Here we can all be heard for a little while. Part 2

Gingernutty

I've been for my scale and polish, picked up the remainder of my prescription, went home, had a shower and changed my undies, had my smear and a peak flow test, trawled the charity shops of Dudley and popped to Merry Hill as well.

Waves_and_Smiles wrote: »

Good evening all! I am going to get my allergy tests on Thursday, eek! This apparently involves pin pricking a tiny amount of the substances into the skin of my inner arm and seeing what happens for the next 30 minutes. My doctor has recommended all common allergies and the food group associated with avocados. It shouldn't make me unwell at all but might be itchy!

Indie_Kid wrote: »

A frind has some sort of allergy test. I seem to remember she had loads of white patches (like plasters) over her body. But I seem to remember she had to leave them on for a few days.

I've had both sets of tests.

The skin pr1ck (proper word censored by MSE filters) tests was for hayfever and animal allergens as I seemed to require antihistamines all year round.

I reacted to tree pollen (early in season), grass pollen (mid season), flower pollen (late season), mould spores (all year round), dust mites (all year round), cats and dogs (again, both all year round).

So yeah, I need antihistamines all year round. :rotfl:

The patch tests were a pain.

I have a condition called keratosis pilaris which results in acne across my back.

If you can imagine giant sticking plasters with allergens strategically placed at regular intervals across the sticky side and then stuck to the skin on the back, that's what it was. Each allergen was marked with a biro on the non sticky side.

A series of four plus a little strip that had to be in place for 3 days.

Although I did my best, to keep the things on, my spotty skin was greasy and it was summer so I was sweating as well.

I had to go to my GP two days running so that the nurse could use micropore tape to hold the things down.

And guess what? I was allergic to the sticky.

That reaction swamped nearly everything else, except shellfish and metals. They really, really, reacted. :eek:

Still feel tired and run down after the jab, but much improved.

Tomorrow, take some stuff to the charity shop, get some boxes to put some stuff into storage in a back bedroom, get my eyebrows done, the mental health triage thing and maybe sit down to do some cross stitch.

Friday, chiropody and, perhaps some gardening. Or a day out. I like Shrewsbury...

Wellyboots6

Lovely dress Calley!

Only you Gingernutty could be allergic to an allergy test! So when they found what you were sensitive to, do you then have to avoid all those things or can they give you something to help?

Just had a bit of a melt down. Nearly posted here but couldn't penguin it and had some pretty horrible thoughts I wouldn't want to not penguin. Asked hubby to come and give me a hug but he forgot and so I got really upset. All calm again now but said some awful things to him and still not sure they are entirely out of my head. Exhausted but wide awake.

Gingernutty

I have to avoid shellfish definitely.

Also allergic to bee and wasp stings but the reaction isn't overwhelming yet.

I have to keep contact with metals to a minimum as I do come out in a scabby rash.

Ordinary handling of coins etc is fine but now I wear a vest to protect me from my trouser buttons and jeans studs, wear wooden or plastic beads with no metal catches and wear a watch with a plastic coating on the back.

At some stage in the future, an Epipen may be required but as I don't like fish to start with, I'm never likely to accidentally consume crab, prawns, lobster, squid or octopus or any other shellfish type thingy.

xXMessedUpXx wrote: »

I'm currently experiencing the annual "birthday blues" as i've come to call it. Every year, a few weeks before my birthday my mood crashes. I feel like utter crap. Feel like i donlt want to cekebrate it. Feel like i want to hide away. I think in part its cos when its your birthday theres this expectation that you'll be happy, but for me all it does is remind me i'm another year older and yet again have nothing to show for it. Still in the same situation i was in in previous years. It's getting harder as i get closer to 30 as i see people around me with great careers, their own homes, being married with families. And i have none of these.

Christmas also has a similar effect. I always try and be happy and build it up, then on the day i usually crash and feel like crap. I've spent the last 5 or 6 years crashing on either xmas day or boxing day and having to hide away from my family as all i felt i could do was cry.

I'm sure i'll be fine by my birthday but for now, i feel crap. (

I hear you MU.

I'm 47 and I have not much to show for my life either.

Smart I may be but academically, I'm no great shakes, I have no great ambition or drive and I've always drifted from job to job so I have no career path to speak of.

Possible PENGUIN, don't click the link if sensitive - It doesn't help when my birthday coincides with a horrendous anniversary which is marked internationally.

System

Goddamn it

Wrote a long reply with multi quotes and my computer decided to restart without warning and ive lost it all! Arrgghhhh!

Just want to say thank you for all of your advice and also for sharing your own experiences. Not feeling quite as bad today. I'm trying to reset the mindset and think of the positive things I DO have rather than the things I don't.

Flybaby

Thanks for all the kind words....onwards and upwards and all that. How do I re-focus my life? I know what I want to do but it is impossible to achieve, so I have to come up with a back up plan and I don't know how to start.

System

If it's any consolation I don't even have a back up plan

What makes what you want to do impossible to acheive? Are there any small steps towards it you can make? If you break it down into smaller goals or got support would it be possible then?

Pyxis

Flybaby wrote: »

Thanks for all the kind words....onwards and upwards and all that. How do I re-focus my life? I know what I want to do but it is impossible to achieve, so I have to come up with a back up plan and I don't know how to start.

xXMessedUpXx wrote: »

If it's any consolation I don't even have a back up plan

What makes what you want to do impossible to acheive? Are there any small steps towards it you can make? If you break it down into smaller goals or got support would it be possible then?

Can we help in any way? Help to focus your thoughts? About the back-up plan?

seven-day-weekend

Subscribes to new thread.....

Flybaby

I would go travelling if I was single at this point, something I always wanted to do. But I have a house and a husband, so it is not an option. I feel like I want a break from the hum drum of daily life, but I never had a husband to consider before and, although he would probably actually agree if I told him it was what I needed to do, I am mindful of the fact that it would not be what he wanted to do really and he would have to give up his job of 13 years which he loves, in order to do it with me. I would not go without him............So, I feel like I need to "get over" the travelling thing and settle down.........which I am more than happy to do...........I just don't know what to do. I don't want to go back to my old career and just don't know what to look at for a new one. I would happily be prepared to re-train but actually, there seem to be very limited opportunities - no one wants a 40 year old female apprentice, they want 18 year olds. I know that, in the next few weeks, I have to go into job finding mode, so I am trying to formulate a plan for that.

whitewing

Penguin to do with medical research. It may be something to come back to later in the day, rather than first thing, so it doesn't set your day off on the wrong note.

Are any of you leaving your body to medical research?

I am expecting to live out my natural life, so a few more decades yet, but a few years ago I registered to donate my brain to a London University for research purposes.

(I am on the organ donor register and have been probably since I was 18, although I sometimes feel a bit squeamish about that as they can take many more parts of the body these days and when I joined it was just the more obvious bits and pieces. But that I one of the reasons I didn't leave my whole body to medical research).


Much BIGGER PENGUIN now

I do sometimes wonder about the effect of different methods of suicide on my plans for donation, especially on the brain. But perhaps we shouldn't have this conversation really.