In a somewhat related vein, I have a lot more answers regarding my health problems I posted about last time: I have iron-deficiency related anemia and I am apparently allergic to damn near everything.
Yesterday I had an allergy test done, which involves somewhere between 70-100 substances scratched into your back with a needle while you wear this silly little half-shirt. It feels somewhat akin to pricking yourself with a sewing needle, only about 100 times. Even before the nurse had completed the test my back was itching like crazy and I started to have giant hives. Normally you wait for 15 minutes to let your body react before the doctor comes in, reads the size of the reaction, and determines how allergic you are to each thing. I made it about 7 minutes before the nurse went out into the hallway, where I could hear her going, "Um, I think you should come in here." By this point, my back was itching like crazy, I was nauseous and flushed, and both of my forearms were bright red and covered with a rash. The doctor came back in, speed-read my back, and then said, "Well, you're definitely severely allergic," and then to the nurse, "Will you get some epi ready?" (Read as epinephrine.) Dear lord, I thought, laid down on the little table and presented my shoulder for a giant friggin' needle. "I think it's ironic that on epi-pen packages they say step 1, inject yourself with adrenaline, step two stay calm," I joked with the nurse as she injected me. "Yeah," she said, "That's not going to happen."
Yeah, it's not is right. Epinephrine is just adrenaline, and when you already have plenty of your own pumping around in your system (and you're small), a giant dose of this in your arm makes you shake uncontrollably and cry uncontrollably - talk about embarrassing. You're aware that it's superficial, that you're not actually that terrified, but your body is convinced that it is, and it makes you freak out. So I laid there, shaking like crazy for about 20 minutes before this strange sense of, "Hey, it's gone," came over me and the rash had disappeared, I could breathe totally normally, and was only mildly convulsive. I was, to be frank, impressed. That, combined with the zyrtec I was given, made me feel drained, shaky and exhausted for hours (and unbelievably forgetful - in about three hours I left my cellphone or purse in three separate places). I think I slept around 20 hours yesterday and today.
The funny part? I wasn't even tested for shellfish, the thing I already have an epi-pen for. So here, for shits and giggles, is the entire list of my allergies in decreasing order:
shellfish (shrimp), dustmites, grass, trees, cats, dogs, cockroaches (ew), ragweed, lettuce (who knew you could be allergic to lettuce!?), broccoli, walnuts, corn, oats, oranges, acacia gum, almonds, bananas, barley, cashews, cherries, cinnamon, grapes, spinach, and pineapple.
Fun. For now, I'm cutting all of them (besides my doggies!) out of my life and then with some of the lesser ones near the end of the list, I might try to add them back in one at a time to see if the chronic hives return. Suffice it to say, I have a pretty clear idea where the near-daily hives were coming from!
