So work has been nuts and the blog has gotten away from me. Apologies to my 3 loyal readers.
Unfortunately another big factor in the blog getting away from me is that my rash is back in full effect, and this time nothing (special diet, steroid creams and shots, double doses of multiple types of allergy meds) seems to be controlling it. It turns out it was much more fun to blog about allergies when I was doing something about them and it was working.
I'm with a new allergist now, who is much more attentive than Dr. Beverly Hills was, and I've begun immunotherapy (i.e. Allergy Shots) with him. What this means is that I have four little vials of special made-for-me allergy serum in his office refrigerator, and I go twice a week (one day apart, always when the Dr. is in the office in case I go all anaphylactic on them) to get four shots of these serums in my arms. The shots are for all my environmental allergies - pollens, animals, molds, etc.*
* Those who've memorized my list of environmental allergies may recall that I'm allergic to cockroaches. When they were putting in the order for my special serum, but poor technician had to call and ask if cockroaches are something I "regularly encounter in my day to day life" and thus should be included in the shot. AWKWARD! And god I hope not!
The idea here is for roughly 12 weeks I'll go twice a week and get these shots, which will increase slowly in dosage. Then after this 12-week ramp up, I'll go on maintenance shots every 3-4 weeks for a year or more. Hopefully after this time,
1. I'll have increased or even total tolerance of the stuff in my shots!
2. I'll be the Mayor of his office on Four Square
3. I'll stop getting that Shots! Shots! ShotsShotsShotsShots! song in my head everytime I think about this.
Dr. Glendale (yawn, but that name will do for now), thinks maybe if we can get the environmental allergens under control, that will help enough with my general histamine level that the food allergies won't matter anymore, or will be easily controlled with Allegra, etc. Besides, not eating all that stuff wasn't stopping the rash anyway anymore. So now I'm avoiding only soy--because I really do think I react to it. But that's all I'm strict about for now. Dark circle status: Moderate--but not as bad as before.
In the back of my mind, I'm a little worried that these uncontrollable rashes might actually be my body reacting to myself, rather than to pollen or food or anything I can control or avoid. Apparently in something like 50% of cases like mine where rash flares just won't quit, that's the problem. One step at a time, I guess.
Anyway, that's the latest. See you in less than two months next time*
*no promises
