How bad are your allergies?

Adam Israel

Formerly known as StoneTable
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
1,157
Reaction score
258
Location
Ontario, Canada
Website
www.adamisrael.com
I've been having allergy problems in one form or another for my entire life -- food, antibiotics, etc.

I've been having more and more sinus-related problems in the last couple years. A month ago it took a turn for the worse, moving into my ears. So, I decided to consult an ear/nose/throat doctor and get a second opinion.


Yesterday began the first of four weekly tests to figure out what I'm allergic to. This consists of having five pieces of jagged plastic twisted into the sensitive pasty flesh of my forearm and waiting for the wounds to erupt.


I had mild to medium reactions to cat and dog (bad for me, with 2 dogs and four cats, but manageable). I also reacted to household dust and molds. The worst, though, was histamine. My body is producing enough of the stuff to create a welt the size of a small volcano.



My right arm, left arm, and close-up of Mount Doom, taken twenty minutes after the allergist slathered it with Benadryl.

I won't have an official prognosis for three weeks (next up are spring allergens). Share your tales of allergy woes and make me feel a little better about mine. ;)
 

Fraulein

Spooks? Where are you?...
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 26, 2008
Messages
379
Reaction score
130
Location
If I were to tell you, then that would be cheating
I'm on multiple allergy medications: Claritin, Clarinex, Allegra, Chlor-Trimeton, and Flonase. Whenever one of the tablets stops working, I have to switch to a different one. I use the Chlor-Trimeton for immediate relief.

Sometimes my allergies are so bad that I can not stop sneezing for hours. I sneezed constantly at work one day, so much so that my nose was red, my eyes were puffy, I was congested, and the customers were giving me unsolicited sympathy. Unfortunately, I couldn't go home that day, because my boss and I were the only people working.


I might look into getting allergy shots one day. The reactions seem to get worse as the years go by.

Oh, and I get whelps similar to the ones in your pictures whenever I get bit by mosquitoes.

I feel your pain. :Hug2:
 

tjwriter

Emerging Anew
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
11,983
Reaction score
3,256
Location
Out of My Mind
Website
www.kidscoffeechaos.wordpress.com
I feel for you man. I really do.

My wimpy allergies are probably nothing compared to your experiences, but this year has been particularly bad. If I so much as miss taking my zyrtec knock-off (blessings for generics), then I suffer. Sometimes I won't even get to the 24 hr mark before the symptoms start again. It's almost like most of the medicines aren't strong enough this year.

When I get all non-stop sneezy, my best remedy is to stuff tissues up my nose, turn on the ac, and sleep for a little bit.
 

Adam Israel

Formerly known as StoneTable
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
1,157
Reaction score
258
Location
Ontario, Canada
Website
www.adamisrael.com
I've been on Allegra D 24-hour for the last 18 months or so and that's worked well (it stopped the vertigo/dizzy spells). With these allergy tests, I can't take anti-histamines so I'm on Singulair temporarily. :(
 

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
9,090
Reaction score
2,165
Location
Lost Angeles
As a kiddo in Indiana I was like a tiny Dimetapp junkie! Totally congested all the time, could never hear anything, a zillion hearing exams, 3 ear infections per year.
As a teenager in Oregon, springtime was deathly. I tried Claritin but it made me go crazy for a week. I lost most of my memory of that particular event. After that I was rockin' the zyrtec.
in highschool i developed an allergy to latex from working in a genetics lab wearing latex gloves. it's quite bad now, but subsequent exposures increase the chances of a worse, ie, life-threatening reaction. i try to stay away. I can tell the doctor/nurse about my allergy and they will still come at me with latex gloves. People who hang balloons up everywhere and give balloons to toddlers to carry around drive me crazy! Just walking around where balloons are hanging up, not even touching them, I have had my lips puff up, eye swelling shut, etc. sad times. i love children but i hate their wretched balloons. i also despise clowns who make balloon animals.
in college in the springtime, this one weird little spiky caterpillar appears EVERYWHERE. In trees, dive-bombing out of trees, under tables, on benches, all over the ground, in the bushes, crawling in your bookbag, wandering indoors, etc. My immune system thought it would be a laugh to be viciously allergic to them. Every time i brushed up on one (which was often) it would leave a trail of welts. I thought I was going crazy but the doctor at the student health center said a few other kids had the same problem. luckily i graduated and haven't encountered them since.
have you tried this thingy? It definitely won't cure you but it can make things slightly not so awful. It's easier to use than those weird neti pot things.
PS nice hives ya got there!
 

Kitrianna

Official Bad Cat's Prez
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 14, 2008
Messages
243
Reaction score
1,471
Location
In one of THOSE moods. Look out people, no one is
I refuse to take anything on a regular basis as they all seem to make me sleep (even the stuff that claims to be non drowsy) and it would be easier to list what I'm not allergic to than what I am. Cats, dogs, rodent, cedar, pine, dust, pollen, mold, adhesives, shellfish... You get the idea. Being congested isn't all that bad...until the sinusitus strikes :(
 

CaroGirl

Living the dream
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 27, 2006
Messages
8,368
Reaction score
2,327
Location
Bookstores
My allergies are bad but very seasonal. My only environmental allergy is to tree pollen (mainly birch) so I'm (very) sick for most of the spring and fine the whole rest of the year. I had those nasty tests and I'm also allergic to cats.

Because of the tree allergy, I'm cross-allergic to tree nuts (not peanuts; they grows in the ground) and fresh tree fruit. I can eat the fruit cooked or canned, though, and I'm okay with citrus and berries.

I feel your pain, man.
 

Beach Bunny

The Provocative One
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 5, 2008
Messages
3,146
Reaction score
2,971
Location
Where angels fear to tread
I'm allergic to something in my mom's house (I think it is my mom.) I've been living with her for the past two years (long boring story about why) and the only thing that relieves my symptoms is benadryl which makes me sleepy. This is only one of the reasons I am looking for an apartment next week that is over on the coast.

By the way, except for the really big one, those hives look like mosquito bites. :)
 

Disa

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 31, 2008
Messages
517
Reaction score
102
Location
USA
Website
disawylde.wordpress.com
I generally end up with seasonal allergies every spring and fall. I'm prone to upper respiratory infections if the allergies get out of hand. Last year, I read somewhere that locally grown honey could possibly lessen the severity of allergies. I found a place that sells honey locally and it worked for me all last year- not one upper respiratory infection.

Here's a little info, you can do a search and make your own assessment. As for me, it's about time for me to start drinking it in my tea again :)

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/273215/can_you_treat_allergies_with_honey.html
 

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
43,746
Reaction score
8,652
Location
Los Angeles
Website
www.amazon.com
I'm severely allergic to dust. I can't do any dusting, vacuuming, etc. at home because I could stop sneezing.

I'm mildly allergic to animals. I can live with that.

I'm very allergic to mosquito bites. In fact, my legs used to swell up completely with mosquito bites. They loved me, and my body didn't love them.

I'm developing bad allergies to histamine. I sometimes suffer from bad welts and hives and requires prescription-strength hydrocortisone. The worse happened when my left leg was completely swollen with welts the widths of my fingers. They were unbearable.

But so far I've been taking non-prescription Claritin and I'm 90% of the time fine during this season.

Any worse, I'm thinking of going to the allergy doctor once and for all.
 
Last edited:

Ageless Stranger

Dave Brubeck kicks your ass.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 17, 2007
Messages
1,020
Reaction score
331
Location
Dancing the dance of life. somewhere.
I have terrible, godawful hayfever. I require perscription tablets, nasal spray and eye drops. Led to me failing several tests at school because we all thought (family, teachers, friends and one of my doctors) I just had a really bad flu. I hates hayfever.
 

Clair Dickson

A dark core to every cloud
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 28, 2008
Messages
2,557
Reaction score
571
Location
SE Michigan
Website
www.bofexler.blogspot.com
Heh. Yeah. Allergies. As I write this I'm snuffling and waging a serious mental debate as to whether I should go take some 12hr Sudafed... I think the Sudafed has started giving me some hives, but it's really hard to nail down.

I have perennial allergies-- dust, pollens (all! spring and fall!), feathers, mold, mildew, and a mild cat allergy. I did some fun allergy tests on those and started allergy shots. It's not the runny nose or the sinusitis or the plugged up ears-- it's the fatigue that I can't deal with. Since my body's having a grand ol' time fighting off socalled invaders, it wears me right out. I could easily sleep twenty-seven hours a day. That's not conducive to, say, living or making money.

But I've got a more interesting twist to my tale. I ALSO get hayfever in response to foods. This doesn't show up on allergy tests and included some serious observation to nail it down. I get severe hayfever if I eat gluten (wheat, barely, rye) which is the most insidious ingredient in processed foods. That's been going on for about three years. In the last year, I also got the joy of adding Corn to my list of allergies. That includes corn syrup. One mistake and I am miserable for three days or more, depending on the quantity of the mistake. I thought it was just severe seasonal allergies-- and so did my doctor at first-- but it was food allergies. Doctor was useless... just prescribed Predinsone, whic fscks me up six ways from sunday (and, doesn't SOLVE the problem, which is merely getting rid of the food my body doesn't handle.)

One day at a time. One careful meal at a time.
 

Neurotic

Militant apathist
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2008
Messages
10,639
Reaction score
4,590
Location
Creepy and wrong.
I used to get terrible hayfever before I moved to Australia. Privet's my kryptonite and it was all over the place in the town where I grew up. Since moving, I've only had one major episode and that was because for one birthday every single one of my friends individually decided to get me a bunch of flowers. They haven't done it again since, so I guess they weren't deliberately trying to kill me.

Other than that, there are a couple of meds and I can't eat crustaceans. The last is fine by me, except it sometimes seems that Australians put prawns in everything they eat.
 

joyce

I'm really shy...
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 13, 2007
Messages
2,658
Reaction score
1,317
Location
Florida
Website
thoughtsfromthecave.blogspot.com
I feel for you! Zyrtec does the job for me. Three years ago I got really sick with allergies and it went into my ears. I had vertigo for over four months. I was sick for 1.5 yrs. It sucked! I went to ear doctors, regular doctors and had test after test done on me. I took more antibiotics in that 1.5 yrs. than I've taken or will take, throughout my entire life. The doctors must have known when they wiped out my entire savings, that's when I was put on Zyrtec. So far so good. The stuff works for me. Unfortunately, I know the constant ear infections affected my hearing. Now if I get a sinus problem, I can feel this slight pain in my ear. Good luck and I hope you find the trick that will work for you, really soon.
 

Pagey's_Girl

Still plays with dolls
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 24, 2007
Messages
1,725
Reaction score
958
Location
New York (not the city)
I think I have the weirdest allergy of all - I'm allergic to being touched. (Okay, that's a slight exaggeration.) It's called dermagraphism - if I scratch an itch or rub my face too hard or something like that, I end up at best turning temporarily red or at worst giving myself a lovely case of welts. They go away after about twenty minutes or so, but it can be a bit awkward until they do. I've had it since I was about ten, so I'm pretty good at remembering what not to do so I don't look like I just gave myself poison ivy.
 

Susie

Thanks, special friend for my avi!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
37,910
Reaction score
46,044
Location
Among the chocolate fairies:)
Gee, guys, sure sorry you all have allergeries that are bad. I know mine and Mr. Susie's are too. I'm allergic to a lot of things environmental and food, but I don't take anything. Hope you all find relief from them very soon.