In which it itches

I may have mentioned I may not, but at the end of last year I was getting really bad hayfever. My GP gave me some drugs which didnt really work, puffer which was slightly useful and a referal to a specialist.

On Friday I went to visit said specialist and he decided after much discussion and protests that I needed to have skin prick tests done to see what I was allergic to so he could start me on desensitisation and also that I had asthma. It may surprise you that the thing I would be protesting about was not being jabbed with many many needles but the fact that he put down on paper that I had asthma. It may seem like a silly thing to protest against but when you take a minute to think about what I have spent three years of my life studying and then realise that they will not let you go to Antarctica if you have a history of asthma you may begin to understand my delema. No Antarctica for me. No incentive to go back and study Masters. Not as much incentive to move back to Tassie. I am hoping beyond all hopes that the no asthma rule does not apply to Macquarie island too.

But anyway the topic of this discussion was that it itches. So we are going back into the specialists office and sitting down on a dodgy chair and having 22 pin pricks with alergens up both arms. On Friday I was tested for grass pollens and mould spores. As we already knew I was allergic to Rye grass we assumed the rest of the grasses would also test positive. 10 large itchy patches soon developed on my right arm. On my left the only reaction was to the control patch so it wasnt so bad and now we know I am not allergic to mould. But my right arm was a mess. And what ever grass made up test patch 6 was the worst. It was itchy until yesterday afternoon.

I go back in a week and a half to be tested for tree pollens, weed pollens, and animals. I am hoping none of them come up.

Here is a photo I took of Apples with an itch about a month ago.