Sixty pricks in fifteen minutes

With all the craziness in our lives lately, I had to bump back my first ever, much needed allergy test. This spring was one of the worst ever for my allergies (and yeah, I realize I'm not the only one that applies to) - and I finally decided it was time to see a specialist for help. I've already burned through the helpful effects of stuff like Nasacort and Claritin - they used to work for me, but became ineffective over time. And Rhinocort...well, that stuff just gave me raging headaches. So hopefully now that I'm seeing a specialist (who has me trying Nasacort plus Singular temporarily), things will improve.

And how does one find out what exactly they're allergic to so they can get a better drug prescription? You take it in the back sixty times...

Here's a video on YouTube of a process SIMILAR to what I went through:

Instead, in my case the nurse used blocks or groups of applicators so she could press down with 10 at a time. No, they're not needles, but more like a plastic version of a star-tip for frosting (pretty gay, hunh?) - like this:



So each block of ten of those has the points facing down in an "allergen" (I'm guessing that's what they're called) - and the nurse would touch my back and say "I'm going to put them here" and then she'd take the block and push all those pointy things onto my back. It took her less than a minute to apply all six blocks, but she wasn't slowed down by writing things on my back like many testers do. I agree with her - it's convenient to be consistent and always have them in the same order - makes sense to me.

She told me what to watch out for - especially with trouble breathing, and said the waiting period would only take fifteen minutes, but that she'd check back with me frequently. Hey cool - reading time! So I sat there and the first time she came back, no, there were no odd sensations. By the second time she came back, yup, there was definitely some itching and irritation going on - and the catch is you're not allowed to scratch! What's the worst thing about an itch? Not being able to scratch it!!

A few visits later and she told me it definitely looked like my reactions were mostly to molds. When the fifteen minutes was up she took a picture for me (saying she's had many patients request this), and then cleaned the chemicals off my back before applying a cortisone lotion to stop the itching. She even offered me an antihistamine, but said it was probably no more effective than what I'd already be taking at home. (Oh, speaking of which, I've been off all my allergy drugs for the last five days - UUUUGH!)

Now then, I'm about to present you with the image of my bare back. Those of you who're faint of heart might want to avert their gaze now. Something this hot and sexy isn't for everyone.

Ok, you had your chance.

Here it is!


Yeah yeah, I know, I have a lot of freckles. I've spent too much time out in the sun, especially in my high school hears. Plus she had me turn to an odd angle so she could take my picture without having to jump up on the table (that would be awkward!). And yeah, I know, love handles....right. Thanks. Moving on... So you see that really itchy looking red welt over on the right? That's the control. That was the first and most persistent itchy spot - but that's how it's supposed to be. Now you can match up all the spots on my back with the following chart to see what I'm mostly allergic to (plus you can just read the size of the wheals (the red bumps) and the flares (the rashy area around the wheals) in millimeters on that chart. You'll see 1) that the intensity of my allergies really isn't all that bad over all, and 2) that I'm apparently not all that allergic to many things anyhow.

Now the nurse did say that these reactions are different from how my body's defensive system reacts, so that's the stuff I'll be discussing with the allergist next week. Here's hoping I get hooked up with some good drugs that are effective for a longer period of time!