The Road To Allergies, Part One

For a long time allergies were something that happened to other people. Pounding headaches, monthly sinus infections, and swollen hands? Those weren’t allergies, I didn’t have any. It was during my senior year of college and my month long headache that I began to truly wonder what was going on. I had given up on my university’s health center. My patience for being offered acne medication or birth control, when I walked in with a sore throat had worn thin. Like millions in America, I grew up without health insurance. This lack of insurance didn’t exactly inspire a search for a diagnosis. The constant parade of stomach aches, swollen sinuses, and itchy limbs, were all treatable symptoms. So, for times like these it was CVS for me. On one of my visits, I walked away with some generic allergy pill. Honestly, I didn’t pay much attention; all I knew was that once I took it my headache was gone!

Upon graduation I scored my first full time job with benefits, health insurance at last! During my first visit with my new primary care physician, I brought up my possible allergies. All I got back was:

My gut wasn’t sold on these tips, but since I was scared to go through with the actual allergy testing I decided to work with what I got. What I ended up getting was more allergic reactions. A year and a half later I landed myself in urgent care. I wasn’t experiencing fully fledged anaphylaxis, but close enough for the doctor to yell at me for not having seen a proper allergist.

The urgent care doctor referred me to a new primary care physician. At this point I was getting sick every few weeks. It felt like my nose had ceased to work. I was not taking in any air through my nostrils, I was falling asleep nightly while watching television on the couch, and only the jaws of life would have been able to remove the scarf I kept around my neck to fend the cold away from my constantly sore throat. This new primary care physician did the best thing any medical professional had done for me up to that point, he referred me to an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor that would be instrumental in changing my life.