For the last couple of weeks, I have been Missing in Action otherwise known as MIA. I have had a LOT of stuff going on. A co-worker has been ill and was put into the hospital, so I have been, along with other co-workers, picking up all the extra work. Extra work that I really do not have the energy for to be honest. It has been wearing me out.

Then, Saturday night, I went to a friend’s little sister’s birthday party. When I came home that night, I had started itching around my waist extremely bad. Sunday morning, I woke up with two small dime-sized rashes on my waist. So, I did what any normal pharmacy technician would do, I bought some hydrocortisone cream and benadryl. Monday morning, I awoke to an intense itching, and to my absolute HORROR, I saw many new welts had developed, all along my waistline plus one on the bend of my leg. I knew it was not poison ivy or oak because it does not weep nor spread like that.

Some of my friends suggested I had shingles because of the band it had made along my waistline, so I went to the doctor. He ruled out shingles due to it passing the midline, although it does look similar to it he said. He ruled out poison ivy and oak, but stated that I had contact dermatitis. The doctor has NO clue to what is causing it, and prescribed a prescription strength topical steroid cream, along with Claritin in the morning and more Benadryl at night. He told me I may have to actually take steroid medication or get a shot. I personally vote for the shot. The pills caused tremendous weight gain in me last time, not to mention severe nausea.

So far, the cream is helping a little bit with the not so severe spots, but new ones keeping popping up. The only thing we can think of that changed was washing my clothes at my parents in the new 2x detergent. Since I am allergic to a lot of stuff as it is, I am having a hard time figuring out just what exactly IS causing this. I honestly am absolutely miserable, so if anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears and eyes at this point….

As a child, I never had a single allergy. I only suffered from sinus infections. I never went through the sneezing, itchy-water eyes, etc that I saw so many of my classmates afflicted with. I never broke out in the hives from being outside when the cedar trees were pollinating. I could smell the flowers, and ENJOY them. My mom was allergic to everything it seemed. All types of evergreen trees, periwinkle flowers, dog dander, erythromycin, tetracyclin, penicillin, etc. I was very PROUD of not being allergic to anything, well except to carrots, but it was a very mild reaction. Then one day, my life changed.

When spring rolled around, my eyes would either water or dry up. My skin would get all dry and itchy, no matter HOW much lotion I applied. And then, after having a cut on my arm and playing among the trees, I actually got a poison oak/ivy outbreak. It spread like wild fire. Now, I can bring in firewood, and if there is residue on the wood, I break out from it. If someone is burning poison ivy/oak, I break out on all sorts of areas of my body. As I have aged, it seems like now I am allergic to EVERYTHING. I have become.. dum, dum dummmm….my mother ARGHHHH!!!

 People come through work wearing certain perfumes, and it sets my allergies on crazy alert. Freesia especially sends me into orbit. Also, I seem to be allergic to medications that my mother is not..such as cephalexin (keflex), augmentin (but not amoxicillin which means I must be allergic to augmentin’s other half or a filler of it), to zoloft, and any sulfa antibiotic. That being said, not all medications containing sulfa will cause an allergic reaction, it just depends on the specific type of sulfa medication because of its chemical make-up. I am also allergic to sulfur itself. You want to see an itchfest, then just put me in a non-ventilated room, and strike up a bunch of matches. I can’t breathe and my skin just breaks out in rashes everywhere. And not all doctors know exactly which medications contain certain things.

I was on zoloft for many years, but as time went on, I started having itchiness all the time, plus, it got to the point where it felt like bugs were crawling in my skin. Do you know how scary that is? I called up my pharmacist, he asked if I had any allergies, and I said sulfa..and was told to immediately stop the medication because of the MAJOR allergic reaction I was having to it. My doctor was upset that I stopped my medication suddenly when it should be tapered off, but after explaining my reaction, apologized to me for not knowing that it contained sulfa.

I also enjoy eating Mexican and Tex-Mex food. Unfortunately, it seems that many restaurants want to place cilantro in all of their dishes. WHY? I scream! Parsley is one thing, but cilantro?!? It is not a necessary herb to the dish. I have asked my Hispanic friends and been told that traditional Mexican food doesn’t use cilantro. You want to see anaphylactic shock, then put cilantro in my food. It turns out cilantro AND carrots are both part of the parsley family..DOH!

And you can forget me walking into Hallmark or Bath and Body Works. I LOVE the lotions from Bath and Body Works, but all the fragrances from both places not only give me a sick headache, but they start up an allergy attack, and when it gets to that point, my asthma usually flares up. Plus, lots of companies kept putting fragrances in their products now, which is almost just as bad, especially detergents. I jokingly tell my friends that I really need to trade in for a new body, but they like to point out, I could end up with much worse. I know some kids outgrow their allergies, but I’d like to de-evolve mine