Anaphylaxis

J has food allergies. We ran out of places in Oklahoma City to help us. So we found a place in Dallas that we decided to try.

I have hay fever. It isn't new. But I seem to be getting more sensitive and I think the episodes are worse. During the caregiving period I became allergic to latex and once even had an anaphylactic episode.

Since we were both going to be at the clinic then I figured I would also have testing and look into both homeopathic treatment and immunotherapy.

They called it provocative testing. The tester takes a tiny amount of various allergens highly diluted in water and injects them just beneath the skin. A few minutes later he checks to see if a wheal has formed and what size it is.

The idea is to find the range of potency of the allergen that causes a reaction. Once that is known then a special compound of the antigens is formulated for periodic self-injection. Over time the potency is increased and the body learns to tolerate the allergen. In this way the actual cause of the allergic reaction is addressed and sometimes patients are able to completely avoid any medication.

It actually works pretty well for hay fever and many other kinds of allergies. But it is quite controversial for food allergies. On the other hand no one seems to have any better ideas other than avoiding all the food. That works pretty well uness you have nothing to eat as a result.

The first part of the test was for tree pollen. My first reaction was to Hackberry pollen. It was pretty mild but noticeable. I thought it was interesting because I have this old Hackberry tree on the farm. It is one of the few things there that is older than I am. I have always kind of liked that old tree.

Next he (his name is James) gave me the Juniper pollen. Whoa! I had a big reaction. I suspected I would because of a trip I made to Santa Fe in March of 2007. I had a terrible time on that trip and my cousin told me it was these Mountain Junipers. Juniper includes all these cedar trees we have everywhere around where I live. So it wasn't all that surprising.

Then we started on grasses.

I sat back down on my chair. I thought to myself this is feeling weird. The lady next to me was staring at my face. She told the tester "he's having an intense reaction." My left eye was swollen shut by then but I didn't exactly know it. My right eye was also swollen but I could still see. My mouth was hot like I had eaten a hot pepper maybe. And my tongue was swelling. It felt like my tongue was turning upside down in my mouth. Like curled up from side to side except upside down is how it felt. I wondered if I would swallow it except I don't know why I wondered that.

I started having a really hard time breathing. The others in the room said I was very red. My palms of my hands were bright red. I kept staring at them. Then my fingers turned blue. I had never seen that before. My nose was running. I was coughing. I needed water. I walked out to the water cooler and got one of those little cone things full of water. Someone got me a red plastic cup later.

I was not thinking very clearly although I did not know that at the time.

The tester gave me two injections of histamine that helped a lot. After a few minutes I thought I should tell Judy in case I died so I went to find her. I told her "I had a reaction" but it was pretty evident. I meant to tell her that I loved her and if I died I just wanted her to know that. But that was way too many words and I just could not get them all together and out of my mouth for some reason.

I went back and resumed my seat in the testing area.

The doctor kept trying to talk to me. He was standing and I was sitting. I think I finally told him that I couldn't turn my head up anymore and I'd have to talk straight ahead. But I really wanted to lie down and sleep and I wanted everyone to quit talking to me.

They took me back to this room and had me lie down. I was really cold by then and I was shivering. I tried to not shiver but I couldn't really stop it. My fingers were white. The doc said that was because the blood vessels were constricted. They checked my blood pressure and my oxygen. The nurse gave me a shot of Benadryl in my right arm into he muscle. It kind of hurt but not like a sharp pain. Then another nurse gave me another injection of some kind of steroid. I remember the doctor saying something about it but beats me what it was.

He gave Judy a prescription for EpiPens and told her to get some Benadryl and to give me more when we got to the hotel. I said I was fine and finally they let us leave. We walked out to the parking lot and I got in to drive. Judy was nice but said she thought I'd better let her drive so I got out and moved around to the passenger side.

I pretty much would do whatever anyone would tell me. I remember thinking that was funny that I was so compliant.

She found a Walgreen's and I waited on her in the car while she got the prescription. It took a long time. I slept but not very well.

Then she found the hotel. The map thing on the car is rather useful at times. I was able to check us in by that time and I carried in the suitcases and stuff. I had no energy and it was hard carrying stuff. I was definitely breathing hard but I offset it by going slowly. Judy gave me some more Benadryl and I went to sleep. I was still cold so I pulled all of the covers over me.

Sometime I became hot and then I got up for a while. I drank some juice and ate some dried blueberries I think. Then I went back to sleep and I don't remember anything else until morning.

We had to go back to the clinic. I drove. The doc asked me how I was doing and I told him "I am not excatly the sharpest knife in the drawer." My true wit!!

Then we went to Whole Foods and bought a few things and headed back home.

We're returning in a few weeks to have more tests. Hopefully there will not be any more reactions like this one.

But just in case I never get to post anything again I just want you all to know I love you.