Allergies

[Fallenfromgrace]

So, what are you allergic to?
Have you grown out of any particular allergies?
have you developed any?
What symptoms do you get?
what preventative measures do you take?
What do/ can you do when exposed to your allergen?

I, as many know am allergic to quite a bit.

Nut's as standard as well as whole egg- like...fried/scrambled etc (i can eat egg in cakes etc) and various fruits and veg. I am also allergic to pollen and something else that causes my hayfever and noseblleds respectively. I also suffer from eczma and asthma which are linked to my allergies...

Because i have a huge combination of things i have to carry an epi pen in case i go into anaphylactic shock. The biggest threat is nuts, but my fruit/veg reactions can be exagerated by everything else.

I have not grown out of any of my allergies, but my nut allergy has gotten progresively worse, and i developed Oral Allergy Syndrome (the fruit and veg intolerance).

Symptoms range from itchy lips to fully swollen mouth and then full blown anaphylactic shock. I avoid nuts and egg period, but i dont tend to avoid my fruit and veg allergies coz if i did then i wouldnt be able to eat much...

As for what i do, 1st i take my asthma inhaler to open up my airways, then i take an antihistemine if the inhaler doesnt help much, if THAT doesnt work then i'm meant to take my epi pen (i havent had to use it to date) and then go to A&E (as i should be monitored after taking such a concentrated dose of adrenaline.

So, share your allergy issues

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

Head & Shoulders
Hawaiian Tropics Suncreens

I get red, itchy and just plain uncomfortable.

I avoid both products.

Ohhh and I just remembered. Demoral . . . I hallucinate. I do not use it at all.

I had it during my pregnancy and saw this huge giant black spider on my husband's shoulder. Imagined him holding my sister's hand while I was having contractions and thought he was flirting with the nurse, while I was giving birth. lol

 

[MissVictoria]

I'm allergic to DEET which sucks during the summer when everyone is wearing mosquito spray or spraying it around me (Or if a mosquito that has visited someone else wearing it visits me). I go into hives or blisters, depending on the closeness of it, and if I put it on me my mouth, tongue and throat swells.

I am also allergic to milo dust, which causes my skin to blister if it touches it.

I'm allergic to TB tests, I give a false positive. (TB tests cause you to get red around the injection site if you have TB)

I have various unknown allergies that cause me to occasionally get hives or a swollen mouth or tongue. I carry medicine with me at all times to help calm that, and wish I could figure out the cause. I don't know the full seriousness of my allergies if left untreated, I've been to the emergency room a few times.

 

[Guest]

So, what are you allergic to?
Penicillian, shrimp, bee stings, nickel, copper, chocolate, seasonal stuff.

Have you grown out of any particular allergies?
No, they actually have gotten worse.

have you developed any?
Yes, the chocolate one.

What symptoms do you get?
Hives, intense scratch-my skin-off itchiness, stuffy nose and ear aches.

What preventative measures do you take?
Avoidance and anti-histamines.

What do/ can you do when exposed to your allergen?
Most of the allergies I have are tame in reaction compared to the Penicillian and bee sting one. I have an epi-pen for the bee stings I have to carry with me spring/summer.

 

[_Lynn_]

Chocolate (Gasp!)

Wheat
Milk

Dogs
Cats

All the seasonal allergies ~~~Pine, Ragweed, Mold etc
For those I just don't do much outside anymore. No mowing the lawn, working in the garden, walking in the parks, etc.

I take Allegra all year long, then Advair and Flonase starting in the spring.

My oddest allergy, I think, is to the sun~~~ I break out in extremely itchy spots...not quite like hives ...all over...in My sleep I have scratched them til they bleed...Nothing helps so far...All I can do is stay out of the sun for the first 4-6 weeks of spring.

 

[Vermilion]

So, what are you allergic to?

-dogs
-erythromycin ( an anti-biotic)
-mosquito bites

Have you grown out of any particular allergies?

Nope. I actually grew into the dog one. It started when I was 13 and keeps getting worse.

have you developed any?

See above

What symptoms do you get?

with the anit-biotic I got a rash and threw up, the mosquito bites just swell up enormously and usually get infected and with dogs I get hives on the area that came into contact, that area and my face and hands itch, my eyes itch and go red as does my mouth and if it's really bad/prolongged exposure my throat starts to close up too. And I sneeze like all get out.

what preventative measures do you take?

stay the hell away from dogs if I can. If I can't then I take anti-histamines but they make me sleepy. I use mosquito repllant in summer... Mosi Guard is good and warn docs about the anti-biotic.

What do/ can you do when exposed to your allergen?

well, they're not life-threatening, so.... deal, generally.

I'm also allergic to most lipsticks, glosses and balms. I can use vaseline and a natural one called 'Burt's Bees' and that's about it otherwise I get a clown mouth (not attractive) which starts to split and weep and get infected. Not. Nice.
If it happens I have to use a steroid cream to make it go away.


x
V

 

[only_more_so]

I'm kind of lucky in that I haven't shown any life threatening allergies, but they can make me miserable on occasion. Doubly lucky, anti-histimines don't make me drowsy, so whenever I am afflicted with things I just pop some pills and go about my day.

When I was a kid they tested me for allergies. I went in three or four times and they tested for like 40 things each time. I actually showed up as allergic to everything they tested for, although some of the tree pollens were only a 2 on a scale of 0-4 (well, I'm guessing there was a zero). The doctor even gave me a 5 for allergies to dust mites. The really odd thing was I reacted so quickly, that the nurse had to wash off my back after 5-10 minutes instead of waiting the usual 15 to take the measurements. Oh, the whole reason for getting the allergy tests was actually because I developed ashthma.

So I took allergy shots for years, and was on Chlortrymaton(sp?) for years. Again, I reacted incredibly fast to the allergy shot, and they would let me leave the office much sooner than other people.

Anyway, my allergies to most things have gotten better through the years, although recently some of them have been getting worse. I think a lot of it has to do with where I am staying. I think there is something in the home where I developed allergies that depressed my immune system. I was often sick growing up. When I moved to college, I suddenly became healthier. I seldom had allergies, my asthma improved, and I didn't get colds. But every time I would go home for a visit I would get sick.

I still have seasonal hayfever, I can't tolerate cats or dogs for long (although dogs aren't as bad as cats), and I am sensitive to mosquito bites.

I suppose the only other thing is food. I don't have food allergies, but I do have food intolerances which took a very long time for me to figure out. Garlic and onions leave me visting the bathroom with stomach cramps and IBS. There is also some chemical that is in certain brands of jellybeans that cause me problems (that one really took me by surprise).

Things I'm lucky about: No allergies to medicine. Also, I have never been stung by a bee, so I don't know if I'm allergic.

 

[Guest]

I have no allergies.

Neither does my husband or our children.

We feel very fortunate, of course, especially as our very young nephew has every allergy known to man, it seems.

He's barely 16 months and is allergic to everything. He has horrible asthma. They carry an epi pen everywhere just in case.

We count our blessings.

 

[arienette]

I'm allergic to Tylenol, which is an allergy I've had since I was a baby. I break out in hives all over my body, which cause me to itch and then they bleed because of the itching.

Bee stings. My throat closes up, I can't breathe, my entire body blows up like a balloon.

As for seasonal allergies, pine gets to me after a while. I become itchy, swollen, etc. Coincidentally enough, I love the smell, so that's interesting.

I haven't developed any new allergies, they've all been there since I can remember and I also haven't grown out of any allergies. To prevent allergies, like most people, I just stay clear.

 

[glynndah]

I'm occasionally very sensitive to cats which causes one eye (don't ask me) to swell completely shut. It used to be just certain cats, but now my own will do it every once in a while.

Seldane: My heart starts racing, blood pressure drops and I black out. It's not on the market any more but I still mention it everytime in in a medical situation just in case it comes back for whatever reason.

 

[English Lady]

Just a certain brand of washing powder -Daz to be precise. Otherwise I'm allergy free as is my daughter.

Hubby is allergic to shellfish, mushrooms, cheese and nuts. The only deadly one is shellfish the others just cause itchy spots.

 

[Misty_Morning]

I have seasonal allergies mainly in the fall. Other than that have allergies to dust and certain mold spores. I used to havta do the Rhinocort, Nasacort and so on. But several years ago I had sinus surgery and only have occasional flair ups.. which can be handle with Allegra.

But I am highly allergic to penicillin. I go into anaphylactic shock. About 15 years ago some wise ass doctor told me that I had probably grown out of the allergy. He gave me a shot and a few minutes later my trachea began to close, my eyes swollen shut, my skin had welts everywhere. It was very scary cuz I couldn't breathe. They administered antihistamines immediately. I guess I hadn't outgrown it afterall.

 

[usemeplease28]

I'm allergic to 2 ton trucks falling on my head from a nearby overpass.

also certain soaps and fabric softeners.

 

[buxxxom]

I am allergic to NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) like ketoprofen, naproxen, etc. Also, sunscreen of all sorts. So, I just tan. Fortunately, even though I am fair skinned, I rarely burn. I know, I know, all about skin cancer risks, but there is nothing I can do, short of not going outside with my children. Also, I take meds (Allegra and Nasonex) daily for pollen and dust allergies. Those seem to help greatly.

 

[matriarch]

I've suffered from hayfever since I was 8 years old. Grass seed specifically.
It got gradually worse, and reached a peak during my secretarial college year. Our final exams were in June/July.....at the peak of the grass pollen. I was on antihistamine meds so strong (horsepill size, and I have a problem swallowing pills), they gave me the shakes......which was perfect, as all our papers were hand-written (apart from the typewriting, obviously), which made my already atrocious hand-writing even worse. It eased off over the years enough so that I only used eye drops - if it got to my eyes, I would rub them crazy until they almost shut completely - rather than pills.

Over the years, I have become allergic to cat fur - never used to be, and had cats most of my life. If the fur gets near my eyes......again, rubbing frenzy.

Certain flower pollens also get to me, I've found I can't have heavily perfumed flowers in the house, or the eyes go nuts again.

Since I went to Az in Nov 2005, I have been having allergy symptoms every single day, enough so that I'm using a daily clarityn and eye drops.

Driving me nuts.

Damn global warming.

 

[wordofvirtue]

the only thing I am allergic to is Loreal cosmetics. All of them, including hair color. I get lobster red, my eyes look like I've been toking up all day, and I itch like crazy.

 

[scheherazade_79]

Apart from work?

Main one is milk. It's not a lactose intolerance - it's a full-on allergy. I can eat ice cream once in a while, or cereal, or chocolate, or milk-based desserts, but if I overdo things I break out into a braille-type rash and start throwing up or having the shits.

It's most unpleasant. Things go back to normal within a week or two, if I cut all milk out of my diet.

It's nothing new - I had to have goats milk as a baby. Can't fucking stand the stuff now, though.

Other than that, I have quite sensitive skin. Certain soaps bring my hands out in blisters.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Apart from work?

I second that.



Ok, allergies.

Oak, maple, pine, grass, dogs, cats, mice, bunnies, hampsters, guinne pigs, horses, cows...

Basically only the things with leaves or hair.

Allegra and I are good friends.

I used to be friends with Clarinex but my insurance co. dropped it and $100 a month for meds was a little steep for me.

 

[Pure]

cats, some dogs, some other fine furs, e.g., rabbit.

fumes of gasoline, oil paint, and similar volatile substances

hayfever-type: ragweed, some pollens, grasses, molds, dusts esp. house dust, mattress dust, etc.

symptoms: running eyes, nose, leading to asthma

all antihistamines work to some degree, but i lately like cetirizine (Reactine) and loratidine (Claritin). hardwood floors help, or, when visiting cat owners, sitting in a bare wood chair.

sometimes, taken ahead of an expected, brief exposure the antihistamines reduce symptoms to a minimum.

 

[Misty_Morning]

Oak, maple, pine, grass, dogs, cats, mice, bunnies, hampsters, guinne pigs, horses, cows...

No rubber duckies?

 

[starrkers]

Rockmelon (think it's called Cantaloupe in the US). My mouth and lips burn and my throat swells.
It's got worse as I've got older. Sometimes get symptoms from other melons.
I've stopped eating melons.

And I get hay fever, sometimes, not sure what from.

 

[TE999]

Allergies!

Where to start? Hmmmmm.

Animal dander (dogs, cats, cattle, anything else with fur or hide)

Pollen (grass, trees, flowers, etc.)

Dust and mold. (Ever see an electron microscope picture of a dust mite? That's up my nose? Aghhhhh!)

Kapok. (WTF? No life jackets for me. I just drown)

Singulair and Nasonex help out quite a bit as do OTC Antihistamines. ( the last make me lethargic and I hate that feeling)

No meds and I am reduced to a slobbering, sneezing, coughing, achy, stupified wreck good for nothing to nobody. Just lemme alone, dammit!

But I hate that hazmat suit and the plastic bubble too.

Ain't nature grand?

 

[cheerful_deviant]

No rubber duckies?

Nope. Petroleum byproducts are safe.

 

[starrkers]

Allergies!

...

No meds and I am reduced to a slobbering, sneezing, coughing, achy, stupified wreck good for nothing to nobody. Just lemme alone, dammit!

But I hate that hazmat suit and the plastic bubble too.

Ain't nature grand?

Can't wait to see your Earth Day contest entry

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

Can't wait to see your Earth Day contest entry

*snickers*

~~ to that person who said hard wood floors help- dont they just! my nosebleeds are fewer and my asthma is somewhat better since all the floors bar the hallway stairs and landing have been hard wooded