Achoo Friday Five

Mary Beth posted this Friday Five and I like it:"Hello, my name is Mary Beth, and I'm allergic to ligustrum."

So, thinking about allergies:

1. Do you experience any seasonal allergies? Are you allergic to anything else?

My allergies are year round. Grass, dust, mold, trees, goats, vitamin K etc. I have a sensitivity to spinach that keeps me in the wc for hours but I figured that out for myself! It took years, my mother said I was nervous as she served delicious spinach dishes which I wolfed down! Finally put two and two together when spinach salads became in vogue.

Every year when I was a kid I experienced itchy eyes, ears, sniffles, sneezing etc. My eyes would get so red! Also that place, the nexus between my ears, and throat.

2. What kinds of symptoms do you experience during your allergic reactions?
My father thought I had a cold-endless- and made me wear a sweater in the hot humid weather of the Ohio Valley. Finally I got worse and was sent to a specialist for my tonsils. He also happened to be an Allergist. And he tested my...every year for the next 17 years it seems. Oh, I also had scary nosebleeds and spent long periods of time on his back room leather chaise longe.

The last time he tested me, skin tests, I had moved away and was visiting my parents I went for an appointment and a referral in NY, I had the tests and scripts, then left. While waiting for my ride, I noticed some hived. I called the office and my voice was hoarse. by the time I got back upstairs I was in anapylactic shock. They treated me there! Scary...

3. How do you manage your allergies? (i.e: medication, avoidance, alternative therapies, etc)

I took shots for YEAR! Weekly, YEAR I say, YEARS. I stopped when my last allergist died. He was JFK's allergist, I learned from his obit in the NY Times. Now I take Zyrtec. It really works. At our decaying State Office Building, many of us have been developing strange allergies. I had an asthma attack and I'm normally only asthmatic around cats! The government runs slowly... They brought in an independent testing company and they found we have bad air, molds etc. Now I have an Epi Pen and inhalers in my desk. Sigh!

4. What is the strangest allergy you've ever heard of?

A friend, a lawyer, developed multiple allergies to chemicals after new carpets were installed in her office. She ultimately was fired.

5. How do you feel about school and social policies that banning peanuts and other allergens?

I for them!