Life By Lindsey Rae

Monday I got up early because I had a very early appointment for June 5th to get re-tested for allergies. Well, it turned out Monday wasn't June 5th...that was Tuesday...so after I went down to the Doctor only to find that out,(haha) I went back early on Tuesday morning.
I was quite excited to get my tests done. I had my first allergy tests back in Janurary of 2006 and at that time I was surprised to find that I had developed allergies to quite a few things that had never bothered me as a kid. I have been getting allergy shots for a few months now, but I haven't responded at all. It does take awhile, but my Doctor said that I should have some improvement. I am still getting all the really bad symptoms, the worst being chronic daily headaches. It is all quite debilitating. I hate to complain...but it's hard not to.
Anyway, I had to wait over a month to get in! And I'm not even a new patient! (Once again this Canadian will maintain asking the question, "Now what is the benefit of privitized health care that truly makes it better?")

Initially when they test you they test for things that most people in the area are bothered by, but this time they were testing me for more specific things that they might need to add to my allergy shot. I got tested for about 80 things this time! It was crazy! Anyone who has ever been tested knows it's not so fun...long and very uncomfortable. They do a topical test where they put the liquid drops directly onto your skin and so you have to just sit there and can't move your arms at all for 20 minutes straight so the drops will stay in place. Well, for a person with ADD, this is pure torture. Really, the first thought is, "Uh, how about you just shoot me instead? Might be less painful."
Then, (this is the crazy part) I got under the skin tests, and I got 37 shots in one arm at one time! I couldn't believe it. Actually, the girl who gave them to me is pretty good at giving shots, which I was glad to have her, because one of the girls there is new and she hurts me a lot. But anyway, the girl I got is from the Bahamas so she talked to me about being both being immigrants and green cards the whole time she was sticking all those needles in my arm and so it distracted me. But when she was finshed poking me I looked down and realized what she had done to me and I was shocked! Now I look like I have chicken pox because I have red spots all over my arms.
Well, after all that I got tested for all those things, only a few came back positive enough to be something to be treated for. Last time I tested positive for both types of dust mites, cats, dogs, cockroaches, Pigweed, Bermuda grass, a bunch of trees and a bunch of kinds of molds. This time came back showing more specific molds. So, maybe that's why Tennessee has been harder on me because of the humidity and the extra moisture that we never had in Canada, causes more mold. But the worst of it is that I'm really allergic to food molds! Like bread, cheese, sour cream, ketchup, relish, mayo, vinegar...that sort of thing. I'm so sad about it! I'm so picky and don't hardly like to eat anything as it is! And bread is my favorite food, but now I'm not supposed to eat it! I can still eat the foods sometimes, just not supposed to eat them as often and not combinations of them. But like with bread, I liked to eat it with every meal. Now, I should probably not even eat it everyday.
Oh well, I guess I can just hope that maybe once they get my new allergy shot mix done and I get that in my system it will help some of these terrible symptoms I've had for so long. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired all the time!