Allergies

Yesterday I visited the allergist for the first time ever! About a year and a half ago I had a substantial allergic reaction to something, but to this day we're not sure what it was. It's possible that I may have reacted to some generic gravol I took because I was sick with the flu, but we're not sure. So I was going to visit the allergist to test for a potential allergy to gravol, and they had asked me to bring in the brand that I thought had made me react. I wasn't sure what brand it wasy, so I went out to the grocery store and brought two brands of generic gravol that I thought migh have been the culprits.

Unfortunately, in the rush of the morning and the realisation that we were running late, I left the gravols at home. So they tested me with the generic brand that they had at the hospital, which I was NOT allergic to. YAY However, they also tested me for all the standard allergens, and I discovered that I have allergies to tree pollen, grass, ragweed pollen and dust mites.

Have you ever seen a picture of dust mites? They're kinda gross looking.

Yucky!! I don't really like them, they make my skin crawl......ugh....and to think they live all over the place. SO GROSS

Icky icky icky!

What a weird thing, to all of a sudden be aware of the fact that you have allergies. I've been healthy all my life, and it's weird to think that there are things out there that can make me sick that may not make others sick. I mean, I had a suspicion that I might be allergic to some environmental stuff because the last couple summers I've had itchy/watery eyes and runny nose, but still, it's weird to have it confirmed. Oh, and know what's even weirder, it's not the dust mite themselves that people are allergic to, it's their "waste" (aka poo) ha ha. Go dust mites! Toxic poo :P

So the allergist was giving me all these suggestions of things I should do, and made it out to be a big deal and that my allergies were pretty bad. It made me laugh, because I've never really noticed them that much, and having someone say that it is a problem seems odd. He seemed to think my allergies were so bad that he gave me a steroid nose spray (so much for my Olympic dreams! LOL) I don't think I'll be using that one too often, I'll probably opt for the reactine route or even look into whether there are herbal alternatives I could try using. I'm not really into the side effects that regular steroid use can bring, even if it's just going up your nose....

I think the funniest thing I got out of this entire experience was that I was provided with a bunch of information sheets, and one of them mentioned that pets are a major source of dust, and that they should be washed every month. Hee hee.....I wonder what Ed will think of that one. :)