Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Allergy Testing: Round One


I am officially allergic to:

  • ragweeds of almost every variety
  • trees of many varieties including birch trees
  • grasses of many varieties including "Timothy" grass which is very common around here and is pictured above
  • cats
  • dogs
  • dustmites (like extremely allergic)

Round 1 of the testing was pretty simple. They did a baseline lung function test for my asthma. Then they pricked me 48 times in the back which, although it sounds rough, was actually not that bad--it felt like someone tapping you with a ballpoint pen. Only then it started to itch. Afterwards my back was red and itchy and looked like I had been bitten by a bunch of mosquitoes. Nothing much. I can take singulair (which the doc gave me samples of) now, but I must wait until after next Tuesday to take any antihistimines as we are doing the food panel and a more indepth mold panel that day.

Overall the experience was nondescript and not evasive. Of course, these weren't the big worries for me. The food panel was. But I'll have to wait a bit longer for that. (They need the reaction on your back to go down to do another set of tests--so since it's Wednesday, Tuesday was more than enough time.)

I can't tell if the singulair is totally helping--i'm still itchy (not just my back, but all over) but i'm not as congested.

Just another day in The Body Chronic.

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