Allergies SUCK!

Ok, everyone knows I am allergic to cats and dogs (though cats don't seem to bother me as much) but now I am also allergic to everything.

I have been having some issues with the asthma since I moved...not just allergies but the actual breathing part (claritin helps the allergies) so I decided to go to an allergy doctor here...plus I HATED mine in Atlanta and there are different pollens here...more hardwoods, no pine. Yesterday was the big day and sorry for complaining so much on FB about no meds all weekend. They decided that since I hadn't been in a while they would test me again to see what I was allergic to....so, they poked me 42 times...yep, 42 and discovered that I am allergic to every pollen they tested me for, ragweed, horses (random, why do they even test that and I have ridden them before with no issue), cats, dogs, and dust mites. The only thing I wasn't allergic to was mold...so I guess that is good. The doc said that the cats are probably just the straw that broke the camel's back. I am equally allergic to dust mites ....which are EVERYWHERE and there is no way to prevent them totally, you just have to wash stuff and get rid of them. SO, since I am equally allergic to those I was pretty much at my tolerance level so when you add the kitties it sends me over the edge. Fun times. I am really glad that he didn't tell me to get rid of the cats because that is not an option. As silly as it sounds, I am only home half the time and I love them so much that the benefit of getting rid of them would not outweigh the sadness we would feel. I do have to work on not letting them sleep with us (I think that will be harder on Craig than them and I don't feel as bad since there are two of them and they can cuddle together).

The other piece of news was a little more concerning but I guess not any more surprising. Whenever you go to the asthma doc they have you do this little thing where you blow into a tube and it measures your lungs and some doc stuff I don't understand. Well, I didn't do so well so they made me do a breathing treatment. The sad part is that I didn't know I felt bad. I have had this happen before...when I was younger I went to the doc for a regular checkup and they wanted to put me in the hospital because I was so bad off but I felt fine. It was a little scary but I thought it was a one time event. Apparently I don't have any perception of when my asthma is really bad...this sucks for two reasons. 1. by the time I FEEL bad, it is REALLY bad and 2. since I can't tell when I feel bad my doctor wants to put me on meds every day.

I am a little more than upset by all of this. I was on medicine from the time I was 8 until my last year of college and I was so proud of myself for getting off of them. Now it looks like I am going to be right back on it. I have been trying so hard to eat less processed foods and have been doing well at it and now I have to put chemicals in my body every day (I didn't take Claritin every day). I guess the good news is that supposedly the medicine I am on is pretty low dose and I just needed a little kick but that still doesn't make me feel a ton better.

We are going to get an air purifier and some encasings for our bed stuff which should all but eliminate the dust mites and then help a little with the kitties. Since I wasn't doing anything with the dust mites before I am hoping this will help balance out the addition of the cats.

Sorry for the downer post and in the spirit of the holiday, I am thankful that I am relatively healthy and that to most people this would seem so minor.