Mystery: Solved

This past Friday I spent nearly three hours at the office of an allergist that came highly recommended by my regular doctor.  A lot needed to happen, so we did a lot.

First, I have a condition known as urticaria, which is just a fancy way of saying that my body has high levels of histamine at all times.  Because of this heightened state, only a little exposure to an allergen is enough to send my body into over-drive.  A big clue that it's urticaria and not simply a severe allergic reaction is that I never experienced anaphylaxis.

Once we established that I have urticaria, it was time to find out what was causing it.  So I got to go through a "scratch" allergy test.  A nurse poked the skin on my forearms with a sharp plastic instrument that had been dipped in a liquid form of an allergen.  She did this thirty to forty times.  After ten minutes, the doctor came and saw how swollen I was.  Other than the control allergen (which is pure histamine), none of them reacted that much.  This meant that I had to get larger concentrations.  To accomplish this, the nurse injected directed under my skin small amounts of each allergen.  Even though she used small amounts, it was still enough to make my skin balloon up (similar to a TB test).  She did this another thirty to forty times.  Fifteen minutes later, the doctor came to examine me.

The results were surprising: dust mites and mold (and minor reactions to pet dander).  This is surprising because the pattern of my hospital visits seemed to center around meals.  Just a coincidence, I guess.  Anyway, dust is everywhere, so it shouldn't be too surprising that it raised my histamine levels.  Now for the important part: what do I do about it?

I am going to receive an allergy shot once a week for five years.  At the end of five years, I'll be immune to all of my allergens.  It's a long time, but if I don't do it, I'll be no better off in five years.  While I don't particularly look forward to have to get a weekly shot, I donated plasma for two semesters in college, so needles don't really bother me (especially after get stuck at least thirty times in one sitting).  In addition to the shots, I have to take a Zyrtec once a day to control my symptoms while my immunity builds up.

The biggest relief out of all of this is that I finally know what was sending my to the emergency room.  Even though it's a pretty mundane answer, knowing means I can move forward and take measures to avoid the hospital and that is wonder news.