General Discussion

cubicles where patients waited after being injected. The routine was to start with the doc for an initial interview. Then he ordered the types of tests. A nurse injected the allergens being tested and said she would be back in 15 minutes to check the results. Then she moved on to the next cubicle.

I was 35 when the tests were done and had never been fully tested before. Since childhood, I'd had numerous "colds" every year and bouts of abdominal cramps, which were assumed to be flu, plus frequent bouts of tonsillitis. So I had a tonsillectomy at age 6. But I still got sick often. As an adult, none of the GPs I'd seen had considered allergies or asthma when I got bronchitis so often.

My husband insisted that I get fully tested after a scarey reaction to a pet rabbit.

The allergist was visibly skeptical of the variety of symptoms and substances that I told him about in the initial interview. I think he thought that I was a hypochondriac.

After the epi shots took effect, the doc said that I had reacted positively to all but 4 of the allergens. But how could he know with my entire arms swollen instead of little bumps as positive reactions?

So I found another allergist who tested each substance individually, with a nurse at my side throughout the tests.

My childhood illnesses turned out to be allergies to our real pine Christmas tree each year, my wool blanket and feather pillow, my mother's pet parakeet, and the pollens in our backyard flower and vegetable gardens. Plus tree and grass pollens, fungi (mushrooms), several foods, and some meds.

Avoiding the worst allergens is automatic routine now. Some food reactions are so mild that I can eat them in small amounts. I became desensitized to some allergens after treatments, and keep antihistamines on hand for pollen seasons. So I rarely get any reactions any more.