Pearls and Dreams
I spent today doing a lot of websurfing. I was trying to find out why they won't test me once and for all for latex allergy.
I have found that there is a good reason. I'm taking 3000 mgs of Cellcept & 5 mg of prednisone. Both of which, are immunosuppressants. Both decrease my immune system putting me at risk for infections (which, if you've been reading me since I started, is why I get sick so easy. I more than likely don't take the precautions I should in germ protection. I know I don't isolate myself like my friends sister who had the heart transplant but takes less Cellcept & prednisone than I do.)
So, they won't do allergy testing of any kind because allergies are an over reaction to some kind of substance. Suppress the immune system, you don't have the antibodies to show up in the lab work and you get a false negative test.
Ok ... I get that ... so what I want to know is ..if it can give me a fals negative test ..then how the heck can I have allergies?
Would the Cellcept & prednisone, in theory, also prevent me from reacting to the Pear tree that's about to show it's leaf and make me sick? Shouldn't it keep me from reacting to latex? I mean, if it suppresses the antibodies to show a false negative lab test, then shouldn't it suppress the antibodies so that you don't have a reaction at all?
(ok, so I'm not in remission from MG or lupus either one, and theoretically if the above would work the MG and lupus antibodies should be non existant too ..and they're not but don't spoil my logic with logic!)
I guess, until they show me in black and white that I have a latex allergy, some where in my brain, I'm going to believe John Stossel (or whomever) instead of the rash on my arm.
I didn't believe the metabolic problems till they found it in the labs either ... and I didn't believe my joint pain was real till the Anti dsDNA came back at 454 and the lupus was confirmed.
Sometimes I wonder if I hadn't seen that very first neurologist who told me nothing was wrong, I just needed to stop being a baby about being a new mother ... I wonder ... would I believe my body before I see it objectivly on the lab work?
Dr. Suess
"And will you succeed? Yes indeed! Yes indeed! Ninety Eight and Three Quarters guarenteed!"
reading this i started thinking of thomas and his encounter with Jesus after the resurrection. you remember, the whole gotta see it for myself thing.
ReplyDeleteand i could hear Jesus saying to Thomas: Look, Thomas we're in Isreal, not Missouri. Blessed are they who have not seen and yet believed.
i guess i'm just a wee bit confuzzled as to why you might believe a reporter (aka non-medical professional and untrained in medicine) over a whole slew of medical professionals (lots of training and experience)?
just a wonderment....
hugs.
I really think that it has to do with the few doctors that have told me that it's all in my head, nothing wrong ...etc. Somewhere in the back of my mind, or maybe it's the front of my mind! I'm still listening to them ... and I have to be shown they're wrong before I can believe it.
ReplyDeleteI've had thousands of dealings with doctors (not thousands of doctor's, just thousands of appointments, face to face, phone calls, in hospital dealings, etc) and only a handful of bad experiences, but those handful of bad ... color my trust of the good ones.
Also, I wonder how much having an eating disorder for 25 years of my life plays into this ..not trusting my body, not trusting it to do what it's supposed to do. Not believing what the doctor's say about it ...
My psychiatrist says that my denial of medical things until I can see the black and white proof, is part of my OCD. I keep telling him I do NOT HAVE OCD but he doesn't listen, he just grins at me and says "uh huh".
Then if I insist he starts listing off the things I do like an absolute refusal to be late with a REAL FULL BLOWN PANIC ATTACK if you're going to make me 5 minutes late (which in reality is 5 to 10 minutes early for the appointment/setting whatever)
Checking the stove 4 to 8 times a night before going to bed.
There are a few more things too, but I keep telling him I'm quirky, I'm careful and I'm punctual ... not OCD.
So, I'm not sure what's going on or why ... but when you're treated so callously by one doctor ... it can and does color your belief in yourself in dealing with other doctors ... sooooo ...