benadryl (huh? It's OTC...) for a few days to ride it out if need be.

All in all, a rich, full day.

Ouch...

Does that mean you wont be able to continue the shots? Or is this just some kind of adjustment period?

Glad you are ok now.

I have never had that kind of reaction to my shots. Wow.

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When he's underwater does he get wet? Or does the water get him instead?

I've never had a reaction like that before...the worst that happens is the shot location swells and hardens, and itches a bit. Once, after my shot, my jaw muscles kinda shunted forward a bit, so instead of my bottom teeth fitting behind my top row, they landed about halfway forward. But I went to bed that night and when I woke up, it was fine.

This came out of nowhere. I always wait the requisite 30 minutes, and it seemed to be shaping up to be a Good Shot Day. Then things kinda went to hell.

I'm not entirely sure what this means going forward. They've suggested in the past that due to my high sensitivity, they might need to dilute the serum (I just graduated two shots ago to the maintenance vial). The first rounds went fine...

Damn, man. That sounds scary. Hope they can get that dosage dialed in for ya.

The fun continues...yesterday was my first day taking the steroid tablets (I have a five-day prescription). And promptly had: aggression, anxiety, muscle pains, high blood pressure, pounding heartbeat, shivers and chills, flu-like symptoms, and shaking, all of which were on the upgraded, "call your doctor immediately" tier of side effects on the documentation.

Wheee.

I think Skee has roid rage.

I was seriously screaming, literally screaming, at cars last night. I couldn't stop myself, even though that's not me. What's worse, I recognized what I was doing, but couldn't stop myself. That's a horrible feeling. It's also what made me realize that my ailments of the day weren't just leftovers of the systemic reaction, but a new beast, and got me to look up the side effects.

Jesus. Make sure you have someone looking over your shoulder until your doctor gets this all straight.

IM 4++ to ragweed, grass, dust, cats

Im 2++ to my own body mites.

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

Tell your primary doctor and your allergist what is going on. Do not assume they communicate fully. Messing with your mind like that may be a drug reaction or interaction AND IS DANGEROUS. Take good care of yourself and whenever that junk happens tell your doctor and ask for help. We really don't want to read about you being out of your mind on drugs actually prescribed to you and taken as prescribed and an officer shooting the crazy guy in self defense.

Yes that can and has happened, though most times drug abuse is involved when it makes media news.

Hugs, it gets better when you get proactive about the symptoms and talk to your medical professionals. Don't go crazy, don't let your medications make you crazy either.

Don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion. This is huge in your life and should be treated as such.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

So, did you start doing allergen immunotherapy then? And the shot is what caused the anaphlyactic shock? How many have you been doing to this point?

Hopefully you have a good and smart allergist. When I asked my allergist what would happen in the event of a shot causing that problem, he stated that while it's a bad thing it's also a good thing. Meaning that they would now know exactly where the dosages should be without causing a problem (the ideal is to push your immune system to it's limit without causing the anaphylactic shock). So, hopefully he takes that into account.

Also, I don't know about your clinic, but mine demands that you take an allergy pill the day you have a shot (as well as require you have an EpiPen on hand). Preferably an hour or more beforehand so it's in your system. The pill does not change the effectiveness of the shot, but it does greatly reduce the chances of you going into shock.

I take 10mg of citirizine, specifically the zyrtec generic from costco called Allertec (it's like 10 bucks for 200 pills).

Edit: As for the areas where the shot was given? Yeah for me they will feel like a bruise for about a day. I've found that asking for a benadryl spray (which my place offers) helps with the itching afterwards as I haven't felt a need to scratch since I started asking for it. If they swell majorly (mine only swell slightly), let them know this as well. My clinic wants to know about that kind of thing too.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!