More testing today for me

[Rajah]

Fire-ant allergy testing, to be specific. I don't know why, but I'm more nervous about this one than I was about the regular allergy testing.

At least I'm going to get it over with, though, and can get back to taking my allergy medicine. These past few days since I had to stop taking my claritin in prep for this testing have been miserable allergy-wise.

 

[Wendy]

I feel for you! I have to go in for allergy testing Friday morning and they didn't want me taking any of my medication at all for 5 days prior. I'm miserable! Ugh!

 

[Shellie722]

I had over 200 allergy tests done last summer and the none of the "stinging insect" tests were bad. They did those as well as a third latex test by drawing blood and somehow testing it. How are they doing yours? I think the ones that were the worst for me was the 36 IDs in one day. (Intradermal- where they make a blister w/ a smal needle just under the skin on your arms and inject the allergen) Those definitely hurt the most. Good luck w/ your tests today!

 

[Rajah]

To my knowledge, this one is another insert-syrum-under-skin-in-arm thing. But I would guess that it's going to be one poke at a time. I do know they said they test weakest first, and if you react, you're done. If you don't, then they test the next one something like an hour later, and repeat until up to 4 hours have gone by or you react, whichever comes first. So I'm in for a long afternoon.

At least I can hopefully do some hand-piecing for one of my first attempts at quilting!

 

[fklhou]

You have to be careful with fire ants.down here in Houston A tax attorney who I really loved doing deals with was allergic to fire ants. Peat Marwick (now KMPG) had to transfer him to their Chicago office after he has attacked a couple of times by fire ants with the last attack nearly killing him.

My kids laugh at me going around the yard with fire ant poison. It is difficult to get rid of these critters.

Good luck.

 

[Rajah]

Yeah, that's why I'm getting tested. After laying the hose this fall and getting bitten by something like 2 fire-ants left me unable to use the hand that was bitten for 3-4 days because it was so swollen, the allergist STRONGLY recommended getting tested and I now have an epi-pen.

Fire-ants aren't anything to joke about, and I wish they'd disappear off the face of the earth.

 

[oldkicker]

Good luck today, Rajah.

 

[perdidobay]

Same thing happened to me too Rajah....I now carry an Epi-pen.
Good luck with the testing.
MJ

 

[mrsapalm]

Originally posted by Rajah
[B But I would guess that it's going to be one poke at a time. [/B]

On the next episode of "One Poke At A Time," Rajah has to undergo excruciating.... no, wait...... bloodcurdling.... nope..... bone-chilling tests. Stay tuned.

But seriously Tammi - (((hugs))) to you - I hope it all goes well and may your needles be tiny and painless. I feel for ya. At least they're not doing one poke per day. Sorry - reaching far here for something light-hearted. But after all of this joking, I bet you're hoping you'll feel better very soon so you can give me the middle finger in person.
Good luck!
-MrsAPalm

 

[Rajah]

ROFL Andrea! I'd never give you the middle finger, you know that! And you did make me laugh.

I'm just hoping that the gentle nurse is the one who will be doing the testing. One of them is more gentle than the other.

 

[Boots]

Hope all goes well! {{{{HUGS}}}}

 

[JohnTBap]

Good luck!!

 

[nativetxn]

How did it go with the testing today, sweetie?

Fire ants are nasty critters and you just can't get rid of them no matter what you do.

 

[Rajah]

Thanks for asking. I would've posted an update last night when I got home or this morning when I got up, but our internet was down *entirely* all that time. Again. I am getting SO tired of that.

Testing went fine. Took about 3 hours. Actually, the testing itself only took about 45 minutes, but they dragged their feet before letting me go, probably because I reacted strongly enough to the venom that they wanted to keep me a little longer for observation.

There is absolutely no question that I am allergic, *very* allergic, to fire ants. Badly enough that it might not be safe for me to do the gardening that I'd like to do. I'm going to have to have DH poison the yard constantly if I want to get out there and garden.

I think the doc said the syrum they use is something like one part fire ant in 10K parts solution, or even more dilute (he may have said 100K). Whatever the case, when they did the testing first on the inside of the forearm (that is the part of the arm between wrist and elbow, right?) which was a poke test, I reacted within 5 minutes and had a rash the size of a silver dollar. When they did the under-the-skin on the other arm part, my arm *literally* turned the color of my mulberry shirt, and I had very large bumps due to the insertion. Now they're just tiny red dots, but there was no question at all.

So, starting in a couple of weeks and maybe even next week, I'm adding fire ant treatment to my allergy treatments.

Best thing to do, though, would be move out of Texas. I've been wanting to move to southeastern Colorado or northern New Mexico *anyway*, so maybe I can convince DH to move in a few years now.

 

[fklhou]

It is good that you know at least so you can take precautions. As I mentiion earlier, I had a friend who had to move out of Texas due to his allergy.

Good luck.