[alaskanlaughter]

I'm not sure what I'm looking for with this thread...Thoughts, experiences, I'm not sure

I had a standard series of allergy tests done yesterday and the results were a bit interesting.

As background, I've had major allergic reactions while running inside at the gym at what seems to be random times. I know I react when I take Bayer or Sudafed prior to running so I quit doing that. I also reacted after eating mac n cheese leftovers and running. The reactions include total body hives, huge hive welts, intensely itchy all over my whole body, unfocused thinking, inability to make good choices like finding my antihistamines, and throat becoming sore and swollen. My breathing is not difficult, I assume because I already use an inhaler while running.

The allergy testing pricked me with 33 allergens related to trees, dust mites, and much more. The other testing pricked me with 23 food allergens. I reacted mildly to nearly every allergen tested on me, but not enough for the doctor to consider it an "allergy." I tested as allergic to cats, lobster and cockroaches.

Do I disregard the mild reactions that I had to everything else? The doctor paid it no attention at all. He did say that I have a chronic heightened sensitivity in general (not his exact words, he used alot of medical-speak). He said it's probably genetic and inherited from my dad who has similar issues. Chronic inflammation, he also said. He prescribed an epipen for if I have those horrible reactions while running. He said to avoid Bayer before running (and discounted the Sudafed reactions) and not to eat 2 hours prior to running.

Should I pursue any of this with more testing? Is this a common "diagnosis" from allergists?

[mandalinn82]

My sister had allergy reactions much like yours. She also has allergic reactions to heat and friction, so she has the same issues running that you do.

For her, getting her environmental sensitivities treated (she did allergy shots) made her far less likely to react to her food sensitivities and to the heat/friction. But when her environmental allergies aren't controlled, she stays in a state of heightened sensitivity and the food reactions are worse.

[Arctic Mama]

I keep them in mind and avoid when possible, but don't let it bother me other than that. Limiting exposure to allergens for a time is wise. It gives your immunes system a chance to calm and the inflammation to clear, and in some cases those mild sensitivities can go away completely when there is not mitigating factors exacerbating the entire autoimmune response. Don't be obsessive, but be aware and take common sense steps to limit exposure as much as you can. 6 weeks to 3 months is a good starting point to aim for, in terms of elimination.

[Arctic Mama]

To the question of if this is common, I'd say so. I have many mild and moderate food sensitivities, for example. Some I notice symptoms with, some I don't. I eliminated the worst offenders for a period and had a cessation of symptoms and overall lessened inflammation, from skin to gut and joints. I was then able to reintroduce a few of them I didn't want to do without and have no noticeable reaction, because my system had reset and the cascade of reactions I was having before was broken. A little irritant was fine. A lot of little irritants compounded the issue. Removing the bulk of them solved the systemic problems and let my body handle the occasional mild irritant without incident or over-response.

[drixnot]

well.. I'm no doctor, so I don't feel confident in answering this... sounds to me like your allergies are quite severe.

But if it were me I would look into foods that fight allergies...

http://www.organicfacts.net/health-b...allergies.html