Well, I had 55 skin-pricks and 28 subdermal shots with allergens today. The only ones that reacted enough to be considered an “allergic response” were the histamine controls.
Thankfully, I am NOT allergic to cats, dogs, or small children, or I’d be up a creek.
So I’ve been diagnosed with non-allergic rhinitis, and she wants to see me again at the height of the spring allergy season, when I had told her that I’m miserable. I have all the classic symptoms of an allergic response, but my skin didn’t display that response this morning. Stupid epidermis.
I’m now on a generic form of Allegra, which is much cheaper than Zyrtec. Yay! And she said that should help bring down the contact dermatitis in my mouth and throat from the toothpaste reaction from last week. A few suggestions were made about what to avoid as far as toothpaste goes, and if I continue to have mouth ulcers and related issues, we can do another dermal patch test (I had one done in 2001, which is why I know I’m allergic to sulfa drugs and ingredients) to see if I’ve developed any new allergies since that time. In the meantime, she said that my thought that I might be reacting to the SLS is probably accurate.
The other thing is that I’m going to have to ask one of my students to stop wearing perfume on the days I tutor her, because I cannot breathe while I’m trying to do geometry. And that’s not an “allergy,” per se, but an environmental irritant. And not all perfumes get me, but there are a few — Clinique “Happy” makes my eyes water and my nose run, and whatever Princess was wearing on Monday. I was having a sneezing fit off and on for almost the entire 45-minute session I was working with her. Won’t THAT be a fun conversation to have?