Back at the end of September I had a horrible hive break out. It started about lunch/after lunch and didn't go away until 10pm that evening. I have shots from 3pm, 6pm and 9:30pm.
This was taken at 3pm
This was taken at 6pm.
This was taken at 9:30pm.
I have more photos but I think you get the point. I was covered from head to my knees in hives. At first I initially thought they were bug bites. (All this time I thought bugs loved me in Austin and I would have to come get my place sprayed but now I realized that some of these "bug bites" were really hives! None of my prior breakouts have been nearly this bad.) I finally went to see the nurse next door to get some cream for it but she took one look at it and told me they were hives. I took two Benadryls and it didn't seem to help.
Thankfully I messaged my family and my brother said Zyrtec works for him. I was miserable and scared...just waiting to go to the ER in case I wasn't able to breathe when I finally went to get some Zyrtec. I took it shortly after 9pm. You can see from the photo above that was taken at 9:30pm. I was able to watch hives pop up on my body and watch it grow. By 10pm most of them gone and the pain and itchiness was also gone!
I've been highly allergic to many things all my life but have NEVER been to see an allergist. I'm either crazy or stupid or both. This put enough scare in me that I made an appointment with an allergist and saw him soon after this episode.
The skin test which isn't always accurate showed that I'm highly allergic to many, many environmental things. Good to know so I"ll stay away as much as possible from them and take my allergic meds during high season. The food tests came back negative and the person that did the test told me they usually come back negative. I felt mine also had to be related to food since it happened around lunch time.
I went to a vegetarian restaurant in Austin so I had a large salad and a few bites of bread before it fell on the floor. Harmless enough? Not really but I guess the universe was really telling me something.
I pressed my allergist to do more test. He agreed. 6 vital of blood later and a hematoma, we found out that I'm highly allergic to fire ants. I'm so allergic that her prescribed me an epipen. The last time I recall an ant bite was September 2012 and my foot swelled up. For those of you that don't know too much about allergies, it's usually after several exposures to things you're allergic to that makes it worse. I've been bitten by ants before but the September 2012 one was a pretty bad reaction for one little ant. He cautioned me that ants tend to bite several times or there may be several ants so for me to be cautious.
On to food allergies. I was able to test up to 23 foods. I knew what I had at the restaurant so I checked them off to be tested. My test came back positive to wheat. He wants me to avoid wheat and gluten. The level I'm allergic to them thankfully isn't as high as the fire ants but I'm allergic none the less. I'm not gluten intolerant or sensitive. I'm allergic to it. I may not go into anaphylactic shock from it but it taxes my immune system and can cause other issues.
After avoiding most of wheat and gluten (not exactly the same thing but I avoid both,) for a few months, I was a little careless in November during my birthday. A few bites here and there of cake and tastes when eating out with friends made me feel like I was sick a few days later. I put two and two together shortly after. Same thing with Christmas. I stayed away from big amounts of wheat/gluten but still had some in sauces (so hard to avoid!) like the enchilada sauces, salsa, etc that I had itchy legs while in NM. I know it's dry there and it was winter but I'm starting to know how I pay for consuming it.
My red blood count (RBC) is almost always low. It's been like this for the past 8 years. I think I may have posted on it. My hemoglobin is in the low range so never really concerned my doc regarding anemia. Anyway, my RBC when I did all the lab work for my allergy test showed that my RBC is in the low normal range which is uncharacteristic.
I'm usually high on my MCH which is the hemoglobin amount per red blood count.
My platelets PLT are always in the range I wanted to show this comparison.
I didn't really think about it until today's lab results.
RBC range is 4.2 to 5.4/MCH range is 27-31/PLT range is 130-400.
October 4, 2010 4.07/32.4/249
December 29, 2010 3.93/32.7/241
April 26, 2011 4.08/31.8/257
September 2, 2011 4.02/32.8/246
March 26, 2012 4.05/32.1/248
September 24, 2012 4.06/32.8/253
March 18, 2013 4.03/31.9/263
September 16, 2013 right before the hive breakout was 4.09/32.6/243
October 11, 2013 my allergist just tested my RBC but it was 4.43! This was with just a week or two without wheat/gluten!
Drum roll please! This is about 6 months after my breakout so I've only consumed minimal wheat/gluten:
March 17, 2014 it was 4.44/30.1/318
My RBC never have gotten above 4.09 since 2010 and My MCH has always been high and never gotten below 31.8. My PLT has always been in the norm but have always been in the 200's and now it's in the 300's!
So NOW I know why my labs were so good! I'll need to email my doc about it and hope to see the same results six months from now! I'm not happy I gained 2 lbs since I last saw her but this is good news! I think my immune system is happier with me and not taxing my body as much! Yahoo!
Wheat is my enemy though it look so harmless.
Anyway, so much more to blog about but wanted to get this out there for those of you experiencing some issues with your allergies and low labs. Our diet is so important. Knowing what is wrong with your body is so important and keep pressing your docs to run more tests! Pay for it out of pocket (if you can afford it that is) if you have to! I never thought I ate that much wheat/gluten because I never ate so much carbs to begin with but I guess I ate just enough to tax my immune system. So imagine if I ate the standard American diet of it! Yikes! Also, I never blogged about my Italy trip! I went last April/May 2013 and ate too much dairy and pasta and pastries. I thought my allergies and tummy issues were from the pine tree and possibly too much dairy and pasta since I usually don't consume most of it. I was suffering a great day and by day three I was mainly dairy and pasta free until just dinner. I was able to make it through the rest of the trip just fine but I did sneeze and have itchy eyes throughout my Italy trip. For some reason I did bring two Bendryl and took the two while in Italy. London wasn't such an issue mainly because I was able to find Whole Foods and eat more greens and kale juice there.
More about my change in diet and gluten but wanted to share this amazing discovery of my labs!
