Allergy Horrors- Part 1

Last month I had to go visit the doctor (fun times) so I could FINALLY figure out what foods I was allergic to. Luckily I go to an integrative doctor rather than a conventional one (which means I don't have to have dangerous shots forced on me all the time and I get the opportunity to take helpful supplements and such) so the checkup itself wasn't that bad. Rather, it was the blood giving part that really shook me up.

I had known for a while that I would have to give blood for the allergy tests, but nothing prepared me for the horror. I made it through the actual blood giving okay by staring at the wall as though I were obsessed with it and pretending that I didn't exist. Then as I sat there recuperating, I figured the worst was over and that I had made it. Then the nurse, bless her heart, suddenly decided to tell my mom a whole host of stories about people fainting after giving blood. Needless to say, the thought that I might faint hadn't really crossed my mind before, but it sure as heck crossed my mind now. As the nurse gabbed on and on my stomach started to hurt really really bad and my ears started ringing. I tried to shake it off and act like nothing was wrong, but (suggestive and hypochondriacal person that I am) I couldn't and instead started to panic (which didn't really help matters much). Somewhere in the middle of a story involving a girl fainting dead away and bouncing off the wall, my stomach hurt so bad I was SURE I was going to puke and the world was slowly starting to fade away. I'd never fainted before, but I figured that if you got to the point where you started seeing black spots and your ears were ringing so badly you could barely hear that you were pretty darn close. I finally voiced my concerns, and the nurse, (as though she had been expecting this all along) made me lie down. I lay there for a long time, white as a sheet and trying my best not to think about blood-related things. It was difficult let me tell you....

Finally, I was able to sit up without the world spinning wildly and I found that my terrible nausea had passed (I wonder what it is about fainting that it has to include the urge to puke...). I weakly left the doctor's office, deciding that I would NEVER give blood again unless under emergency circumstances and that anyone who tried to force me to do so under unnecessary circumstances would be severely throttled.....

Well, I waited about 3 long weeks after that for the results of my allergy test. After such a long period of anticipation I was about to discover whether my strange reactions to dairy were truly that or just me being a hypochondriac (my brothers tended to declare for the latter option)....I must say though, that the test surprised me quite a good deal.

To be continued.....;)