Well, my appointment with the allergist finally came today. I went in this morning to be prodded with needles.
After being jabbed a few dozen times, I was sent out to wait for a while, and finally got to see my doctor. He’s a very pleasent older gentleman who wears a bow tie and reminds me slightly of an orchestra conductor.
Unfortunately, his news wasn’t good. According to today’s tests, I’m not allergic to much of anything. Which means that my ENT was mistaken that the remainder of my post-surgery symptoms were allergy related. Which means that anti-allergy antihistimines aren’t going to do much.
Which means…..what? Dammit, I’m tired of having what amounts to a permenant head-cold. I’m tired of constantly trying to clear my sinuses and my throat and sniffling and…..just blah.
I’ve got new medicines to try. I’m sure they’ll be just as effective as the last ones. I’m running out of faith in the medical establishment.
Bother.
sdelmonte
Can I assume that you have been treated with steroids? If not, I would recommend looking into that, as I had a post-nasal drip that would not go away once and it cleared up in two weeks with use of the steroid.
Rob Wynne
Yep. I’ve been using the steriod spray for several weeks. It helps, but does not in any way clear everything up. They’ve added an antihistimine spray that he says often helps in cases like mine. We’ll see what happens.
I’m just generally frustrated by the whole process.
kyttn
Have you tried using Simply Saline nasal spray as well to supplement the steroid spray? It also is usually most effective to use the steroid sprays after taking a warm shower (or being in a warm steamy environment)and using normal saline spray.
The lack of response to allergy testing may not mean all that much. It is very possible to get a false negative on skin testing. Sometimes there are antihistamines that haven’t cleared out of your system yet (when was the last time you took an antihistamine of any kind?). Sometimes other meds depress histamine response. Sometimes you get a better reaction to the testing if the allergen you are responsive to is within season. (i.e. testing for ragweed within ragweed season).
*HUGGGGS*
Maya
Rob Wynne
Yep. In fact, there’s a bottle of Simply Saline on my desk here at work, too. 🙂
The last time I took an antihistimine was well over a month ago. I had a very specific list of medicines to avoid from the allergist from my initial visit, and the only thing I’ve taken over the last 30 days has been Flonase (steroid spray) and the odd painkiller (advil/tylenol/etc).
If the problem was seasonal, i’d have a much easier time dealing with it. But it’s pretty constant, and has been bothering me pretty much nonstop since at least 1997-98. I don’t know WHAT to think anymore — I had really hoped the sugery would solve things, but I’m starting to feel like maybe I’m just going to have to live with this forever.
aiglet
Have you had a sinus test? One of my friends who thought he had really persistent allergies discovered that he had nasty sinus stuff going on instead.
(Oh, and be glad that you *didn’t* react to the allergy test — I had one done when I was 9. Three days later when I was still itching from it I had to go in and get a shot to clear it up. Their conclusion? “Oh. She must be *very* allergic to histamines.” NB, one of the things they jabbed me with was *straight* histamines, IIRC. It left a wrist-long x 2″ wide x .5″ high welt.)
surrdave
Boy, I remember the histamine. It was the only one that got a reaction. Wasn’t quite as severe as you describe, but still unpleasant.
And they left me with the same answer--not really allergic to anything.
Two years in the desert cleared up the problems, and they stayed clear for about five years after I moved back into this climate. Coming back now. I don’t know what that means.
cellio
Drat. I hope the new drugs work better.
heathrow
*hugs*
I hope they figure out something to make you feel better…
weirdsister
Have you tried eliminating dairy and doing a cleanse? I’ve seen that work wonders.
magid
I’m so sorry to hear you’re still going through this, even after the surgery.
Many *hugs*, and a solution soon, I hope.