Allergy attack part II.

I took it easy yesterday after returning home from the ER (which really sucked because I badly needed to be at work, but with my hands swollen it hurt to much to do anything requiring my hands). The meds they gave me made me sleepy, so I curled up on the couch to watch tv which inevitably led me to falling asleep. I woke up around 3 with my symptoms returning. My hands were getting more swollen then they'd been to begin with, and I was starting to develop swelling and a rash on the bottoms of my feet (which made it painful to walk). I hadn't really eaten anything but crackers, sprite, and water all day, so we were sure it wasn't something I ate.

Mr.P reminded me that Thursday evening his boss had dropped by with his dog (they live a few blocks away from us). Mr.P's boss and his shepard mix came in our house and hung out for an hour or so, with the dog moving around various spots on the floor near our couch. Was that what was bringing on the symptoms again? My bare feet were on the floor where the dog had been, and my feet began swelling within a few hours of being in that room. At that point I took a shower and relocated myself to the bedroom while Mr.P cleaned/vacumned the living room to remove any sign of dog. I dozed off again in bed, and when I woke later in the evening my puffiness had not subsided. We went out for dinner, and right after we got to the restaurant I began itching like crazy again. Mr.P noticed the rash/hives had developed over my neck, chin, and next to my eye (let me tell you how NOT attractive this looked!)

We went home and called the ER and they suggested I take another dose of the benedryl/zantac they'd given me, and if the symptoms didn't get better to come back in. An hour and a half later I was feeling worse, so we returned to the ER. This time they gave me prednisone in addition to an IV of benedryl. The itchining went away shortly, but the swelling wasn't any better. They kept me there for several hours, and finally they let me go home around 4 AM after they'd run a series of blood tests to check for other issues. This morning I woke up feeling better with my hands looking better (though they hurt like crazy, all the areas that were swollen now have this bruised sensation when I touch them to anything).

I'm going to make an appt tomorrow with my allergy clinic to get some new testing done, and in the meantime I'll be stearing clear of any homes that have dogs/cats. I feel bad because we have many friends who have animals that they love like children. I hope not to offend any of those friends, but until we figure out for sure what caused this severe reaction, I don't want to take any chances.

Stay puft marshmallow hands.

I quit taking my allergy medication about a month ago because of our TTC status...and so far I wasn't really having any problems (my severe seasonal allergies are the worst between April and August). All seemed well.

Last night I was at a friend's house watching a movie, and by the time I left there I was feeling really itchy. I just chalked this up to my having been exposed to a dog and cat for the evening (I'm mildly allergic to cats, moderately allergic to dogs). By the time I got home I was full blown itching like crazy. I got in bed and fell asleep, but woke up around 4 or 5 AM. I got up to use the bathroom, and when I looked in the mirror I could see a blotchy red rash over my face, along with severe swelling (my eyelids were so swollen my eyes looked like little slits). I looked down and noticed that my hands were also quite puffy. I was still itching and had a red rash over my arms and legs. I woke up Mr.P and we both got on our computers and started googling my symptoms. Some scary stuff came up, but he was able to calm me down and we decided that since I wasn't having any breathing problems we would go back to sleep and see how I was in a few hours.

When I woke up around 8, my symptoms were worse, and my left hand was so swollen I couldn't bend my fingers. We threw on some clothes and jumped in the car and drove to the emergency room. At that point I wasn't thinking it was an allergic reaction since I'd never experienced anything like it, I was panicing and thinking it was something horrible. Luckily the skilled nurse and doctor at UW Medical Center recongnized it as an allergic reaction and promptly hooked me up to an IV with medicine to reduce the swelling and itching. A couple hours later I was good to go, with my face looking much better (not really puffy, but still red and blotchy) and the itching had gone away. My hands are still pretty puffy, but not as bad. They wanted to cut my wedding ring off my finger, but Mr.P and I refused unless the swelling gets worse so that the circulation gets cut off, the ring will stay.

They weren't sure what caused my reaction, I didn't eat anything out of the ordinary, nor did I have any breathing problems from the attack (which is usually the first symptom of a food allergic reaction). They think that I may be having an increased intolerance to dogs and cats, and they referred me to get new allergy testing to check and see if anything has changed in the 8 months since my last allergy test. They also said that with these kinds of severe reactions, they tend to get worse with each exposure, so they said for now to avoid any contact indoors with any small animals. I now have a small arsenal of meds to take in the next few days to further reduce the swelling.