Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Ah Choo!
I never had problems with allergies until four years ago. That all changed in 2001 when my hands started feeling like poison ivy during a round of golf and then again the next time I played. I discarded all of my golf gloves, thinking they had been exposed to poison ivy.
The next time I played golf, my hands swelled to the point I could barely grip a club. On the final hole I shanked a ball and hit a good friend at extremely high speed, leaving him with a hip bruise the size of a volleyball.
I went directly to the doctor's office, where the doc ran a blunt object over the back of one of my hands in an X motion. In about ten seconds, a red welted X rose on that hand, confirming his suspicion that I had contact dermatitis, often called chronic hives.
I manage the hives by taking two antihistimines daily. I still get red marks on my chest and arms at the point of any minor contact, but generally it does not cause discomfort.
Shortly after the onset of the hives, I started having traditional respiratory allergies. For the last five days, I have had almost no voice and have been coughing and sneezing like I am in a pepper mist. You would think since I am already on the antihistimines for hives, that I would not experience these other allergies, but not so.
So today's motto is "Thank you rain!!"
The next time I played golf, my hands swelled to the point I could barely grip a club. On the final hole I shanked a ball and hit a good friend at extremely high speed, leaving him with a hip bruise the size of a volleyball.
I went directly to the doctor's office, where the doc ran a blunt object over the back of one of my hands in an X motion. In about ten seconds, a red welted X rose on that hand, confirming his suspicion that I had contact dermatitis, often called chronic hives.
I manage the hives by taking two antihistimines daily. I still get red marks on my chest and arms at the point of any minor contact, but generally it does not cause discomfort.
Shortly after the onset of the hives, I started having traditional respiratory allergies. For the last five days, I have had almost no voice and have been coughing and sneezing like I am in a pepper mist. You would think since I am already on the antihistimines for hives, that I would not experience these other allergies, but not so.
So today's motto is "Thank you rain!!"
