Today I finally went in for allergy testing.
I've suffered from seasonal allergies since I was in the first grade. As I have gotten older, my allergies have only gotten worse. Somewhere in my twenties, my allergies turned into a touch of asthma. Really cold weather is my big trigger, although heavy exercise does as well.
But this spring I had a few weeks where my allergies were seriously killing me. I felt like they were aggravating, if not triggering migraines. Because I kept showing up at my doctor's office begging to be squeezed in, I saw a few different doctors. One, the man, diagnosed me with a deviated septum. This is something I have suspected for many years. When my allergies get really bad, I can feel it in the same spot on the left side of my nose. So he sent me to see an ear & nose specialist.
That specialist said my deviation wasn't impacting my allergies very much. It wasn't helping, but fixing it wasn't going to do a lot for me. Instead she strongly suggested allergy testing. And yes, this was so we could see if allergy shots would be a benefit for me.
So here are my results:
I was tested for about 36 items and came up positive for 12 items. TWELVE!
*drum roll*
I wasn't tested for any food allergies, but there are a lot of foods that could be causing my allergies due to cross-reactivity like apples, cherries, potatoes, peanuts and a whole lot more that I pray I don't have to cut out of my diet. Cause seriously, bananas and chamomile?
Today isn't the end of my journey, but it was something I thought would be fun to share. Cause as awful as my photos look, it was pretty damn cool to watch the process. If you are thinking of allergy testing, it doesn't really hurt. It felt like getting pricked by thumb tacks. And believe me...I have fainted from getting a flu shot. I would not lie to you!
I've suffered from seasonal allergies since I was in the first grade. As I have gotten older, my allergies have only gotten worse. Somewhere in my twenties, my allergies turned into a touch of asthma. Really cold weather is my big trigger, although heavy exercise does as well.
But this spring I had a few weeks where my allergies were seriously killing me. I felt like they were aggravating, if not triggering migraines. Because I kept showing up at my doctor's office begging to be squeezed in, I saw a few different doctors. One, the man, diagnosed me with a deviated septum. This is something I have suspected for many years. When my allergies get really bad, I can feel it in the same spot on the left side of my nose. So he sent me to see an ear & nose specialist.
That specialist said my deviation wasn't impacting my allergies very much. It wasn't helping, but fixing it wasn't going to do a lot for me. Instead she strongly suggested allergy testing. And yes, this was so we could see if allergy shots would be a benefit for me.
So here are my results:
 |
| Right Wrist: Positive for Cottonwood & White birch |
 |
| Left forearm: Positive for White Ash (Top-left: do you see how awesomely bad I reacted? The nurse practically gasped), White Oak (Bottom-left) , Ragweed (Top-right) and Pigweed (Bottom-right) |
 |
| Right forearm: You can see the slight reaction to dog & cat. The cat is worse than the dog reaction. |
I was tested for about 36 items and came up positive for 12 items. TWELVE!
*drum roll*
- Aspergilius (mild)
- Cat
- Dog
- Cottonwood
- White Birch
- White Ash
- White Oak
- English Plantain
- Lamb's Quarter
- Ragweed
- Pigweed
- Western Waterhemp
I wasn't tested for any food allergies, but there are a lot of foods that could be causing my allergies due to cross-reactivity like apples, cherries, potatoes, peanuts and a whole lot more that I pray I don't have to cut out of my diet. Cause seriously, bananas and chamomile?
Today isn't the end of my journey, but it was something I thought would be fun to share. Cause as awful as my photos look, it was pretty damn cool to watch the process. If you are thinking of allergy testing, it doesn't really hurt. It felt like getting pricked by thumb tacks. And believe me...I have fainted from getting a flu shot. I would not lie to you!