Allergies and Other Medical Stuff
So, I finally made it into an OB/GYN and an allergy specialist Friday. The lady-doctor is concerned about my lack of a reproductive cycle, and is starting me on some stuff to get that sorted out. I go back in a few weeks and we'll be talking about genetic testing for... well, for breast cancer genes, basically. I plan on doing some reading beforehand, but with my family history it's something I'm actually pretty concerned about, and in the next few years, at that. We'll see how that goes. For now, I'm mainly concerned about finding out for sure whether I can still have kids or not.
I also decided to opt in for the HPV vaccination. I'm generally careful when it comes to such things, but one can never be too safe. Burned like a mother, though. Needle burned going in, vaccine burned going in, and my arm burned for a good couple of hours after. Still a little sore, but I'm not sure how much of that was vaccine and how much was allergy tests.
Which was the other half of my Friday afternoon. Made it to the allergist, on time no less, and they ran some tests. At first I sort of got the impression they weren't sure why I was there. (I was there because I've had a pretty persistent cough for most of a year and a half and miss being able to breathe deeply without it.) The initial breathing test they did came back fairly solid, but they tossed an inhaler at me and did a post-test to see if my numbers improved much. Which it did - yay, breathing.
They also did a skin test. That was an interesting experience. I've never lain in one place and let myself experience an itch or burn like that before. On the one hand, so very glad I'm something of a masochist. And it was certainly an interesting sensation. On the other hand, boo having little needle holes all over my back that I can't see to make sure they heal properly.
They did have to redo four of them, and used my upper arm for it. The same one that got the vaccine (and had blood drawn from it) earlier, because if there will be pain, why not center it on my non-main arm so that I can drive my awesome but power-steering-less car home. This time I got to actually see what they did, though the 15 minute wait was moderately more of a struggle because I could have scratched the itching oh so very easily. Ruin the whole point of the test, though, so managed to avoid it.
Anyhoo, they drew numbers on my arm and then took different needles and injected little bits of allergen-type-stuff just under the skin by each number. I watched over the next 15 minutes as the skin around the injection sites turned bright red and little white bumps formed and grew. The testing lady came back in to measure them, and I asked what the white bumps meant.
Her: "They mean you're allergic."
Me: "Oh? What to?"
Her: "Well... pretty much everything."
The first bump she was looking at meant I'm allergic to trees that are big in the spring. The second one meant I'm allergic to trees that are big in the autumn. The third meant I was allergic to trees that are big in the winter. And the fourth meant ragweed. When I got the final list back from the whole test, I was impressed. I'm apparently allergic to all trees, grasses, pollens and molds. Basically, the outside world is not my friend. :-D
It did confirm that I'm allergic to cat dander, which was reassuring because I knew it to be true.
The biggest concern I had was somewhat alleviated - I'm not allergic to dog dander. I am, however, EXTREMELY allergic to dust mites, and I have a breed of dog that sheds like mad as opposed to one that, say, doesn't shed much at all. And dust mites live off of stuff living beings shed. She is also low on the ground (with high monkey-grass around my apartment complex) and likely to trail pollen and other outdoorsy type things back inside with her when we go on walks, which doesn't help with those allergies, either. So while I'm not allergic to my dog *huggles the pug curled up on her lap*, she is exacerbating my other allergies. *sigh* Then again, so is the air quality in Dallas, so that's an internal debate for another day. Love my Sable, but love breathing, too. /-:
In the meantime, they tossed a couple of drugs at me. They also want me to come back in a month to see if it's helping enough, and said that, depending on my insurance policy, I might consider getting allergy shots to help with the outdoors and environmental allergy concerns before we move into the spring allergy season, since I tend to get bronchitis in the spring as it is.
Between the two doctors, I was expecting over $100 in prescription costs, but I was extremely pleasantly surprised to discover that the total came to a little over half that. Yay for generic drugs!
So the only thing left to figure out are these stupid little cuts that won't completely heal. Aaron says that if my body's been struggling with allergies, maybe settling out some of that will help, and I'm hoping he's right. The doctor I went to a couple of weeks ago while I had the flu had a couple of suggestions that I vaguely remember, so I'ma be giving that a go, too. I worry about the holes on my back because of them, but we shall see. Here's hoping.
Learning whether I'll be able to have kids when I'm ready, figuring out how to breathe normally again. I is happy with this. Working toward being healthy again. Really should start focusing on losing weight again. Just too much going on right now - yes, I know, eventually that excuse will wear thin, but I just don't have the energy to make it a long-term priority. And yes, I know that fixing it might change the energy thing, but the initial energy investment is beyond me just yet.
Hee, Sable is trying to crawl on my keyboard now, so I think it's time to kick her off of the lap and get to work on school stuff. Latahs, yo. (-:
I also decided to opt in for the HPV vaccination. I'm generally careful when it comes to such things, but one can never be too safe. Burned like a mother, though. Needle burned going in, vaccine burned going in, and my arm burned for a good couple of hours after. Still a little sore, but I'm not sure how much of that was vaccine and how much was allergy tests.
Which was the other half of my Friday afternoon. Made it to the allergist, on time no less, and they ran some tests. At first I sort of got the impression they weren't sure why I was there. (I was there because I've had a pretty persistent cough for most of a year and a half and miss being able to breathe deeply without it.) The initial breathing test they did came back fairly solid, but they tossed an inhaler at me and did a post-test to see if my numbers improved much. Which it did - yay, breathing.
They also did a skin test. That was an interesting experience. I've never lain in one place and let myself experience an itch or burn like that before. On the one hand, so very glad I'm something of a masochist. And it was certainly an interesting sensation. On the other hand, boo having little needle holes all over my back that I can't see to make sure they heal properly.
They did have to redo four of them, and used my upper arm for it. The same one that got the vaccine (and had blood drawn from it) earlier, because if there will be pain, why not center it on my non-main arm so that I can drive my awesome but power-steering-less car home. This time I got to actually see what they did, though the 15 minute wait was moderately more of a struggle because I could have scratched the itching oh so very easily. Ruin the whole point of the test, though, so managed to avoid it.
Anyhoo, they drew numbers on my arm and then took different needles and injected little bits of allergen-type-stuff just under the skin by each number. I watched over the next 15 minutes as the skin around the injection sites turned bright red and little white bumps formed and grew. The testing lady came back in to measure them, and I asked what the white bumps meant.
Her: "They mean you're allergic."
Me: "Oh? What to?"
Her: "Well... pretty much everything."
The first bump she was looking at meant I'm allergic to trees that are big in the spring. The second one meant I'm allergic to trees that are big in the autumn. The third meant I was allergic to trees that are big in the winter. And the fourth meant ragweed. When I got the final list back from the whole test, I was impressed. I'm apparently allergic to all trees, grasses, pollens and molds. Basically, the outside world is not my friend. :-D
It did confirm that I'm allergic to cat dander, which was reassuring because I knew it to be true.
The biggest concern I had was somewhat alleviated - I'm not allergic to dog dander. I am, however, EXTREMELY allergic to dust mites, and I have a breed of dog that sheds like mad as opposed to one that, say, doesn't shed much at all. And dust mites live off of stuff living beings shed. She is also low on the ground (with high monkey-grass around my apartment complex) and likely to trail pollen and other outdoorsy type things back inside with her when we go on walks, which doesn't help with those allergies, either. So while I'm not allergic to my dog *huggles the pug curled up on her lap*, she is exacerbating my other allergies. *sigh* Then again, so is the air quality in Dallas, so that's an internal debate for another day. Love my Sable, but love breathing, too. /-:
In the meantime, they tossed a couple of drugs at me. They also want me to come back in a month to see if it's helping enough, and said that, depending on my insurance policy, I might consider getting allergy shots to help with the outdoors and environmental allergy concerns before we move into the spring allergy season, since I tend to get bronchitis in the spring as it is.
Between the two doctors, I was expecting over $100 in prescription costs, but I was extremely pleasantly surprised to discover that the total came to a little over half that. Yay for generic drugs!
So the only thing left to figure out are these stupid little cuts that won't completely heal. Aaron says that if my body's been struggling with allergies, maybe settling out some of that will help, and I'm hoping he's right. The doctor I went to a couple of weeks ago while I had the flu had a couple of suggestions that I vaguely remember, so I'ma be giving that a go, too. I worry about the holes on my back because of them, but we shall see. Here's hoping.
Learning whether I'll be able to have kids when I'm ready, figuring out how to breathe normally again. I is happy with this. Working toward being healthy again. Really should start focusing on losing weight again. Just too much going on right now - yes, I know, eventually that excuse will wear thin, but I just don't have the energy to make it a long-term priority. And yes, I know that fixing it might change the energy thing, but the initial energy investment is beyond me just yet.
Hee, Sable is trying to crawl on my keyboard now, so I think it's time to kick her off of the lap and get to work on school stuff. Latahs, yo. (-: