Some Welcome Relief

Hi everyone --

Well, the hives are finally gone (I'm hoping)!! After several doctor visits and medication changes, I think that I'm finally on the road to recovery. I went from thinking that my reaction was from contact I had to something that may have had cat hair on it to absolutely freaking out that I was allergic to eggs. Anyways, I saw an allergy specialist yesterday and he made my day by telling me that the cold virus I started last week triggered my hives. Who knew?!! He said that about 20 percent of the patients he sees with hives get them from a virus that sets their immune system into shock-mode. After restricting myself from food with eggs in it for six days, I was ecstatic to learn that it wouldn't be a lifetime of watching what I eat. I have so much more respect for anyone now who has a food allergy or who has diet restrictions :(

All I can say about going through this experience is that I NEVER want to get hives again - I wouldn't even wish them on my worst enemy. I had them on the majority of my body at several points and I don't think that I have ever been driven to that point of insanity in my life. On Saturday I was wanting Dan to take me to the hospital to admit and sedate me so I could get through it. Nothing would ease the itching, not even special lotions (you can't scratch them because it makes them rapidly multiply and intensify in feeling). I finally learned that relieving stress is one of the best ways, but it is easier said than done, especially when you feel like crap, are trying to breastfeed (and my milk supply was very low due to the medicine and my stress), and deal with working full-time again.

The good news is that I think the hives are finally in remission, although they could come back at any point in the next few weeks. Breastfeeding is also going much better now that my stress levels are down, thank goodness!! These last couple of days of better health have definitely given me a renewed since of happiness again :)

Sorry for those of you who were looking for an update on Jacob on this post, but I needed to vent!!

Hope everyone is staying warm - it was in the mid 50's yesterday afternoon and dropped to single digits here in mere hours. I think it was something like 3 degrees when I walked into work this morning, with a -16 windchill! Gotta love Central Illinois weather :)

Angela