Allergy Post

WARNING - Longest post I have ever written mostly to help me don't feel the need to read it all if you want you can skip to the last paragraph to understand why I wrote the post.

As you all know since I was 16/17 I found out about my allergies.  I don't know if I have ever written about how I found out so here it is:

Growing up I don't remember a time that I didn't have eczema all over my hands, arms, and the back of my legs might have been the worst, but the doctors never thought about allergies I would just go through one medicated lotion to the next. The rashes where probable the most notable reactions until 8th grade when my lips would blow up.  Seriously, I would wake up knowing that my lips where giant, the best description would be the monster on Monsters Inc. that got the "scream" sucked out of him by Randel.  His face is super pale and he had giant red lips, that's exactly how I looked.  I hated the thought of going to school.  My sister, Ann, would try to tell me how people get botox to have lips like mine, didn't really help with the self-consciousness when your 13.

When I was 16 I was working at the great Kaysville Theater.  I remember this day quit clear.  It was a friday I had to get a ride to work from my neighbor Joan because everyone was gone at home. It was the early showings I got to work first turned everything on and started stocking everything.  By this time everyone was there too and I got really sick.  I went to the restroom where I had a sneeze attack and after words I watched as my eyes started to swell.  So upon leaving the restroom I no longer could breath through my noise, I was wheezing since my throat was swollen as well as my eyes, my ears stuffed so I really couldn't hear well at all.  Altogether I looked good! This is when all the customers started to come all I could think as I tried to help the customers was, "They probable think I'm on drugs," I kept having to have them repeat what they said, I wish I could see what I looked like to everyone else.  Once the movie started and we cleaned up my manager told my co-worker to take me home.  I remember sitting at the counter wondering what I should do.  I called my mom she said to sit and take some Benadryl and by the time she got home I was mostly back to normal so we past it off as... well I'm not sure we just didn't think about it again, until...

A couple of months later when I was at my friend house and the exact same thing happened and I left.  As I was driving home I kept thinking, "I probable shouldn't be driving."  I walked into the house were my mom was sitting watching a movie with my little sister walked over to her she looked at me and saw my face and heard my wheezing, she realized something was wrong.  Even then we didn't go see anyone about it.

Not until about a month later when we went to the doctors about other things.  My mom was worried because I was sleeping all the time.  I would come home from school fall asleep, eat dinner, and go to bed.  My mom thought I had something wrong with my thyroid.  We got it tested nothing was wrong, we got other things tested I don't remember why or what it was but got my blood tested, and since we were at the doctors we decided to get some more medication for my rashes because the medication I was on no longer worked.  The doctor told us that if this medication stopped working he really didn't feel good about prescribing any other medication because of all the steroids my body was being exposed to, and maybe we should be checking for allergies with everything that had happened over the last 6 months.       

It was off to the Allergist. Getting tested wasn't bad but it's a good thing that I'm not afraid of needles, I was pocked a lot, twice for eat food.  I can't remember all the foods they tested me for I think it was around 15 but here is the list I can remember:

• Wheat
• Corn
• Eggs
• Soy
• Milk
• Potatoes
• Oranges
• Cod
• Pork
• Beef
• Oat
• Peanuts
• Chocolate 

I was positive to everything on this list except oats and the other few foods I can't remember.  They told me not to worry and that I now had to test each food on my own to see if I really was allergic to them, avoid the food for 4 days and on the 5th day start eating the food in the afternoon tracking everything I ate and any reactions I may have had. 

Here are the results from that:

Soy: When I have a lot it causes my throat to close, it also gives me cold sores and causes my lips to   itch and swell  

Wheat: Gives me rashes

Corn: Is a strange allergy it mostly effects my emotions.  I tend to become depressed and tired when I eat corn.  If I were to eat a lot of corn in one day I would become so tired that I’ll sleep all day and night and it’s hard to even wake me up.

Milk: Would put a film/coat around my throat. 

Potato: Simply dries my skin out cracking my lips, I know weird

Eggs: When eaten makes me a sick to my stomach 

Cod: Never have tested because I don't like fish sticks and don't like fish.

Oranges: Headaches 

Since the first testing I learned that I could handel eggs as long as they were cooked in foods pretty well and milk in moderation was fine too but I also learned since then that I may be allergic to other foods such as:

Lettuce: I know weird it's practically water but boy my lips go crazy itchy and blow up (totally scares one friend I sometimes think it's funny)

I might be allergic to sugar at least my mom thinks so but I'm honestly to scared to test it I like not knowing that way I don't feel guilty.

So I guess the point of this post is that over the years I have slowly allowed myself to eat whatever I want especially since I came to BYU-ID because it used to be so hard to find the food I could eat and I didn't feel like I was having any reactions from it so I felt ok, but I don't think that's the case anymore.  At least not after this semester.  I had to use my Epipen for the first time in a long time, earlier this week my stomach was covered with a rash (that was a new one), and my over all icky feeling.  I think I need to, I hate to say it, start avoiding all the foods that I thought I no longer had to avoid.  I know it will be better for me but it's really hard, I hate that so much of our society is centered around food and I know that the hardest part is the first couple of weeks and I'm headed to Seattle in two weeks, all together it's just harder to eat this way but I don't think there is much choice.  This semester keeps getting better and better..