Tuesday, August 12, 2008

ALLERGY TESTING

I had allergy skin testing today. It wasn't too bad.. just about 60 pricks of a needle in my upper arm.. most felt benign.. Ragweed hurt, stung, and itched immediately. I'm moderately allergic to most pollens, dust, RAGWEED, fungi, molds, grasses.. among others. Nothing showed severe- either it was a moderate wheal, or none. Because of where I live (out in farm country), and because I've had several bad asthma attacks, the allergist suggests I go for the shots to see if they will calm things down. It takes at least 12 weeks of weekly injections, an assessment of progress, and then either back to weekly or every other week. I have to admit, it is the better alternative to asthma.
The testing itself took about 3 hours.. results were collected periodically.. and recorded. The nurse reads the wheals, and plots them on a grid. She said any number that is circled shows a positive response to the allergen.. I had one that wasn't circled.. it was concrete allergy. Boy, was I glad to hear THAT!

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