Things are looking up and BioAllergenix Visit

On Monday, we got back from our vacation to visit family in Colorado. Man, I miss the mountains!

I wondered before we went whether I would have problems with my allergies while I was in Colorado. I have been off of my allergy medications(store brand Claritin or Benadryl) for a few months now. I have only taken the Benadryl once or twice when I reacted to something I couldn't put my finger on but decided to nip it in the bud before it got too bad.

So, I did pack my Claritin and Benadryl just in case. I never did feel the need to use it, though, despite the Cottonwood trees and the sagebrush doing their thing, and it being haying season! I had a few brief bouts of runny nose and a few sneezes, and a few times that my throat/nose/eyes barely itched. But these came and went and other than using a tissue or two and using my NeilMed nasal rinse kit once or twice, I was fine as far as my allergies went!

The only thing I still have a sensitivity to that I can say for sure is chemical fragrances/smells. And those might just be normal reactions. I still have a bit of a hypersensitive sense of smell, and people's perfume makes my nose itch and throat/ears itch a bit sometimes. So does walking through the aisles full of cleaners or of pesticides and such in the stores.

When we came back to Ohio, I kind of came in fear and trepidation. I have dubbed August in Ohio as "Hell Month" because for about 5 years now every August has been completely horrible as far as allergies. It is when ragweed season starts, plus the corn plants begin to get moldy and who knows what else was a contributor. I spent the whole month of August in the last few years with completely clogged up sinuses that a rinse kit couldn't touch, taking Sudafed(the old kind) that just took the edge off, and still having itchy red watery eyes, itching ears, maddeningly itchy throat, sneezing, runny nose(yet clogged--how does that happen?). My skin even itched, even though there wasn't a rash to be seen! Just miserable. And this was when I was on daily antihistamines!

As a sidenote--My most horrible August allergy experience was 2 years ago when I decided to learn to can tomatoes. I didn't care if my "hayfever" was so bad, I was going to can those tomatoes! Horrible experience--hot, humid, no A/C......extremely itchy all over and runny nosed, miserable experience. Months later, I discovered I was allergic to tomatoes and FINALLY made the connection as to why I was even more miserable canning the darn things! Ugh!

Ok, back to the original topic--my allergies when we got back to Ohio.
My SIL is usually my barometer with the August allergies. I "fondly" remember after Ivy was born, SIL and I had what we *thought* was the most horrible cold of our lives and were standing in front of all the cold medicines in Meijer trying to find something we could take. We were both SO miserable and stuffed up and just felt horrible. Overall, though, her allergies haven't been nearly as bad as mine. She usually gets by on a little Benadryl when she needs it and has eaten *almost* whatever she wants with no problems, but come August she is almost as bad as me in the allergy department. The second thing I said to her when we came back and I saw her(the first was "Hi!") was "How are your allergies?" and her response was "Horrible! They have been bad all week!". I was glad...for me, not for her...because....


Da-da-da-Daaaa!

My allergies have so far been extremely minimal for this time of year! Nothing worth taking a Benadryl for or a daily Claritin. I have done the Neilmed nasal rinse once since we came back due to a little stuffiness but otherwise I am feeling pretty good! :)

Praise God! I don't know how the therapy I have been going through works, but it does seem to be working!


BIOALLERGENIX VISIT
I went to what I believe is my second-to-last BioAllergenix appointment for awhile, and then I will take a break and see how things go and maybe go in if I feel I am having any problems.

The testing I had done was an IgE scan, and they ran it on Mother tincture and on Total Tincture.

The things that came up were Poplar Trees, Sole Fish and Thyme(I knew there was a reason I didn't like thyme!).
I don't remember the last time I had sole, I tend to avoid thyme, and the poplar trees allergy might explain my slight off-and-on sneezing that I experienced just a little bit of while up in the mountains(aspen trees are in the same family).

So, I got treated for these and avoided them for the rest of the day.

I am so thankful to be feeling so much better than I have for some time. I don't remember a summer, EVER, not feeling miserable from allergies at some point(usually on a regular basis).

Praise God! :)