Day 64 Thankful for an Allergy

Yep, you read that right. I am so very thankful I found out I had an allergy.

I took a blood test about a week and a half ago and found out that I

have an allergy to Kentucky blue grass.  Just happens to be one of the most popular planted grasses around here.

And yes, I am thankful. For years I've "suffered" from the effects of being allergic, mainly in the form of itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing and post nasal drip.  There have been times in the past where the drip was so bad it choked me to the point the kids would say, "Don't choke, Mom."  


Now there are a lot of people who have waay more serious allergies than what I've just described. I don't worry about going into anaphylactic shock.  I don't have to carry an epi pen and up until the last year I didn't have to take a lot of allergy meds.  Most of the time it was for "hay fever," but now I know that my hay fever is rather permanent and I am grateful for the knowledge.

The reason? Now I know the answer to why I was exhibiting all those symptoms. The blood test was pretty all-encompassing and not all the results are quite in yet. I'm told that all insurance companies will cover it, and the max co-pay is $25.00.

When I found out about the test, I was particularly interested in the test regrading food allergies. I've thought for a very long time I had definitive allergies, but traditional medicine refused to test me.   "If you think you're allegic, stay away from it," I was told. Great advice. I can stay away from the things I suspect, but there is no "scientific" proof, and what about the things I don't know about?

More and more I'm thinking that traditional doctors rarely look at the person as a whole. The kidney doctor does and says his thing. It may or may not coincide with what the cardiac doctor says. God

forbid they talk to one another.  One of my doctors is an endocrinologist.  He also spends a lot of time in the cardiac clinic.  You might think that this combo is a good thing, but when I see him, he doesn't combine that information to address my situation.

There is more and more news regarding the quality and efficiency and safety of vaccines.  Traditional medicine says they are fine. This despite the fact that many are manufactured in places like China and we KNOW that China has problems with lead.

When my oldest son was a baby, he got the worst diarhea when he was cutting his first tooth.  If you are a parent or grandparent you might know the kind - it's so bad you throw away the clothes and get the child to the tub ASAP.  I was told, point blank, matter of factly that there was ZERO correlation between the two.

Except that it happened with all my children at the exact same time. Now, I'm not a doctor, but I'm not lacking in some intellectual skills and I could see there was a direct correlation.  As I pondered the situation I realized that two things were at play.  First, until that first tooth breaks the gum, there is no opportunity for bacteria to enter through the gums. The tooth cuts the gum, and voila, bacteria have a new ingress. Those tiny bodies react to the bacteria and this new "threat" and it upsets their delicate internals with the result that I found myself holding my kids over the tub giving them their first "shower."

Is it really so hard to believe that some babies and children are reacting to something in those vaccines? There are so many stories of children being fine and then whack! they become "different" children exhibiting symptoms and developing autism. A lot of actors are weighing in on this as they use their popularity to share what has happened to their children. 

We owe it to ourselves to be our own advocate. If you don't have a doctor that takes your legitimate concerns seriously, change doctors.  You need to find one that looks at you as a whole person/system/organism and who listens to you as you tell them what is going on in your body. You know yourself the best. Doctors are very smart individuals, and there is a lot of good they do - don't get me wrong.  BUT, you know yourself best.

When you go to your medical professional, you will help a lot if you have facts - dates, times, results, temperatures - whatever is related to the situation you are dealing with - to give that individual. 

On average, doctors spend about nine minutes with you. My endocrinologist - that is about how much time he spends with me, and he is usually reviewing my notes as we are talking, so I don't even have his undivided attention. The more information you can bring in to the office, the sooner you should be able to get to the facts about what ails you.

About a year ago, some of you may remember, my foot got all swollen.  One doctor said it was an infection - but I didn't have elevated white blood cells in my blood. Another possibility was gout, but I did not have ANY of the pain associated with gout (and I understand it is quite intense).  There is also a blood marker, uric acid, that they can check for to diagnose gout. The uric acid in my

blood was fine.  Bottom line - it took nearly nine months for a correct diagnosis of Charcot foot which required a bunch of x-rays and a MRI of my foot.  I knew it wasn't right and I didn't let it go. Four casts and a big ugly boot later and I'm about to reclaim "normal" walking again.

I'll be interested to see what other information this blood test reveals.  We know we are a society that deals with a lot of internal inflammation.   If we can spot some of the causes, if we can see ahead what trouble might be down the road that we can prevent, alter or slow, it could help improve the quality of our lives as we age.

Now that I know I'm allergic to Kentucky blue grass, I know what I can do to help mitigate the symptoms when I am around it. I'm not crazy and you are more than likely not crazy either.

In the end, it doesn't matter if you have the information unless you are willing to do something with it. Take action and take charge of your health, your entire, whole health now.