Allergy test: what do you mean, you don't get a grade?

[same_sky]

I was originally concerned about how long my allergy test would take this morning. G said that hers, which she had done somewhere else, took between one and two hours, and then she found out this morning that they didn't test her for as many things as he would have liked. So then I'm thinking.. sheesh, how long is this going to take?! But as it turns out, there was no need to worry. I was done and out of there in 45 minutes.. unbelievably fast. I'll write about what it was like next, but if you don't care, feel free to skip it.. just writing it down because hello, is this thing on? have you not noticed yet that I can't tell a short story?

They did the initial test on my back. Two nurses were there, and they were poking me extremely quickly with little.. I don't know what they were because my back was to them, but from the feel of it, it reminded me of my mom's blood sugar testing sticky thing. They were both going to town as fast as they could, and they were done in less than two minutes. Then it was just about the waiting. After a few minutes and a couple of brief visits from the doctor, he said that there would be nine shots in the arm for further testing. The nurse who gave me the shots (and they were real shots, not pricks) said that they were the things that reacted on my back, and that doing the second test would be more accurate and detailed. The whole experience was relatively painless.. not exactly fun or anything, but not horrible.

And the verdict... I am allergic to dust and mold. Also mites and mosquitos, but not as strongly. (I was aware that I was sensitive to mosquitos, since they tend to swell a little more than most people's bites.) I am thinking--and you know that I come up with opinions sometimes that are not necessarily based in fact--that the mold is the bigger problem for me. There were 11 molds tested--I was allergic to all but four. I have been thinking about the produce market this afternoon. For those who might not remember, I had to quit working at the fruit market (that my parents owned) back in Sept 2003 because I started having an allergic reaction to something in the store, with my throat closing up and my chest feeling tight. They had just brought in a huge load of stuff from an Amish farm in Ohio, so it was pretty clear that it was something there, but we didn't know exactly what. My parents did a massive cleaning, and it lessened my reaction, but it didn't go away, so I stopped going to work. (Breathing is strangely important to me.) At the time, we talked about whether or not it could be a mold issue. There's always something moldy in a place that sells produce.

So I've been thinking today about ways to reduce my contact with dust and mold. I keep mentioning the river/Frankfort theory but mainly, what I've been trying to get at is that there is something in my environment now that wasn't before that is causing me to get sick. So I was trying to think of where there might be copious amounts of dust and mold, and came up with a couple of beauties. For one thing, it occurs to me that I have constantly noticed a mildew smell coming from the left side of my kitchen sink. I've dumped a LOT of bleach down the drain over the months, hoping to get rid of it, but it always comes back right away, if it goes at all. This indicates to me that there's a problem somewhere, and not just something stuck in the sink and rotting. Interestingly, M doesn't smell it, and he couldn't taste it or smell it when we stopped at a Wendy's in southern Kentucky back in February--it was like taking a drink of liquid, carbonated mold. Perhaps it was me being overly sensitive instead of him (and everyone else) not noticing that they were ingesting poison.

Anyway. We also have an (unused, because this place didn't require it like the trailer) humidifier sitting in the bedroom. With a filter in it. And standing water. Ahem. M cleaned that one up tonight, and yes, there was mold. *giggle* Also, mold reproduces at night, and quickly. The peak mold reproduction time is apparently 2 am, and Dr. Google says that a lot of people have reactions in the middle of the night for that very reason. I have, at various times, commented to M that I have not been sleeping well in general since we moved last year.. and have had some nights when I almost don't sleep at all.. especially lately. So.. maybe. Of course, it could be the dust or it could just be what the doctor said to begin with. Maybe I'm just unlucky. Maybe I've just stressed my immune system out.

All I know is that I'm really, really tired of feeling really, really tired.

And I wish my throat would stop hurting.

And that it was Friday.

And that I won the lottery.

And that I was on vacation right now, somewhere sunny and sandy.

And that M would turn that damned song off.

Seriously, though, that's all the news I really have. He gave me a bag full of medicine (two nose sprays, an allergy medicine and some eye drops--not sure why he gave me that unless he just noticed that my eyes are bloodshot.. they've been that way for a month now.) I have a really hard time getting my mind around the idea that my recurrent illnesses could be caused by allergies, since I really don't seem to have much trouble with allergy symptoms otherwise. G, however, has rather similar issues and hers seem to be related since they're improving as a result of a similar drug regimine. I suppose it makes sense that the allergy helps create a breeding ground for other bacteria, though. It's just a little abstract for my poor little brain to deal with, I think.

I am really sleepy now, and I didn't have time to get anything done tonight between writing this novel, and talking to my mom on the phone for an hour, and a time-consuming dinner preparation (soup and salad, and oh, goodness, the soup turned out extremely yummy this time.) So I guess I'll go now. This entry has gotten entirely too rambly and disjointed and boring anyway. Tomorrow, perhaps I will tell the story of my great-grandpa Harry and how he couldn't say my name. Or maybe I'll talk about energy in Stockholm something else. You just never know around here, the excitement never ends. < / sarcasm>< /post>

Comments

[carrieb.livejournal.com]

I didn't find it boring. I am glad that you have some possible answers to your problems. I think I also have mold issues. I get all snorty and snotty in middle of the night. When I clean the bathroom it helps a lot for a few days.

Anyway, I hope cleaning out that moldy humidifier will show some improvement, and the drug regime. Are you going to call maintence and have them come take a look at the smelly sink?

[drottningen.livejournal.com]

i second the idea of calling maintenance. tell them your apartment is making you sick.

[e11en.livejournal.com]

Entirely possible to have mold in the building that you can't see. Is your place carpeted? Mold can behiding under the carpeting. Carpet is bad for people with allergies anyway because all those allergens get trapped in there. You could also get a DE-humidifier. I'd think it gets right humid in the summer in your neck of the woods.

Ingrid has allergies and was sick for the better part of her first 18 months of life with every kind of respiratory ailment imaginable, like five times over. Once the pediatrician said, "I really think she has allergies like her father" and we put her on Zyrtec every day, it's been like night and day. I hope you notice some real improvement soon too.

[marketeer]

I'm allergic to mold as well. I would definitely have the building management come in and take a look under the sink to see if the mold there can be eliminated. If your bathroom doesn't have an exhaust fan, I'd suggest getting one as bathrooms are mold heaven.

There are some foods to be avoided or minimized when you have a mold allergy: aged cheeses, baked goods that use a lot of yeast, smoke foods (like smoked fish), sour cream, canned tomato products, foods with a lot of vinegar, and beer and wine. On a mold elimination diet, you're basically supposed to eat as much fresh food and as little canned food as possible. You're also not supposed to eat leftovers because, even if you can see mold growing on that day-old Chinese takeout, it's probably there.

[marketeer]

P.S. I will say that once I started treating my allergies, the number of sinus infections I had every year drastically declined.

[blookum.livejournal.com]

Ooo, my heart goes out to you! I have had allergic reactions before that no one around me can understand - they're fine, why am I coughing & sneezing so much?!

Good luck battling mold.

[stewlis.livejournal.com]

Wow, cool! I'm glad you posted this, because everyone has been harping at me to get allergy tests done for as long as I can remember, but I was terrified that it would be horrible. Maybe I'll go make that appointment soon. Does it take long for all the places they poke to feel better? Did they hurt that day/night much? What about the more "serious" shots you got on your arm, did they hurt very badly? I'm positive that I'm terribly allergic to mold, and I learned that when I first visited Andy and cleaned his bathroom (he was working more than he was home at that time, so it was pretty icky, and very moldy, and I had the worst allergies that week I've ever had in my life). Oddly, I can smell mold where others can't, too. I have a serious mold issue in my house right now, thanks to a leaky roof that the landlord took forever to get fixed for us, and every time it rains, the house gets this icky musty odor to it and I have to turn on the air conditioner to get it to clear out. Febreeze Allergen Reducer helps a lot, as does spraying down mold-tending places with Lysol or a mild solution of bleach water.

Hope you feel better soon! You know, I read somewhere that you can have your home tested for mold and if any is found, they can analyze it and tell you what it is. If it's in a rental place, the landlord supposeldy has to fix it or let you move or whatever. You might have had a leak under your sink at some point, and they fixed it, but the mold is still there. I think you call the health dept for the mold testing...or at least, that's probably a good place to begin!

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's no big deal. Which, Glenna had a different kind of test than I did, but she had been assuring me beforehand that it was no big deal. (She got three rows of pricks down her arm in a small-medium-large dosage from left to right, and the whole thing took between one and two hours, she said, but they only tested her for 28 things.) My test tested (what a stupid sentence) many more than that, and was extremely quick.

The nine shots in the arm.. they were pretty easy. I've always hated shots but lately all I've had done with needles is getting blood drawn and so relatively speaking, it was downright pleasant. ;) Two of them stung a little when she was doing it.. the ones farthest down on my arm.

While I was sitting there waiting for them to develop, they itched a little, but there was no pain at all after the initial stick. By the time I made it back to work, you could barely even see the ones on my arm, including the one that had reacted the most. You could see the ones on my back, going straight down in tidy rows.. it surprised me because it really felt totally random when they were doing it.

That's it. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. You should go have it done.. always good to know.

[stewlis.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it didn't hurt that much. I really do need to get it done, I'm probably allergic to lots of things. How do they determine what to test for? Do they just know the typical allergens that cause people to get sick and test for those, then give you allergy shots to take for the things you're most sensitive to? And btw, allergy shots never made any sense to me at all, though apparently they work quite effectively, but if small exposures over time helps your body not get sick as badly when you're exposed majorly, then why don't people with allergies eventually not have problems any more since they're exposed to things all the time? I even understand the world of medicine in a sense, and that still never made any sense! LOL! :) Glad you did it though, and I hope it helps!