Allergies, sinuses and skin pricks

I miss writing. Not that I don't do plenty of it for work (though it is mostly writing emails, press releases, and pitches), but I miss writing about my life for all of my interested blog readers to devour. Ha!

Waking up with a raging sinus infection today actually reminded me about my blog. I used to always complain about my sinus infections every third week or so. This winter, I saw an ENT surgeon, who took a bunch of scans and negated what my previous ENT surgeon said about me eventually needed septum surgery. He told me there is nothing anatomically severe enough to warrant surgery, but that when there is any sort of inflammation in my nasal passages, how narrow the right side is completely blocks off that side, and thus the "stuff" gets stuck up there unable to drain, resulting in a sinus infection. Well then.

He prescribed me steroid nasal spray to use every day. I'm on my fourth bottle in as many months and I really have noticed a difference. But he also wanted me to get checked for allergies because "something" was causing these nasal blockages too frequently.

I met with the allergist, who reviewed my symptoms and then put me through 120 minutes of torture. Well, his nurse did. I had a full skin prick allergy panel done. Both my forearms were pricked about 20 times. Within a few seconds, I could tell some of them were coming up positive. They itched like mo-fo bug bites but of course, I wasn't allowed to touch them. I was petrified that one of them was the dog allergy. Turns out, it was not. Thank god for me AND for Rags.

Both arms shortly after starting.

Right arm after 20 minutes. Those would be my dust, mold and pollen allergies!

I came back HIGHLY allergic (because who isn't at least mildly allergic) to mold, dust and tree pollen. Mold isn't an issue as long as I'm not spending much time in basements (remind me not to get kidnapped, OK?), and tree pollen is unavoidable, though it helps to shower at night - which I do - so you aren't bringing all that grossness into bed while you sleep. But dust is a beast to deal with. Granted, I keep a clean house, but dust ends up in everything - upholstery, linens, clothes, and most noticeably - mattresses. I left the allergist's office with instructions to spend hundreds of dollars on dustproof mattress covers and pillowcases, and washing every linen in my house (including curtains), every week with hot water. Yeah, not happening. I do wash my sheets in hot water and either put them right back on my bed, or into a storage container if I'm rotating sheet sets, but I'm not washing my curtains every week. I hardly have time to wash and change my sheets every weekend.

However, the steroid nasal spray has been my saving grace. My allergies got really out of control a few weeks ago, but everyone else's were, too. And I thought they were getting bad again yesterday, but this morning when I woke up, I knew it had turned into a full-blown sinus infection. Taking a sick day was not an option today, so I am toughing it out and chugging water (and coffee because I'm SO fatigued), and using Afrin at my ENT's recommendation. He said it does the same thing as Sudafed, but without the jittery side effect. Fine by me!

It's only Tuesday, and a co-worker has strep and I have a big event on Saturday, so I need to survive the week, but you can bet I'll be enjoying a lazy Sunday.

Bad banana

I think I’ve developed a banana intolerance.

Yesterday, around mid-morning, I had to go to the bathroom several times. TMI, I know, but it’s true. It’s very unlike little miss regular me. By lunchtime, I had such severe stomach cramping and nausea that I considered going home. I didn’t throw up, but I was sweaty, dizzy, shaky and my heart was pounding. Thankfully, it eventually passed and I felt fine but exhausted (though that may have been from not sleeping at all Sunday night).

I assumed it was eggs. I’ve been having eggs in some form every morning but the better part of the last six months. Soft-boiled, hard-boiled, fried, whites only, egg “muffins” with peppers and turkey sausage—you name it. Eggs fill me up and are easy to make, not to mention tasty. But I know that eating too much of one food can cause sensitivity and even intolerance.

So I decided I would try a week without eggs to see if that helped. I wanted to make sure I got enough protein to start my day, so I made myself a smoothie this morning with skim milk, Greek yogurt, peanut butter and a banana.

All good in the hood. Until an hour later. I’m sitting at my desk and suddenly I’m very aware of my heart racing. Soon a wave of nausea comes over me. My whole body starts cramping up, my stomach obviously the worst but my legs feel dehydrated, too. I run to the bathroom and got sick not one, not twice, but three times. Fortunately I was the only one in there.

Coincidentally, I have my allergy skin prick test tomorrow morning and then an appointment with the allergist. I don’t know if they’ll test for bananas, but I’m certainly going to mention it. For the record, the bananas were ripe, with a few brown spots on the skin (how I like them), but not rotten or green.

At least I can go back to eating eggs. Hopefully.