Queen of histimines

Three weeks ago, I went back to the allergist for the first time in a while. Rest assured, I'd been on a slew of allergy and asthma medicines in the interim between now and my last period of regularly seeing an allergist, but my sinus infections finally annoyed the docs at Gannett enough to earn me a new referral. I initially felt like it was pointless. I'm allergic to everything, but my symptoms don't usually bother me (except for the entrenched sinus infections). Allergy shots haven't worked for me twice already (though I probably should have given them more time on the second go-around). But I had the hope that maybe we'd find a way to get rid of the sinus infections, so I happily went.

I was really happy when they decided to do the RAST (blood) test for allergies instead of the skin test. Last time I had the skin test, my back was a giant hive. I read up on RAST and found out that it is suggested for people with atopic eczema, who often get a lot of false positives on skin tests. I was hoping this would be the case for me.

It wasn't. I'm allergic to just about everything. Worse than that--despite having taken my antihistimine without missing a dose for more than the last week, I had maximum reactions to two of the three follow-up tests they did today. The test for mold still looks like an allergy shot gone bad five hours after the fact.

I wonder whether my allergy symptoms really are mild, or whether I just happen to be used to them now.

So I have a new antihistimine, new eye drops, and I get to start shots on Monday. Some days, I think maybe I should go into electrical/materials engineering so I can spend my days in a super-clean, dust-free environment making silicon chips.

The good news is that I really like this office. Everyone is friendly and patient with their explanations, etc. I don't have to wait long to be seen, and I also don't feel like I'm being rushed out. It's a nice situation. I'm going to try to be patient with my treatments. Who knows? Maybe five years from now, when I'm done with my shots, I will be able to cut out a medication or two. =)