Frustrated with Allergy Shots--What Now???

I went on the elimination diet, as my allergist recommended, and stayed on it. Except for accidental exposure/ingestion of my allergens, I didn't cheat. I started the shots as well.

I did feel somewhat better, but not great. And when ragweed season(August--read: Allergic Hell month) came, I felt HORRIBLE. No better than if I was just taking Loratadine every day. And I was taking it every day AND getting the shots AND avoiding all of my known allergenic foods and their families...and still felt horrible and could barely function.

I tried to add foods back in, but with no sure success. So then I would go back on the diet until I had the week of no reactions, and then try a different food....and have some sort of reaction, and then back on the diet until I had a week of no reactions, which took forever to get to that point...

I had very little success in adding any new foods in. When I asked the allergist or his assistant about what to do, I was told to give the new food a month to be sure I was or wasn't reacting. I suspected my cycles to have something to do with how/when I reacted to things, so the thought was to give it the whole month and see if there was a pattern. Obviously, if I had an obvious immediate reaction, I would quit that food and go back on the elimination diet until I had a week free of reactions, and then attempt to add back a different food.

Over the course of the time I was on the elimination diet, I repeatedly tried to add wheat back in. According to my skin testing, I should have been ok with it, but I could tell I was having reactions to it. Not the immediate reaction, but a few months ago I noticed that when I ate something with wheat flour(using flour from the corn-free foods list), I would get the hiccups. After 3 days of having wheat, I developed back pain under the left shoulderblade, heartburn, and then progressed to abdominal pain and other symptoms.

I believe I was also becoming more and more sensitive to new things. It was like my body was saying "Hey, my allergens are gone--I need something new to react to--let's react to something else!".
I started reacting noticeably to things such as dishwasher detergent, scented dishsoap, people's perfume/aftershave smell, fabric softener smell on other people's clothes, food smells in the air. Exposure to these things would cause me to have instant brain fog, itchy nose, sinus irritation/drainage and headache.
If I washed the kids' hair with baby shampoo or used conditioner, or got conventional dishwashing liquid on my hands, they would be raw, cracked and sore for 3 days.

I also started to have a stiff neck, jaw pain/clicking, constant drainage down my throat, clogged sinuses. Finally I was able to get a Rx from the allergist(antibiotics-a Z-pack) and started feeling better...but then THAT caused other issues(read: yeast problems) that the allergist only wanted to treat with creams. I suspected systemic yeast problems but could not get a Rx for a systemic antifungal. In an attempt to get control over the yeast, I started making my own kefir and drinking that everyday.

In addition to the struggle of adding new foods(and trying to stick to the crazy limited diet) and becoming more sensitive to new things, and the sinus problems, my shots were giving me problems. I've always had problems with my left arm itching after the shots and had mentioned it to the doc. He told the nurses to make sure I had taken my Loratadine, do an epi rinse on the needle before getting the serum ready, then follow the shot with a cream and then ice. Well, I was still itching as the shots increased. Then they reformulated my serums, making them weaker. Still, my left arm was itching for days. Especially if/when I was exposed to something I was allergic to--even something like, say, the smell of a Sharpie marker(which contains corn).

All of these problems got worse over the holiday season(and I stuck to my diet the best I knew how, fixing my own dishes for Thanksgiving and Christmas and avoiding the rest of the family's food for the most part).

In October, I found a thread in the Avoiding Corn forum about a treatment for allergies called Advanced Allergy Therapeutics, or AAT. Come to find out, there was a AAT doc(Chiro) near me. I wasn't ready to jump in yet (seeing as I have been paying for all this allergy stuff out-of-pocket and I am not monetarily rich), but happened to find someone from another state that was going to the AAT doc near me. I began to follow their journey and correspond via email to get updates as to how things were going for them. They were having excellent success and were able to eat the foods they were allergic to with no problems. They really encouraged me to make an appointment.

I asked my conventional allergist what his thoughts were in regards to AAT, and was told "Nothing has been proven with those types of treatments. There are only testimonials, but no scientific evidence. I wouldn't advise throwing too much money in their direction."

I took his advice with a grain of salt, knowing that his whole background was likely from Western medicine. I also knew that his therapy-the shots-only had an 85% likelihood of working(after $1000's of dollars invested), and his therapy would not even address the food allergy issues unless you count the *possible* indirect "get the pollen/mold/epithelial allergies under control and *maybe* then your body will quit reacting to foods"...

FINALLY, in January, I made an appointment with the AAT doc for Valentine's Day. I waited for that day, wondering what it would bring. Would the testing show any similarities to the skin prick testing? Would the treatments work? Would I react to the treatments? Could I start to live a normal life again and not constantly be worried about what to eat, what to breathe, what to wash with, for pete's sake???

And would I go broke with this therapy?

Only time would tell.

Conventional Allergist Care

Back to the continuation of the allergy story. :)

I am writing all this in hopes of helping others that find themselves diagnosed with multiple food allergies. In my research and experience, people diagnosed with multiple food allergies are given very little information or resources(unless they are top 8 allergens) and are left to fend for themselves. It is easy to feel alone, overwhelmed and somewhat desperate. The good news is that it doesn't have to stay that way. I have learned a lot, and as I seek health and start feeling better, I want to pass the information on to others that might benefit from it.

So, I had suspected Salicylate Sensitivity and gone on a low-sal diet for a time. I felt a little better, but not significantly so.

Finally, in the spring of last year, I went in to my family doctor and told her all my sorrows. She promptly referred me to an allergist, where my eyes were opened even further as to just how far-reaching my allergies were.

The allergist talked with me for a bit about my symptoms and what I suspected as allergens and what I was doing about it(Claritin wasn't working). I told him that I really suspected Salicylates, and he told me there was no test for that. Then he ordered skin prick testing on both arms. One arm with 74 pricks testing for pollens, molds, and epithelials(dust mites, cat and dog dander, etc) and one arm with 71 pricks testing for foods.

The two nurses did the skin pricking and left the room, telling me not to move or scratch my arms. When they returned, they were amazed at the array of reactions and told me I won the prize of the day for most/worst reactions. (I should have asked them at that point if the prize was not having to pay for the testing, lol.)

For pollens/molds/epithelials, I reacted to all trees except evergreen needled types, about 2/3 of the molds they tested for, cat dander, dog dander, dust mites and guinea pigs.

For foods, I reacted to Corn, Soy, Coconut, Peanut, Pecan, Pistachio, Hazelnut, Garlic, Mushroom, Celery, Cauliflower, Tomato and Potato. The severity of the reaction is measured on a scale of 1-4. Soy was a 2 and the rest were between a 3-4++.

I was told to take Zyrtec every day(but I questioned the wisdom in that since Zyrtec contains obvious corn, and he then said to take Claritin. Claritin also has obvious corn in it, and I later changed to a store brand with at least lesser corn.)

I was given a list of food families and told to avoid all of my food allergens AND THEIR FAMILIES (as well as the foods not on the list that I knew I reacted to already) for at least 3 weeks. After a week of having no allergic symptoms, I could add one food a week. If I reacted to that food, then I would have to go off of it and not introduce a new food until I had one full week of no allergic reactions.

Oh, and if I wanted to treat the pollen allergies, I could sign up and get the immunotherapy shots for 2-5 years. But the understanding there is that it does NOTHING for foods, other than to hope that if the pollen allergies lessen, my immune system might tolerate these foods again.

Sounds relatively simple, right? A few rules, but not too bad (Hey, I'm trying to be positive here!).

I started the diet, and then, not knowing what else to do(and not wanting my allergies to increase to the point of anaphlaxis, as my allergist suggested might happen), I signed up for the shots.

Little did I know the Challenges in store for me.