OK so I’m miserable. I have this history with rashes. I’m fairly allergic to certain things (ragweed, grass, wool, certain kinds of self-tanner, certain antibiotics). One of the reactions I often get is a rash, or hives. Usually a reaction like this reacts very well to steroids, and I’m better within a day of starting them. But not this time.
About a week and a half ago I started having an allergic reaction to something. I don’t know what it was, since I wasn’t in contact with anything that usually makes me react, and I haven’t changed my diet or my medications or anything like that (or at least I don’t think I did). It started with just a hive - one hive, on my neck, which started on a Friday but was gone by Sunday. I figured “Oh well, false alarm.” Then last Monday morning (8/11) I woke up with a GIANT swollen lower lip. I mean, my lip looked like a hot dog. It was gross! So I went to the doctor.
“Allergic reaction,” was the theory. Doctor gave me prednisone, advised me to take benadryl if I could handle it, continue taking Zyrtec (which I already take daily for the grass, ragweed, etc.), and make an appointment with the allergy clinic for testing. Over the next five days, I got worse, not better. My lip stopped swelling and returned to its normal dimensions, but I started getting hives all over my body. Really different from hives I’ve had in the past - very wide, spread out, flat, curvy looking things. Almost like an abstract floral or paisley pattern! Weird. So this past Saturday I went to the doctor again.
I was worried maybe I was actually allergic to prednisone, but he didn’t think so. He gave me a stronger dose, and switched me from Zyrtec to Allegra - every eight hours. So now I’m pumping myself full of steroids and antihistamines and guess what - I’m getting worse. The itching is much worse, the pattern is more widespread. It has crept from my shoulders to my neck to the back of my scalp, and also down onto my torso and my hips. Basically, I’m in itchy, paranoid agony. I stayed home from work today to take benadryl and try to sleep, but this time the benadryl didn’t help. I’ve tried various other home treatments - cool compresses, ice, cool baths and showers, aloe vera gel - but nothing seems to help very much.
So tonight I go to bed hoping and praying there’s some improvement by tomorrow. If there isn’t, I am not sure what to do. Allergic reactions like this are the hardest to treat since the cause is completely unknown, although I think I have some theories. For instance, I never used to use Splenda at all but I recently started putting it in my iced tea, and I have been drinking A LOT of iced tea. So I stopped using Splenda completely as of yesterday, but I haven’t improved yet. Still hopeful that’s the ticket though.
I guess if I get up and have hives or swelling on my face, or the itching is so bad I can’t handle it, I’ll have to go to the doctor again and beg for a steroid injection or something. Certainly if it starts causing any tightness in my throat then I’ll have to probably go to the hospital. Insane! Oh and this doesn’t even touch on the strange side effects I get from taking so much prednisone - weird manic episodes, sweats, increased appetite, nausea, food tastes funny, etc.
I did make an appointment with the allergy clinic - but not until September 4. I have to stop all antihistamines completely for five days before my appointment, and I’m dreading it. I just wish I could wake up tomorrow with all of this gone.
