Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884 - 1980)"I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches."
This is pretty much how I live my life, but for the purpose of this post, we are going to address the part about scratching where it itches.......
For at least two years now, I've had hives. Hives, hives, hives! Oh the hives I've had. All....over....my....body...all....the....time!! I'm one of those who doesn't go to the doctor, but finally last year I went and they did a blood test for allergies. They called me and told me the test came back normal and that was that. Still with the hives all the time, but I just lived with it, cuz that's just the way I roll. Uncle Big Dog had hives too, and that is comin' into play in the next paragraph.
Around Christmas time Uncle Big Dog started havin' some trouble with a kidney stone and they found out he had a mass on his kidney. That mass turned out to be cancer and after lots more tests they took that rotten ole kidney out and Uncle Big Dog is doin' just fine. The cancer was contained to just that one kidney, thank God, and he should recover with no more trouble. They also told him, his hives might go away now, they could've been caused by the kidney cancer. And that got my little pea brain to workin'.
I went back to the doctor today because I thought maybe there might be somethin' wrong with my kidney and it's better to be safe than sorry. The doctor didn't think so, but we did get talkin' bout those silly hives I keep havin'. I asked him if I should see an allergist and he said, "Well we already know you are allergic to everything!" Evidently whoever called to tell me the tests were fine was a tad misinformed.
I'm allergic to.........are you ready???
- corn
- wheat
- peanuts
- sesame seeds
- there was more foods on there but I don't remember them all
- oak trees, well pretty much every single tree known to man
- cockroaches (seriously??)
- pigweed
- ragweed, well remember what I said about trees, it goes for weeds too
- timothy hay (hmmmm)
- bermuda grass hay (again, hmmmm)
There is more, three pages worth, but I can't remember it all. Pretty fun for a gal like me to be allergic to all trees, weeds, and hay isn't it? He said he wasn't too sure this all was causing the hives because my allergy level to it wasn't all that high, but I am allergic to all that good stuff.
So what to do? Nothin'. He says I can take Zyrtec for the hives and they'll go away eventually (it's been 2 years here folks). Now wasn't that helpful??
And folks think doctors don't know anything.............are ya pickin' up on the sarcasm here, cuz I'm layin' it on purty thick........
God Bless..............
Yikes... you are allergic to a bunch. Well you know Suzanne Sommers was on Rachael Ray sometime last month and she said she had this belly pudge she couldn't get rid of. She said eventually they found out she was allergic to certain foods and she got rid of it... I dunno
ReplyDeleteThis is why they're called "practicing physicians" ;) My 9 yo is allergic to everything except milk and peanuts...all trees, grasses, soy, wheat... Since he doesn't get all anaphylactic they said we didn't need to change his diet (to rice meat and ummm I guess milk and peanuts, ;) he has awful eczema and if he goes near anyone with a furry animal he gets swollen up like nobody's business. It's much fun. He's supposed to take zyrtec daily, but I honestly see no improvement. I feel your pain..err well, my 9 yo does. :)
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you've been suffering and they didn't even tell you why!*maddening*
ReplyDeleteHey, not sure what to tell you about all the stuff you are allergic to but I have a friend who found that taking bee pollen from a local apriary helped to releive some of her symptoms, may be worth a try. :o)
Blessings,
Kelle
Thanks ladies!
ReplyDeleteto Stacey.....poor little man! Luckily I'm not allergic to any animals, unless you count those cockroaches!
to Kelle.........the mayor of our town keeps bees, and I buy honey from him, so I'm thinking of eating a tablespoon of honey every day. Not sure if that would be the same as bee pollen but it's worth a shot as you said.
OOOOO My Goodness!!! Your poor thing! And whoever called you way back when and told you your test where normals needs to be smacked, I cant believe that and that your allergic to 3 pages worth of stuff.
ReplyDeleteThats just crazy.
Oh me oh my! I'm just like you. I'm allergic to everything under the sun - ALL animals except cats, all indoor allergens, plus all outdoor allergens. It's enough to drive a wanna-be farm girl crazy, because I refuse to live a super-medicated life. I started taking allergy shots a year ago and now at least the major symptoms are gone. Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteQuertcin(sp?) is supposed to help with Allergies along with Extra Vit C. It will take it a while to show improvement but i do knwo the Vit C works. My middle girls is allergic to a lot of things and my oldest is allergic to a few things. As long as they take Vit C they only have to take Allergy meds occasionally.
ReplyDeleteOh the allergy tests. Every human on the planet is allergic to EVERYTHING. I'm pretty sure they'd tell me that I'm allergic to dairy, and boys. Did you know there's such a thing as being allergic to be pregnant with a boy? It's true - MIL had it. I really wish they'd only tell the things that would actually be causing one discomfort. It's amazing humans have survived this long. . . I'm sure if we had even more doctors - most of us would be considered walking dead. ;}
ReplyDeleteTry taking Vit E, C, and Zinc....along with locally grown honey. The vitamins will boost your immune system and the local honey will help to innoculate your system.
ReplyDeleteThanks again everybody!
ReplyDelete@Jennifer, I'm pretty sure the nurse who told me I WAS allergic, is the same girl who told me I wasn't on the phone.......lol
@ Tonia and Queenacres, thanks SO much for the vitamin recommendations! I'm going to give it a shot.
@ Ashley.......I know. I asked him if I needed to avoid those foods and he said no because I wasn't "enough" allergic to be causing the hives.
And to everybody.....oddly enough, I didn't have any hives all day yesterday.........hmmmm
As a general rule , hives are caused by things taken internally (food alergies) so you could try to remove a few things from your diet. Thyat said the nurse who called and told you things were fine, a) should not have been the one giving you results, and b) sounds like she needs to go back to school!!!! Feel better girl!
ReplyDeleteThose doctors. The last three times I've gone in for anything over the past few years, they always tell me "I don't know what's wrong with you," and that's that. So helpful. My policy now is just give it time and it will go away.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter and few other folks I know just have really sensitive skin and get hives from changes in temperature or getting wet. My daughter got hives every time she went swimming last summer, whether it was in our wading pool, a lake or a river. I'm starting to think it's just her skin's normal reaction.
Good luck with it!
Oh yeah I forgot to say that I'm also allergic to getting hot and sweaty! Great during the summer, right? :)
ReplyDeleteAllergies are symptoms of an overactive immune system. It was very interesting that all of my allergies & eczema went away during pregnancy - gave my immune system something to "think about" other than attacking my own body, I suppose - which lends some credence to the theories behind helminthic therapy.
Well, after all those comments, there's not much left to suggest... except maybe you should get some bees for all those hives? I hope you find some relief. I would try the local honey first though. Good luck with it!
ReplyDeleteOh, allergies. My mom is "allergic" to dogs and guinea pigs, and jus' about anything she doesn't like! ;) If you've only got a mild allergy to it... most likely the Zyrtec will fix you up real good... or at least in my experience! I can't do stuff like roll around in grass and carry hay because I break out into hives. (But I carry hay anyway!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments! I actually think that armed with my food allergy knowledge, I'm figuring things out. Would've been nice to have this intel last year, but spilt milk, spilt milk. Will do an update post soon!
ReplyDeletehugs to (((goodwife))) that stinks. and I say go to another doctor - theres plenty of them and one of them will actually work on a solution on your behalf for you.
ReplyDeleteI think it should be a rule that pretty much everyone be allergic to cockroaches.
ReplyDeletebleh.
Let's all just assume so.