Allergies

According to one of my doctors earlier today, I'm allergic to air.

Not really. That would be rough. Okay, so, I'm not allergic to air, but it turns out, I'm allergic to a lot more than I thought.

I spent the better part of today in the hospital (or in transit to and from the hospital) to get an allergy test. I spoke to a whole host of doctors, PAs, nurses, and techs, who were all very lovely. After about an hour of waiting in the waiting room and another hour of talking to a nurse and two doctors, they finally brought out these trays of common allergens, which were divided into sets of eight based on food types (tree nuts, proteins, vegetable A, vegetable B, etc). There were eight tiny needles on each set, one for each allergen they were testing, and each of the eight sets was administered at once by pressing down somewhere on my arm. It was a small prick, more like being pinched than like getting a shot. Eight sets of eight, plus one control set of four.

The "needles"

Immediately after, 68 small red dots formed where each prick was administered. Many of them were slightly raised, and several developed small white wheels around them, like welts. There was a twenty minute period between when the test was administered and when they could begin to interpret the results, so I waited with my mom while we took pictures of my spotted arms to send to friends and put up on Facebook, because it's the 21st century and what else would we do with free time, read? Many of the dots itched, but none of them seemed to be terribly large or raised.

The technician and the nurse came back and measured the bumps, then they administered another set of tests on my back, this time for environmental factors. This garnered an immediate and relatively drastic response, with several large, raised, red-and-white welts forming as soon as the test was finished.

As we waited for the environmental test to finish so it could be analyzed, we went over the results from the first test. While there were no bumps large enough to suggest a full-on allergy (nothing that would really cause hives or difficulty breathing) there were about fifteen positive responses, which indicated at the very least a sensitivity to those foods. Among the positive results were almonds, rice, barley, lamb, tuna, soybeans, shrimp, and olives.

We talked to a dietitian, who put me on an elimination diet. I'm to remove all of the positive results from my diet for six weeks, then slowly reintroduce them. If you talked to me at all around July, you may remember that Owl and I were doing a very stringent elimination diet back then (me because I'm sick, Owl for moral support) which was not successful. This, however, will have a much narrower scope, so  hopefully it will yield some results. Until then, I'll be doing all of my cooking with sunflower oil or coconut oil. (And since sushi is out for the time being, if anybody wants to get some [non-tuna/shrimp] sashimi with me, let me know!)

Then I got back the results for the environmental test, where they told me I was allergic to dust, trees, pollen, and my parents' cats. (I mean, all cats, but right now these are the ones that matter.) I can give up olives, lamb, and almonds. I won't be happy about it, but I can do it. Cats, not a chance. Fortunately, they told me that the cats will only be a problem for my asthma, which is almost non-existent at this point. So, right now all it means is that when I visit my parents, I have to keep my bedroom door closed so that the cats don't climb on my bed...which has so far proved trickier than expected, as these kittens love going anywhere that is off-limits.

After a four-hour appointment we finally grabbed lunch at the cafe in the hospital (my first full meal in a day and a half) and went home. I cuddled my cats in fierce defiance of the doctors' orders, then took a bath because I was covered in tiny check marks where each needle went in, and also because I was itchy and sore. 

Now I am less itchy and sore, but I am quite tired. I will leave you here for tonight. Owl, I'll look forward to your post tomorrow.

P.S. If I remember, I may post some pictures of my allergenic back and arms later. So, there's that to look forward to, I guess.