Mental Meanderings

Allergy Reactions

Yesterday I had an allergic reaction to something. It was a decent reaction, more than a local bee sting type with full body splotches and itchiness. I don't remember doing anything different than usual except having a prawn cracker (never used to be allergic to these) or perhaps touching my dogs new jacket.

At first I assumed it must be the prawn cracker, I had eaten one minutes before the reaction first started and haven't had one in years prior to that. I was at playgroup with Josh before it got noticable (about half an hour later) and so I headed home and dug around my cupboard for an antihistamine. Could only find a hayfever one but I figured that was better than nothing.

Anyway, the reaction settled down as the day progressed and was clear by the time I went to pick up Kaylie from school. At the school I did my normal thing check her pidgeon hole, and check her lunchbox. There were the prawn crackers I'd packed for her lunch, barely touched so I passed them to Joshua.

By the time I was home again the reaction was back. Took a shower and another antihistamine but it never really faded after that and it actually seemed to get worse, not better, as the night progressed. It wasn't serious enough to worry about so I bared with it and headed to bed thinking that a good nights sleep and 8 hours time would mean it would be gone in the morning.

Well, now it's morning and while it's definately faded a fair bit it's still there. I can't understand it. The prawn crackers were finished yesterday afternoon and I haven't touched them since. That's what got me thinking it could be the dogs jacket. He slept on my bed the night before last and I'd likely patted him during the day at some stage.

Anyway, none of it really fits. Josh just had his immunisation and one of the things he was immunised for mentioned that other family members might get a reaction from contact with him. It could be that I supposed. Or it could be something in the chinese food we had for dinner night before last. I could even have been bitten by an ant or something and not known about it.

So, I'm allergic to something and I don't know what it is. And I'm still itchy. I've taken another antihistamine this morning so I'm hoping it will clear up in a bit. But because I don't know what caused it I don't know if I'll be able to stay away from it today.

As far as allergies go this one seems alright. I'm also allergic to is bee and wasp venom. I'm severely allergic which means getting stung by a bee or a wasp would put me in hospital. Years ago, back in primary school, I was on a detox program for it. They would inject me with minute amounts of venom every week (for two years) trying to build up my resistance to the venom. It wasn't very successful. In a detox program of this sort it's normal to be able to spread the doses of venom out after time and still only get a local reaction. I had to be monitored very closely after each injection because while it was minute traces I was guarenteed a local and sometimes a full blown anaphalectic reaction.

One other thing I've noticed I react to is sented soaps or paper. Makes going to the toilet interesting when I'm not at home. The shopping centers are usually pretty good about unscented paper but other peoples homes are a risk. I always buy unscented soap and unscented toilet paper. Thankfully the reaction to this is minimal and irritating, not dangerous.

What sorts of things are you allergic too and how do you deal with your allergies?