I finally broke down and went to an allergist last week. They evaluated my asthma situation and then set me up for skin testing this morning. I've been dreading it... it's not exactly a pleasant experience to endure and I've done it MANY times before. This was the first time they did it on my back and quite honestly, it was much easier to resist scratching and I couldn't see the welts, so I actually liked it better than the arm test. But, I had good news and bad news.....
Good News - NOT allergic to dog OR guinea pig - Yeah! No guilt about keeping animals we already have! I also have a legitimate excuse to avoid yard work now... I'm allergic to most things in the yard.... I kinda see this as a plus....
Bad News - I was tested for foods today for the first time... I'm still sad about what I heard about that...
This is what I'm allergic to... it's a long list and a lot of it is stuff I don't even know about (I'm going to have to do some internet research next week to see what exactly all these plants/trees look like....)
- Grass: Bermuda, Johnson and Western Wheatgrass (in layman's terms, that's basically every grass here for every season of the year...)
- Mites: Both types of dust mites (Good side of this is that I finally have a justifiable reason to get rid of the carpet in my bedroom!)
- Animals: Only cats... sorry Adam... good thing I've never slept over at your house! (The funny thing about the animal list is that it included cockroaches... gross!)
- Trees: Salt Cedar, Mountain Cedar, Pecan and Mesquite (I have a Mesquite Tree in my front yard and I LOVE it....)
- Weeds: Allscale, Careless Weed, Cocklebur, Dock/Sorrel Mix, Firebush/Kochia, Iodine Bush, Lamb's Quarter, Rabbit Bush, Ragweed False, Ragweed Western, Ragweed Mix, Russian Thistle (AKA Tumbleweeds) and Sagebrush. Russian Thistle was by far my WORST reaction... but there's no escaping it given where I live!
- Foods: Shellfish mix (no love lost here... I dislike ALL fish!) and Sesame... sigh... I knew this was coming someday, but honestly didn't stop to think that it would be included on the test this morning. My mom has developed, just in the last 5 years a severe sesame allergy. It's bad enough that she carries an epi-pen for it. At first glance, sesame seems like an easy thing to avoid, but it's in a lot of food that you just don't realize. But, on the plus side, no more seasame seed buns for me, which gives me a legimate reason to tell my kids no more McD's or BK! On the sad side, I LOVE Red Robin Burgers and they have sesame seeds too! I also LOVE Chinese Food and you never know when they add sesame oil, but it's in a lot of it!!! My mom can't eat any chinese food at all because of her allergy. So right now, I've been instructed to be VERY cautious when eating sesame products. I haven't had any known reactions yet, but it's probably a ticking time bomb situation. I'll tell you one thing though... I have some pre-made lettuce wraps in my fridge from Sam's Club and I am going to eat them tomorrow an enjoy every LAST bite... who knows if and when I'll ever get something like that again!!!
One thing is for sure... all this allergy "talk" is making my back itch like mad... time for some Benedryl....
