Attack of the Allergies Summer 2009!

Ahh!

Too good to be true!
All Spring and Summer long my skin has been its usual self, dry, red, and a little flaky which is really good for this time of year (for me anyway.) I must have been overly confident with my allergies and skin because one fine, sunny day I sat out in the backyard with my brother in-law's dog which I am 100% allergic to. I didn't touch it. I was just in the vicinity of it. The BBQ smoke was blowing in the wind and my face. I really didn't pay any attention to any of it. Maybe because
I was starving ? I had some grilled fish that I wasn't familiar with, some grilled eggplant that I'm mildly allergic to and a couple of other things to eat for dinner. I took a shower went to bed.

Vuala!

3:30 am
I woke up not being able to breathe. My first thought was, "Hey, maybe I need to wash the sheets tomorrow." because I am allergic to dust mites. Second, "Pollen in my hair?" Third, "It was probably the dog. Oh well. . . " Took a puff puff of my handy inhaler, waited for my breathing to calm down and went back to sleep. This is the usual routine for late night asthma attacks.

4:30 om or so
Fell asleep.

5:13 am
I am I'm tossing and turning. I wake up scratching my face. Everything, my face, my chest and neck, my whole body practically felt like it was on fire. Itchy, red, swollen FIRE!!!!! I run to the bathroom and slather my Benadryl Anti-itch cream all over me followed by my prescribed eczema cream on the spots that were already raised and raw from all the scratching in my sleep. I take 2 Benadryl pills and go back to bed. This is my usual routine for late night/early morning itchy attacks.

About 6:30 am
I fall back asleep.

11:30 am
I wake up still drowsy and itchy. My face still feels like its on fire but my body has calmed down so I think I'm almost in the clear.

I was wrong. Every minute of the day I'm fighting the urge to scratch my face off completely and only partially breathing. I spent the whole day moping around rubbing all kids of Vanicream and eczema cream all over me. My skin was dry, cracked, and feeling like the Lubriderm alligator. Nothing was even close to soothing it. It was a nightmare. I really didn't eat fearing anything besides water and toast might make it worse.

Don't ask me why I didn't go to the emergency room or even my allergist right then and there. If you have to know, I have a certain pride in being able to cure myself of minor allergy attacks. After a lifetime of 28 years of being allergic to everything, you think I would have figured things out. But trust me, if this happens to you: Go! Go! Go As fast as you can to a doctor or ER because you really don't know how far these allergies will constrict your breathing or how it is affecting other parts of your body/organs that you can't feel. SCARY!

Okay, so on with the story. After a night of Benadryl assisted sleep, my face and body were not any better shape than the first outbreak. In fact, now we were looking at little red hard bumps all over me, some are raw, some are oozing - yes, I did say oozing. I am tired and cranky and my finger muscles are sore from all the darn scratching!

I finally make it to my allergist two days after the initial outbreak. Now, my allergist Dr. Johnson is pissed! Not mad, f *?#!<'n pissed off that I didn't come sooner. She puts me on the nebulizer (breathing treatment machine,)while lecturing me, gives me a steroid shot, and puts me on a 10 day cycle of prednisone which is common for emergency allergy treatments.

Ahh!
Relief! Now, all the Vanicream is just soaking in. Still a bit itchy but nothing compared to before. I'm feeling so much better! Still not looking too hot but getting there none the less.

Too good to be true. I really thought this Spring/Summer was going to be different. So wrong.

It just goes to show that no matter how many episodes I've gone through. My body gives me an inch and I try to take a mile. Needless to say, I haven't had anything that I might be remotely allergic to since and as far the backyard, cute doggy, and BBQ? Well, let's just say you can never be too careful. I'm gonna stay as far away for as long as I can until I get cocky and careless yet again. Then, my Benadryl, inhaler and the life, sanity and face saving steroids will be there for me.

You gotta live right? I just prefer to not live in a bubble, no matter what my doctor says!

Note to self: must take pictures next time this happens to me :)

Thanks for reading!