Growing list of allergies...what to do?

[cthorne111]

I have had various allergies all my life (none life-threatening), when I was a child I had a lot of food allergies that have since gone away, and I have always been allergic to cats, dust, mold, and pollen, most of which required very occasional antihistamines to manage symptoms. But just within the past two years or so I have started developing more serious food and inhalant allergies that continue to get worse.

It seemed to start with serious reactions to various types of beer and wine. Red or white, doesn't matter; it's just the brand that matters. Some wines and beers are fine, hard liquor is fine. My mouth and lips would swell, my nose would get congested and start running, and my stomach would feel uncomfortable; occasionally it would trigger what I've always thought was a hiatal hernia attack (intense pain in the middle of the chest that comes in waves, unable to swallow anything, belching). I have had these attacks all my life and I've realized now that these attacks always correspond to my eating a food that I am having a reaction to, leading me to believe that they are precipitated by swelling from the allergy.

About a year ago I started having such constant inhalant allergies that I had to start taking Claritin on a daily basis to deal with it. A couple of months ago the Claritin seemed to completely stop working so I changed to chlorpheneramine maleate, but I was so tired for the several days I was on it that I had to quit using it. Now I'm back to 2 Claritin/day to manage the symptoms, and it doesn't seem to affect the food allergies at all, just inhalant. I asked for a referral for allergy testing last November, and I am going to have to wait until June of 2011 to get in for an appointment because the Canadian health system is terrible.

I ate some raw egg today (meringue) forgetting myself.... my allergy to raw eggs was not really all that bad before, but now it's been over an hour and I'm still having symptoms, I even considered going up to the hospital if the swelling didn't stop (which it has started to get better). I don't know what to do or why I am getting so many allergies!

[cthorne111]

A further update... I found out after some digging that there is apparently another clinic that does allergy testing that has a much smaller waiting list, it sounds like I can get in there within a couple of months or so. It won't cure my allergies I know but at least I can get some idea of what might be aggravating my immune system so much.

[cthorne111]

Thanks for the helpful comments! I think I will ask my doctor for the nasal antihistamine, it sounds like it would do the trick much better. I can't take Zyrtec (same as Reactine here, I think) or anything with steroids (both of them seriously aggravate my depression...I figured this out in my search for new allergy meds in the past year or so.... go figure). After the scare with Zyrtec I have been afraid to try any other new allergy meds...but I know Allegra is OTC here so I may try that cautiously if all else fails. For now, the two Claritin a day are making things tolerable, as far as the inhalant allergies go. And maybe the pollen has quieted down a bit too.

Yeah the Canadian health system is great, if you are poor or unemployed....at least you will eventually get some help as opposed to having no hope. But the service (at least where I am) is terrible compared to the US. When I went to the doctor here for the first time I felt like I was going back to a 60's public school. Inspires confidence.

[bsmsl]

So sorry you are having these troubles.  And our government wants to make our health care system like yours.  ABOMINABLE!!  (avoided a political bad pun there.  ;)  )

I would suggest that you try Zyrtec instead of the claritin.  It is a stronger medicine.  My allergist says that claritin might as well be a water pill for all it does for you.  It also doesn't have the drowzy side effects you mentioned with the other.  Even the generic is more expensive than the others though.  

I would also recommend sinus rinses if you aren't doing them already.

You might try to get in with your primary and see if he/she will prescribe some thing like Nasonex and/or Astepro.  Nasonex is a nasal steroid which reduces inflammation of the sinus passages and therefore reduces allergy symptoms.  There are many other name brands for that class of medicine.  Astepro is a nasal spray antihistamine.  It stops the sinus cells from reacting to allergens.  There are only two meds in this category.  Astepro and Patanase.  There is an older version of Astepro called Astelin which may stil be available to you, but the company is working to phase it out.  Also a prescription strength antihistamine like Allegra might be a good idea.

Feel better and hang in there.