I make this look good....

Today was allergy shot day. It occured to me that I have never actually taken photographic evidence of what an allergy shot looks like, and I've been getting them for well over four years now. I wish I had taken a photo when I was first getting them- the allergy shots (I get three: animals, trees, and other stuff, molds, mildews, what have you; this is what happens when you are allergic to the planet) would swell so large that they would become one large uber-hive on my arm. It actually bruised from swelling once. Serious. It was shortly thereafter we split them up to two on one arm and one on the other arm. Helped out a lot, and no more bruising and football sized swelling. So, even though they aren't freakish and crazy like they use to be, I thought a picture was in order.

Well, here you have it. This is the arm with two, the small welt is the animals shot and the large welt is the trees shot (I believe).

And another shot. I think this one gets the redness of it the best- when you put your hand on it, even through clothes it feels really hot. Feverish and angry. They used to itch like mad, but not so much anymore.



And here again. See how large the tree one gets, even after all these years?

Allergy shots have gotten me to a point where I take little to no daily meds for my environmental allergies anymore. I love them and swear by them and am still kicking myself for waiting to get them for so long.

Granted, I'm not sure I would have seen as good of results had I started earlier...

Here is the kicker, my reduction in allergy medication and symptoms came primarily after 1) My sinus surgery to fix my deviated septum in October '07, and the grand finale of 2) changing my diet and detoxing my body in July '08. Up until the sinus surgery, I was still taking allergy meds and sinus thinning medications daily, and a slew of inhalers and other meds to stop the swelling. After the sinus surgery I was able to reduce my nasal inhaler usage to a more infrequent level, and I cut down on meds quite a bit, but still found myself reaching for them regularly (which was still a reduction from daily, mind you). It was my diet changes and detox a year and a half ago where sinus relief and asthma relief become more permanent. In fact, I now only take allergy medicine on the day I get allergy shots, and that is under strict protest I will have you know but my allergist says I have to- something about potential adverse reactions, blah, blah, blah. One of these days I'm gonna get the shots without taking medicine beforehand and see what happens... shall I tempt fate?

Anyway, I do still love my allergy shots and know that if I'm starting to feel a little wheezy or "allergic" I can just go get my shots and start feeling better. In fact, this fall I was feeling asthmatic from the leaves dying (the fall is my asthmatic season from the molds/mildews/dust), went and got my shots and felt the asthmatic sensation go away about 10 minutes after the injection. Relief felt really good. They have changed my life and allowed me to live it much more fully. I still won't go camping, don't get me wrong, thats just asking for trouble, but at least now I can go on a picnic or be in a house with animals and not need more than "emergency" meds if, on the off chance, I start to have a problem. It's nice.