For months now, I've been annoying my husband with my need to have the AC on (even before the summer heat kicked in), ceiling fans galore and basically walking around the house in my duster (Filipino house dress) to avoid the heat. Never mind the $400+ monthly electric bill.
I avoid going outside as much as possible (it's in the 100's over here ), and can't even remember to water the flower pot outside the front door.
"You and your damn hives. You are the WORST hermit I have ever seen," he said to me in frustration one day.
All this, because the heat will usually bring on a skin rash. Blech. All I have to do is look at something that slightly resembles hives and I start to get the itch.
I know. I'm mental.
I've even had it confirmed when I went to the doc.
Remember the drama with the twins?
To tell you the truth, I think that's when the hives started... I guess the prospect of cancer will bring on a wee bit of stress, eh?
Well, the last doctor I had to see was the Allergist, to figure out WTF was going on with me.
And after a series of questions, much poking and prodding, we conducted a little test in the office while the lab ran my blood for other tests.
I always get a rash after eating shrimp.
At least, ever since I moved here 2 years ago. When I found out that your body can react to something later in life just because you haven't had it in a while, I thought I could reverse it.
I told myself I'd eat shrimp at least once or twice a month to get my body used to it. My doctor LOL when I told him this, and very gently explained, "It doesn't quite work like that."
Eh - I figured as much but it was worth a shot. I'd only get a minor rash anyway, it's not like my face would swell up or anything.
The night before, I reacted after eating peanuts. So we decided to test both of those out - see?
The bottom one is checking for a shrimp allergy, the top - a peanut allergy.
And of course, we had to run the control:
Ugh. I'm getting itchy just looking at these pics - lol. Okay - so here we've got:
- Bottom: Histamine
- Middle: Saline
- Top: My own blood
The good news is - I'm not allergic to shrimp!! Whoohoo! And you KNOW that I went out for shrimp that same night for dinner. ;)
The bad news? Do you see the reaction I had to my own blood? (sigh) I'm autoimmune.
Which, in 95% of all cases of chronic hives (lasting more than 6 weeks) - means we're just plain and simple, creating antibodies against our own immune system.
Yep. Nothing's causing the hives. Not shrimp, or peanuts, or dust mites or pollen. Just me.
All I have to do is think about it - and BAM. Yeah, see - mental.
The doc and the nurse and I had a good chuckle, thinking about telling Hubz that it looks like I'm just allergic to him.
So when I got home to tell him, I hollered, "Hey - guess what I'm allergic to?"
"What. Cock?"
Hmph. I couldn't resist the set-up.
"No, babe - just yours."
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