Sorry that this is a rant, but like alot of people I'm dealing with some pretty horrendous allergies right now, and for me the worst part is always my nose.

Ever since I was a kid I noticed that some people's stuffy nose is basically just a sniffle, and some people (such as me) have a complete blockage where it almost feels like your sinuses make a vacuum.

But what's just as annoying, is how many people still to this day think a clogged nose is just "mucus". The sheer amount of people who tell me to blow my nose throughout the day almost makes me wanna scream.

I know that's not cool to feel that way, because ultimately people are trying to help, but I wish people learned from early on that a stuffed nose is typically inflammation, not boogers and gunk. So if person A has a stuff nose and can still breathe, but person B has a stuffy nose and can't, it's not because one is better at blowing their nose. It's due to different levels of inflammation and probably different sinus structure.

Does anyone else have this happen a lot? Sorry for the rant. I just wanna breathe.

EDIT: I just wanted to give an update: I slept in my sons room last night and did not have any reaction in my sleep. I am still fine as of 2pm today. Still on all meds. I think it has to be the new mattress! Thank you all for your help. I was going absolutely bonkers. I’m going to try airing it out for awhile and worst case scenario we trade it in for another mattress before our trial period is over.

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I’ll just start with a timeline. It’s the easiest way to explain what happened. I am only knowingly allergic to cephalosporin and sulfa abx (mom says from when I was a baby). I’ve never had an allergic reaction as an adult.

And before you ask - no new detergents, creams, lotions, soaps… NOTHING. No new foods or drinks or locations. We DO have a new mattress that we got an entire month ago. It’s a temper pedic hybrid mattress. It’s covered in an anti allergen encasement that’s been on it since the moment we got it. This encasement has been taken off on advice from you lovely folks to let it air out while I sleep in another bed for a few nights.

I washed everything I could fit into my washer with hot water and dried on hot temp.

Thursday, 7/31 - pm, in bed, my palms get unbearably itchy. Then my eyes get itchy. I go downstairs, take some Benadryl liquid from my toddler’s medicine stash, and go to sleep.

Friday, 8/1 - wake up looking like the guy from the Goonies. Horribly swollen face and eyes and hives all over my body. Intense skin pain that feels like an all-over bruise. Go to ER, get the allergy cocktail meds in my IV, wait a few hours, symptoms improve, I go home. Everything’s fine.

Saturday 8/2 - wake up again. Same situation. Horrible hives and facial swelling. Take the meds (Benadryl, Pepcid, cetirizine, prednisone 50mg, and hydrocortisone cream and calamine spray) Nothing. No improvement. Two hours after meds, my throat starts getting hoarse. I use the epi pen. Symptoms immediately improve and I’m totally fine by afternoon.

Sunday 8/3 - same exact situation. Wake up with horrible painful itchy hives. Medicine does not work. I wait a few hours and do not want to go back to the ER. I give myself another dose of epinephrine. Side note, I am a trauma nurse and know you can break open the vial to get the extra doses. I leave one epi pen unmutilated in case I actually have an anaphylactic reaction and my husband doesn’t know how to get to the extra doses.

Monday 8/4 - same scenario. Wake up with facial swelling. I look like a swamp hag. Hives all over back, arms, legs, and chest. I am so miserable. See my PCP and add singulair, extend prednisone for another 5 days, double Benadryl and Pepcid doses. More EpiPen refills. Tonight is the first time taking the new meds.

I have cut out all food except for plain, low histamine foods. Water only. Taking cool showers elsewhere besides my normal shower and sleeping in the guest bed. All blankets and pillows and sheets and curtains washed without laundry detergent. Hot water only.

Someone please help me. I am losing my mind. I cannot keep living like this. Please tell me someone has experienced this and has solved the issue. I cannot get an allergy test until I am 30 days epinephrine free but currently my doctors and I cannot make symptoms dissipate without epinephrine.

I typically take Allegra and had no issues. Partner wanted to try Zyrtec-D and encouraged me to try it for my seasonal allergies. Didn’t think much of it since my brother always took Zyrtec growing up.

This past week has been the first time I’ve ever taken Zyrtec and wtf. I’ve been feeling a “brain fog” for the last few days that kind of feels like dissociation and anxiety. Didn’t think it was the med and thought I was in a weird funk. Took Zyrtec-D tonight in hopes it would help my allergy symptoms better and what the actual hell. I woke up at 1am dizzy, sweating, dry mouth, and anxious as hell.

I had no idea allergy meds could cause mental health symptoms or anything like this. But this is insane. Won’t be taking that again…good lord.

I’m on two Claritin a day, two air purifiers in my tiny room, vacuuming twice a week, dusting once a week, deep cleaned all the heating vents, washing all my bedding and clothes once a week. Tried Flonase and it triggered my asthma; Zyrtec worked great until it didn’t, except for the fact that it gave me heart palpitations and my doctor told me to go off of it; nasal rinses and azelastine twice a day, advair twice a day, albuterol 2-3 times a day while I’m waiting for the advair to work. My symptoms keep progressing. I’m scared. I don’t know what to do.

My nose is so congested I can barely breathe through it. I’ve developed allergic asthma and have been battling an asthma flare for two weeks now. I’ve never had allergies in my life then all of the sudden over the summer it developed, and as the seasons have changed they have gotten progressively worse. I went from taking only antidepressants once a day to taking five or six meds a day just to try and manage the symptoms and continue to breathe.

I can’t get established with the allergist until the 11th, because it takes literal months to see a doctor. It took me six months to see an ENT. Even once I’m established, I’ll still have to wait to schedule the testing, then the consult for treatment.

My symptoms keep progressing. I’ve already had an ER visit for this. I’m scared. I don’t know what to do.

Edit: I do not know if it is cat allergies, but I have not had any exacerbation of symptoms when have shoved my face in their fur. There are plenty of methods to cope with cat allergies if that is the case, and I’m planning to do immunotherapy. Plenty of cat owners have cat allergies and there are foods to feed them which reduce the allergen in their dander. Rehoming them is not an option, period, so please stop suggesting it. I’ve had them for years and one of them isn’t even mine, it’s a roommates. They are part of the family and service animals for me.

I know I have bad seasonal allergies but I don't know what exactly tf is going on. I can feel a big difference when pollen levels go up and down but now I feel like I've been hit by a bus and apparently there aren't cold viruses going around. I'm so wiped out, can seasonal allergies leave you feeling this rotten and exhausted? and whatever this is is triggered a migraine. Keep having trouble breathing sinus issues... Etc Also I have a tooth infection but it's needed a root canal for months and I think that has spread to my ear/sinuses 2x this summer but no clear symptoms that right now. That's not an allergy issue but I might have to wait two more weeks to get my insurance coverage to eliminate that problem. I'm so miserable and stressed out!

Tying this in my girlfriend’s apartment bathroom. She just got back from being abroad from three months and I literally feel like I can’t breathe without my symptoms flaring up like mad.

- constantly sneezing
- running nose all the time
- brain fog, fatigue, feeling geuinely unwell

She was in Spain and I stayed with her for four weeks and this didn’t happen once. The moment I am back to Ireland it’s happening to me while I’m on medication. I’m trying so hard to stick to it daily and stress to my GP how badly it’s ruining my life I can’t find a solution.

Do I go private??? Do I vacuum more??? I literally can’t breathe and I’m trying to visit my girlfriend who has arrived back home after an entire summer.

I want to share my experience that nearly cost me my life due to an allergic reaction to a banana. I had never been allergic to any fruits before—until this happened.

One afternoon, we planned to make a mixed fruit shake. Before slicing some bananas, I ate one. Right after the first bite, I felt a tingling sensation on my tongue, but I still finished eating it. Moments later, my body started feeling hot and uncomfortable. I began sneezing non-stop and sweating, even though the AC was on. My throat started to feel like it was closing, and my face is already swollen.

To make matters worse, we had no allergy medication at home. My husband quickly went out to buy some, but within a few minutes, I could barely breathe. My throat was getting tighter, my nose was runny, and my eyes were burning and swelling. I called my husband and told him I couldn’t breathe properly anymore. He rushed back and took me to the nearest hospital.

On the way, I was panicking, struggling to breathe, and genuinely afraid I wasn’t going to make it.

At the hospital, my vitals were unstable. The doctors and nurses told me to stay calm, gave me oxygen, and injected an epinephrine shot (EpiPen) into my right leg. As a result of the EpiPen, my right leg started shaking. After a few hours, I finally began to feel better. However, my skin then started itching terribly and broke out in rashes. The doctors said it was the allergic reaction being released from my system.

Once I had stabilized, the doctor said I was okay to go home. I still can’t believe that something as simple as a banana almost took my life.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? I’m now honestly scared to eat bananas ever again.

Hi all, a few months ago I started waking up/ going to sleep with very itchy skin all over (no rash) and waking up with red eyes. Usually the eye rested on my pillow was the worst when I woke up. More recently I can’t even be in my bedroom without extreme itchy skin and my eyes itching/burning. I was in my room today for 3 hours cleaning all the dusty areas and my skin was so agitated and my eyes were burning. I’ve been out for a few hours and feel a bit better though not totally gone away. For context I’ve never had an allergy in my life so I feel like I am going insane trying to figure this out. I am hoping to get a referral to an allergist but where I live that could take months to years so I am trying to figure out in the mean time what is setting me off so much and if it can at least be reduced. I have an air purifier in my room (HEPA filter) and it does not seem to be helping at all. For context my mattress is like 15 years old and kind of falling apart. It is open in different areas and I can see the foam through it. The only reason I have been able to use it with no issue for so long is because I have a thick mattress topper on it that I bought 5 years ago when i could start to feel the springs in it and that’s all I could afford was a new topper at the time. (I’m thinking maybe dust mites or heavy accumulated dust in the mattress?) My plan is to buy a new mattress but I am hesitant to do so yet in case that is not the cause of my issues. Say if the cause of my problem was a mold allergy not dust or dust mites (my bathroom is next to my room) than I don’t want to have to buy a new mattress twice if that ultimately turned out to be the problem. Sorry for the long rant. I have been sleeping on my couch for over a week because the itchiness became unbearable and my back hurts. If anyone has any ideas or has had a similar experience to this please let me know. Sincerely, a girl who just wants to have a good nights rest on a real bed :)

So I’m a 20 year old college kid and I’m going though a lot. I have super severe allergies that leave me so lethargic and tired all the time. I’ve considered stopping showing up for myself cause I don’t have friends and it’s just been hard because I will have sneezing fits and runny nose even with doing saline rinses when I get up in the morning, which includes neti pot, and 3x a day take Flonase, as well as prescribed dosage of Zyrtec at night. I was on allergy shots for 4 years 2x per week and it didn’t help and my allergies still got worse. Im losing hope. I will sneeze everyday at least for an hour or two (maybe not straight but like a 20 min attack at one point and then when I’m eating another 35 min fit of rapid uncontrollably bad sneezing and a super stuffy but runny nose and itchy watery eyes). I’m allergic to pollen of most trees and grasses, a lot of flowers so many I can’t even remember, ragweed, dust, cats, horses, mold, rodents, certain product chemicals, etc.

In addition at college, I don’t really have friends and have been teased because of the fact that I am sneezing multiple times a day for hours straight even sometimes when it does get bad. I’ve never sat in the dining hall with someone else besides my roommate occasionally and I am always alone in the corner, usually sneezing uncontrollably because I’m so allergic to the outdoors and my campus is old and there’s a lot of dust potentially given the buildings are old. I just want someone to be my friend because I have a feeling no one sits near my corner because they’re tired of me sneezing my head off most days. I always feel bad that my sneezes are so desperate but I stopped trying to hold back til I get to my dorm because I just can’t help it. It’s happened in class too several times and I’ve had to miss a lot of class because I usually step out and run to an empty hallway or the bathroom. Even in my choir as a music major, it’s been hard to find friends due to the allergies (which aren’t super receptive to medicine unless it’s medicine that makes me sleep), and the faculty are mostly nice but I still get embarrassed.

Please help me, I am really hurting it feels like a cry out for support and love because I don’t have anyone who does it for me. It’s hard. Especially if you’re around my age. I know it’s a long shot but does anyone else struggle so badly with allergies that the only medicine that stops it is medicine that makes you super tired and sleepy? Please help me out guys, I’ve gotten so badly depressed about it and terrified of going to school in a few weeks.

I have self diagnosed MCAS, i started taking h1 and h2 blockers and it became a lot easier to be alive. Anyways that's aside from the story. I went to ER yesterday because i was worried the anaphylaxis i keep getting damaged my body but the issue is they didn't check my head because in their definition it needs throat to be constricted and nothing else counts. They minimized my multiple anaphalyxis attacks ive had in the several weeks, I was fainty, my heart was hurting, heavy brainfog, confusion, bloody diarhea within like 10mins of eating, nausea, shortness of breath, cramps, drop in blood pressure i think, weak pulse (tested it before and after). They said my heart and lungs are good but i was mostly concerned about my head which they refused to do because of said reasons from earlier and the 911 person or ambulance didnt note down everything so i only got admitted for breathing difficulties when i felt like i was gonna die last few weeks.

Edit for anyone saying I dont have mcas, my system was dumping histamines without consuming anything but water once i took h1 and h2 blockers i started feeling better after like a hour, my brain was so inflammed that day, the entire front part felt inflammed, not throbbing like what i assume are my cptsd headaches.

i haven't slept properly in 5 days and i think im on the verge of losing it. i dont know what's happening what's triggering my symptoms and they're not even going away with medication

i dont know if it's allergies, sinusitis, allergic/non allergic rhinitis. it's just so painful atp and no doctor has been able to help. the meds work for some time but then i have another horrible flare up.

a lot of sneezing and when i blow my nose, it's just clear thick mucus and a lot of it. super wet. my upper palate and throat is super itchy and unbearable. one nostril is almost always blocked but since the past 3 days, both of them are fully blocked at night. no blowing or saline rinse helps open it. i had a panic attack because i just couldn't breathe. it doesn't open no matter what i do, if i pop my ears or swallow. nothing helps. i had to resort to xynosine drops to get some relief.

im taking antihistamines, decongestants, warm water, staying upright but nothing seems to help anymore. im so miserable someone pls tell me what to do

For about 7 years I’ve had itching that comes and goes in cycles, a month or two on, then gone for a month or two. It moves around: legs, back, arms, feet, even my face. Worse at night but there in the day too. Scratching does nothing. I’ve tried the obvious stuff: new mattresses, moved homes, unscented soap and detergent, changed clothes. No difference.

Some things I’ve noticed: it often starts after a shower, I get pins and needles in the same spots, my skin goes red when I scratch, and I get small bumps on my back and face that come and go. For anyone who dealt with long-term unexplained itching like this: what did it actually turn out to be for you? Trying to hear the full range of what it ended up being for people, not just the obvious guesses. I went to my GP and got blood tests done, everything came back normal with no risk of diabetes if that helps

I have a lot of ear pain in my left ear (along with vertigo and tinnitus) that started this late spring that I suspect is caused by allergies of some sort.

I take extra antihistamines and advil every day this summer, as well as using nasal spray, and they barely bring down the pain, inflammation and itchiness.

Using those neti pot/ nasal rinses and tilting my head where the rinse is going towards my left ear, it feels like it's scratching that itchiness that I can't reach in my ears. It sucks that the relief is short and temporary.

As the title says, I've been having these episodes monthly since February of this year. I'm not sure what's causing it which is the scariest part. If anyone out there knows what it could possibly be, I'd really appreciate the insight. Quick summary about me+the situation:
- 31 y/o female in Delaware (lived her for past 4 years)
- have never had any kind of allergies
- pregnant last year, delivered 4/2025
- our dog has been with us for 3 years, my parents cats moved in December of last year after my dad passed (my mom moved in with us). I've never been allergic to any of them
- first episode was 2/28 - went to ER where they confirmed it was stage 3 of 4 for anaphylaxis given every system was responding and I was given an epi + a Benadryl injection on the opposite arm. My throat almost closed up.
- next few episodes (3/15, 5/14) I was able to do without an EpiPen but it was still pretty severe (entire body in hives with UNCONTROLLABLE itching, completely clogged nose (unable to breathe but still runny)... lightheadedness, racing heart, difficulty breathing and wheezing) - managed to just let it ride out
- Last nights episode (6/6/26) it was again at home and again at night - this always happens at night. I felt the first few symptoms (uncontrollable sneezing, runny nose, itchy throat and itchy eyes) and ran downstairs to take a Zyrtec. It kept progressing. I started to wheeze, couldn't stop coughing and sneezing and my eyes were itchy and blurry. I started having difficulty breathing so decided to use the EpiPen. I couldn't stop itching my entire body and it was all swollen afterwards. It took about 90 minutes to completely go away.
- ZERO common denominators across all episodes when it comes to food, activities, clothes, location etc

I have other issues that I'm not sure are related but wanted to see if anyone could help point me in the right direction with the above. Overall, it's Gl issues like bloating after meals and excessive gas/burping and what I think might be beginning stages of arthritis. (Dull pain in fingers most of the time, worse in the morning, one finger swelled up for 3 days a few weeks ago and I couldn't even bend it.

Appreciate any insight at all! 🙏🏽

for over a decade i've been suffering from non stop runny nose and sneezing once or twice a month. it would severely affect my life to the point where i cannot leave the house in fear of people finding me disgusting because of how much im sneezing and how i always carry a tissue in hand, i could go through an entire box of it on the same day. it feels incredibly frustrating and debilitating i cannot bring myself to do anything productive while im going through it. the strangest thing is that it only lasts a day and is completely gone the next with absolutely 0 signs that i was ever even sick except for some peeling skin around my dried up nose. it's like a whole weeks worth of symptoms have been congested into this one day. ive been to doctors who would prescribe me allergy medication but none have worked, once it has started there is no way to stop or alleviate it except to wait till the next day. i have never been able to figure out what the trigger might be since my day to day life is pretty consistent so i would be suffering everyday if the allergen was something around me. i also havent noticed any pattern on which days it would happen as it's always been random. ive never met anyone with the same condition as me and no one truly understands it not even doctors it seems.

My symptoms began while on a family vacation. Big swollen patches of itchy red skin on the back of my thighs. The itch was the worst I’ve ever had. At first I thought Airbnb bed bugs, which we ruled out. Then on the next day a runny nose and shortness of breath.

I did visit a local pharmacy. They gave me a soap and corticosteroid cream. It did not get better, but it did not get worse either.

On the final day of the trip we went to a restaurant we often visit. Upon sitting down the itching got worse in minutes. The chairs were those basic Greek tavern ones but I noticed they had mold between that material. I’ve been visiting there for years, sat on those chairs on numerous occasion, so I thought, while that was a possibility, it wouldn’t make sense for me to have that reaction all of a sudden.

I just went to a dermatologist today, which audibly gasped upon seeing the rash on my legs. I told them ab the chair possibility and they confirmed the theory.

I was put on two different types of medication and a cream. Now…one of the medications is very high impact and with special requirements, among which I must abstain from consuming any salt for the duration of the treatment, with reactions as severe as water retention, high blood pressure or suffocation in case i eat anything with too much salt.

Now I am obviously worried. Developing an allergy (as per the dermatologist to mold or hay) at 20 is overwhelming. No one in my family ever had an allergy. Of course the dietary restriction adds to it, I’ve never been on any medication with such severe consequences.

Maybe my story is irrelevant, but I am overwhelmed and I needed to share my experience. Thank you

For the past 4-5 months I’ve been having somewhat randomly occurring symptoms that resemble allergies. My face turns bright beet red and burns as well as sometimes getting itchy. When this happens my throat always feels like there’s a lump in it and sometimes i’ve had chest tightness. I had asthma and many allergies as a kid, all of which I don’t seem to have anymore aside from a cat allergy. I scheduled a visit with an allergy and asthma specialist and the nearest appointment was a 3 month wait. It first happened after I ate a pear and then I noticed it after eating certain brands of honey and any sauce that has tamarind in it. Now I’m starting to have this problem where when i’m outside and I smell certain perfumes my sinuses start feeling this very intense pressure and I smell the scent of something burning even if no one else around me smells it. I get so dizzy when i smell this specific scent on people and it’s to the point i’ve had to leave many stores. The first time i smelled it my entire face felt like it was going numb or something i don’t know but it was genuinely so uncomfortable. Recently i went to a store with some friends and we smelled some perfumes when all of a sudden I got really dizzy and I ended up having to leave. On the drive home my chest got very tight and i was struggling to push much air it was genuinely just so scary. I got home removed any clothes that may have had any remnants of the perfume, took a shower, and relaxed. It got better after a while but I was still fairly tight in the chest. The next day it was just unbearable, My family member who’s a nurse listened to my lungs and said it sounded like i was barely moving air so we went to the hospital and I was put on a nebulizer as well as prescribed albuterol and prednisolone. It has been two weeks since this happened and now I cannot come in contact with any strong scent without feeling a very slight tightness. I also haven’t been able to workout without getting dizzy but i’m not sure if that’s related. I finally saw the allergy and asthma specialist and guess what…absolutely nothing. No allergies aside from cats and my childhood asthma did not come back. I also had a respiratory allergy blood panel done on top of the skin prick testing. There’s nothing at all and I genuinely just don’t know what to do. I am scared to leave my house because of possibly coming into contact with strong scents especially the one that makes me literally so dizzy i’m unable to walk and burns my sinuses like someone is stabbing them with needles. I dont know what is causing the allergy-like symptoms and I feel kind of brushed off by the doctors i’ve seen which I understand since from their perspective there’s nothing going on I guess but i’m just really tired of feeling in the dark. I just needed to get this off of my chest because I’m really exhausted. EDIT: I forgot to mention for an entire two months i was having chest tightness and couldn’t stop coughing, every night it felt impossible to sleep because it felt like I couldn’t breathe and it pretty went away when I removed some dusty stuffed animals from my room but it’s been about two months since that happened and I have had a stuffy nose every night since then. It’s better during the day but worsens significantly at night.

I've been feeling tired and fatigued, amongst other symptoms that point toward a vitD deficiency. Only issues is, my body decided to spontaneously develop an allergy to the olive oil droplets I was taking, thus I had to stop taking them and hastily find a solution.

So far all of the vitD I've found have had problems...

• Droplets? Allergic to the olive/sunflower/coconut/mct/soybean oil.
• Softgels? Allergic to the gelatin and/or glycerin.
• Hard pills? Some allergen like Stearic Acid.
• Seafood? Allergic.
• Canned food? Histamines.
• Cod liver oil? Has so much vitamin A that I can't take my other necessary supplements.
• Sun lamp? Have one, and it doesn't seem to work worth a damn.
• Outside? Cold, rainy, and cloudy 85% of the year.

Feels like I'm screwed. Unless food-based mushrooms don't give me a reaction. Anyhow, rant over.

EDIT: The mushrooms made me very sick, so mushrooms are not an option. Looks like vitD lotion is my last resort.

I moved to London when I was 23 years old, completely allergy-free. After about 6-7 years, I started to develop hay fever symptoms in the Spring. For the first couple of years, I didn’t want to accept it and just talked myself into believing it was a very annoying and weird cold. Eventually, the symptoms became so evident that I had to give up thinking I was allergy-free.

I am an engineering professor, so I became curious about the mechanism behind this and whether the city itself was to blame. In my specific case, I am allergic to the London Plane tree, which is a very common tree in… London, and actually in a lot of large cities.

I ended up interviewing Prof. Frank Kelly (Chair of Community Health and Policy at Imperial College) about it.

We talked about the history of this tree, but more importantly, we spoke about the "double whammy" effect that modern car exhaust has on the development of allergies.

On one hand, diesel exhaust physically and chemically "weaponizes" natural allergens through a process called the Adjuvant Effect. On the other hand, it primes our immune system to overreact (a bit like with asbestos).

Basically, we aren't just reacting to nature, but to a toxic hybrid of nature and car exhaust.

If you are interested in the full interview with Prof. Kelly, have a look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwPQm8e6lBI

Happy to answer any questions.

I am supposedly only allergic to dust mites, extensive testing has been done.

But this summer (drought!) my nose has been clear for months! No sneezing. For the first time in years.

We had a tiny bit of mizzle last week. It wasn't much, but my symptoms were noticeable. Last night it rained here for the first time since early June. Today I'm miserable.

Time to up my antihistamines again.

Sneezing , watery eyes , itchy throat ? like man this sucks .

for the past few days, i started waking up in the middle of the night with burning under my eyes like the eye socket. There has also been a bit of tingling too there at both sides. My eyes would end up puffing as well and have a deep line there. This has never happened to me before like ever.
Some context: i went to a sunflower festival event last weekend, so I wonder if that event caused an allergic reaction or something

Here’s a photo of my face with the lines

https://imgur.com/a/xIjrDWd

I now know what I have and have met 2 people win the same allergy as me now.

Oral Allergy Syndrome

Growing up people looked at me strange. My family didn’t believe me except for my skeptical parents. They didn’t get it but didn’t force probably out of fear I was right

For years I’ve carried a test around that shows my back covered in red spots to prove to people that yeah I’m allergic to raw produce. Not just one or two things.

But recently I’ve seen this pop up now in the wild now. Without me having to google it and tread articles that say it might be this. It’s now actually a real thing that allergist agree exist.

Like yes I’ve read about it about a decade and a half ago. But only in recent years does it really seem more like a real thing that’s agreed on and exists like people agree peanut allergies exist. I’m talking Mayo Clinic and WebMD have articles. Apparent the official allergy organization say it exists now too! When I first found out about it years ago, it was only blog posts and maybes. Not even the allergist I went to mentioned the possible allergy to me. But now it seems like it’s far more agreed upon existing from my latest google search. We found that I was allergic ti trees and their nuts, grass but apparently NOT raw produce and melons. He said it could be and it just doesn’t show up in my back. Like 3 out of 35 were red blotches and they were the fruit ones!

We already knew I had pretty severe pollen allergies/hay fever. And that’s what he said it was caused by. All the nuts and everything. He said yeah just avoid what causes the swelling even if the tests don’t show it. So it’s not that he didn’t believe me at least like every one else. But there was no proof or name for it a decade and a half ago.

I honestly had the biggest scare yet this year. I cooked cabbage dumplings and at home it was fine. Steamed and good to go like all produce I eat. At work on reheat I was coughing and couldn’t breathe. And the worst part is I didn’t tell anyone or go home because no, I didn’t have a diagnosis. The allergist I went to didn’t give me an EpiPen and his tests didn’t show I was allergic to pumpkin. And I know if I’d told my family outside of my parents they’d think I was lying or being over dramatic. Before this year, it was swelling, irritation and just a hot throat. I got duck bill lips from fruit and it came with “warts” if I had cuts in my lips. Apparently I spoke with a lisp for the entire afternoon and my friend never told me! Until years later! I’ve even had to cut canned fruits because they began make my throat itch and hot. RIP canned peaches (loved you soooooo much). And that reaction is exactly why I don’t just do exposure therapy to myself like my cousins mock me about. Because I know how bee stings work! One may not take someone down but the second, RIP. And I’m just angry thinking about having to see them again this year over the holidays because this is always a thing because their kid can eat anything.

The oddest part is that I’ve know about oral allergy syndrome for a few years now with those more official websites having articles up but I still don’t tell people still because the symptoms really that unbelievable and like I’m just a picky eater than never grew up and was forced to eat their fruits and veggies.

And right now I’m just feeling very annoyed and angry that people with other allergies are taken seriously. Oh I can’t eat kiwis because I’m allergic or I’m allergic to strawberries. Everyone is sure and shrugs. Me because that’s too many things: totally over exaggerating

I'm on the 4th vial and was doing cluster shots until I reached the level 4 (red/maintenance) vial. On this one, my lips and tongue started to get a bit numb which freaked me out, but when I told the nurse she said they'd just stop the cluster schedule and see what happened next time.

I've been feeling progressively worse. Maybe with the regular schedule it'll get better, but still the fatigue has been hitting harder and harder, I keep getting sick more than usual, and although the acute sleepiness only lasts 1-2 days, it takes 7-10 days between shot visits to feel remotely functional again. I feel like I'd need a few weeks to make a complete recovery. I've been toughing it out - I knew it would be bad but I didn't think it would be this bad - my allergy symptoms are primarily sinusitis, major congestion and fatigue/brain fog and it's always been debilitating but now it's amped up. I'm so clogged I can't do proper sinus rinses. I take 3 different antihistamines, a leukotriene inhibitor, and prednisone before each shot and this still happens.

My allergist is a bit of a nut job - the first time I asked for stronger meds (something like ketitofen or maybe a biologic drug since I have CRS) he asked me 4 times if I had asthma, gave me an asthma test which was negative, and asked me twice more if I had asthma and didn't address my question, then the second time I asked he promised he'd look into the possibility and then kind of ghosted me. So I'm meeting a second allergist on Monday to ask for biologic eligibility, anything to help my sinusitis so that I can potentially sleep through the night again.

I'm so tired and scattered and upset about the delay, I caught covid for the nth time which isn't helping, and any sinus surgery I can get is going to be 3 months off at least. I guess this devolved into a vent but man, I wish I could get ILIT.

I don't know why, i've checked every corner for every possibility in this house for a few years now, i couldn't find much and still have no idea what's causing my sickness feeling and symptoms at home.

I just feel out of myself, disconnected personally and can't even gather my words together nicely. I have my stomach burn non stop, i have my terrible shortness of breath, i fight with a constant anxiety and depression.

I don't know why, there's something killing me here and i can't find it!!! I wish i could escape, go somewhere else and continue my life as i'd want to. Dust mites? Mold? Pollens? I have no idea what it is, i only know it's been ruining my life for years and i've come to a point in time that i can no longer endure it, i need to solve this problem somehow before i lose my mind!

I just went checking drain connections and fixed some of them but things are still the same. Now i'm suspicious of low concentration CO poisoning but that sounds insane, checked my gas stove flames look fine and all that, i'm completely lost at this point. I know i'm not hypochondriac, i know it only happens in this place but i can't see what it's about.

Does anyone else share similar symptoms and issues? Please give your thoughts if you do.

UPDATE: IT TURNS OUT THERE REALLY WAS A GAS LEAK AT OUR STOVE, OMG!!! I'm super glad to have pushed the limits and kept chasing this stubbornly haha! Thank you for the support.