No literally! Hello my name is Kylee and I'm addicted to antihistamines. I've taken at least 1 Claritin, Aerius, Allegra, Reactin, and most recently Zyrtec every day since I turned 12. That's 10 years. And I can count on my hands the times I've missed taking it. And never two days in a row. Spring, summer, winter or fall I diligently take a pill every morning. Why all the time you ask? Well....
Besides the unfortunate affliction of Crohn's Disease and my daily fights with Little Crohnsie Bit I have COPIUS amounts of allergies. I'm talking to just about everything. Let me list SOME of them shall I....
-environmental (pollen, grass, dust, ect. like a lot of people, no big deal).
-cats (again no big deal).
-all kinds of fabric softener except 1 certain hypoallergenic brand.
-every antibiotic they give my except Azithromycin (no more than 250mg a day) and Flagyl (which you can only get when admitted into the hospital because it costs so much).
-rats(a weird one I thought I'd throw in).
-all fruit (with the exception of watermelon and blueberries at certain times of the year if I take Benadryl 20 minutes before I eat it).
-some raw vegetables.
Some or a combination of these things can make me break out in hives, wheeze, make me lightheaded, make my heart beat fast, make my throat/tongue tingle/swell, make my eyes swell shut or itch to the point I that I break the skin and make myself bleed while some just make me sneeze, cough or eyes itchy. Especially at this time of year. And it happens anywhere, anytime. The antihistamines above just keep some of the milder symptoms at bay but if I encounter something that my body does not like sometimes 50mg of Benadryl is the only thing that gives me any relief and sometimes that doesn't seem to work as well as it used to.
So why the detox you ask? Well after two years of waiting I finally have an allergist appointment I can keep (I had three different appointments while I was on Prednisone, none of which I could keep) on Monday and for the testing you can't have any antihistamines in your system for at least 48 hours beforehand. That means Friday morning (39 hours ago) was my last one and I am in full detox mode. I mean detox. You'd think I'm coming down off of meth or something. I'm getting the sweats/hot and cold flashes, itchy all over, my leg is rubbed raw in no less than three areas, I feel like there are bugs crawling all over me, I'm nauseous and my eyes are so itchy I could claw them out on a whim.
Oh well, only 38 more hours to go. I'm over half way there right?!?!
