Allergies: The main ones

My Obscure Allergies

After posting about my favorite new tissues HERE. I thought I would elaborate on the allergies I have issues with. Maybe one of you could help me with one of them or I could impart some information that could help you.

Allergy
noun
a damaging immune response by the body to a substance, esp. pollen, fur, a particular food, or dust, to which it has become hypersensitive.

Are any of these considered allergies, sensitivities, or intolerances? What is the difference? Also none of these are helped by any kind of allergy pill I have tried prescription or over the counter.

1. My own hands.

Yes. My face is extremely sensitive. If I rub my face I break out in red splotchiness. This can be covered with makeup so it isn't too inconvenient. The splotches don't itch or hurt. They feel a little bit warm as if the area has swollen. They happen in varying degrees. If my husband (who has a very full beard) were to kiss all over my face I would be covered in them. This again is JUST my face and sometimes on my neck. I haven't ever broken out like this anywhere else. Example below is from my hands and its just along my jaw bone. There is a tiny bump in the middle. What does that mean? To get this reaction (just for YOU) I just rubbed my hands all over my face like someone who was exasperated would.

The picture below is after my husbands beard attacked my neck.

2. Bleach/Clorox Bleach Pen

I hadn't used bleach in years then I bought some white sheets. I washed them in some Tide with bleach at some point and put them on the bed. I woke up in the middle of the night and every breath I took was crackly. I assumed it was the sheets and took them off. It took me two days to recover. The second incident was at work. There was a spill and they cleaned the area with TONS of bleach. I walked through the area and five minutes later I had the crackly lungs again. The third incident was while making a t-shirt as a gift. That Pinterest pin everyone has seen where you write with the bleach pen on a shirt and wash it and the design is a different shade. I did that with a complicated design and queue the crackle lungs. So I've come to the conclusion that I have a sensitivity to bleach.
-p.s. The t-shirt came out amazing... she LOVED the gift. #Worth it.

3. Bamboo.

Yeah. My roommate Nathan told me that a bird kept smashing into a window. I went to investigate and sure enough. A small bird was throwing itself into one of the windows. I Googled this and figured that it saw its reflection. One of the tips was to take soap and draw lines on the window to get rid of the glare. I got the soap and walked around the back of the house where there is no clear path. The whole side of the house is a jungle of bamboo. I loved it but I hadn't had a chance to tromp through the stuff yet. I waded through five feet or so of the stuff to the window and rubbed the lines on. I went back inside and relaxed. I had saved the bird. It was summer and I was wearing shorts. My legs broke out in EXTREMELY itchy blisters. Little tiny ones in clusters all over my legs. It was horrible. I itched them and they oozed. Disgusting. I'm sorry. I itched the spots like crazy and I have slightly (barely noticeable unless you know where to look) darker skin in those areas. Example photo is a picture I took of my cousin for my Etsy shop in front of the offending bamboo. Look at it back there... all evil and such a beautiful shade of green too.

4. Band-aids/Hospital Tape

I learned this the one and only time I've been in the hospital for a serious surgery. I had my gallbladder taken out. (ugh) Long story short they taped the IV onto my arm. When I woke from the surgery they tore it off and 10 layers of my skin went with it. The hypoallergenic tape they had used fused with the sensitive skin inside my elbow. I can use band-aids ANYWHERE except my face, neck, chest, inside of my elbow, and the backs of my knees. Those areas are very sensitive and the resin in the band aids fuses with my skin. It took so many layers off that my skin took almost three weeks to recover from that alone.

5. Vapor Rub

This one I learned just a few weeks ago. I bought some vapor rub off-brand from Winco (Hey.. it says *Compare to the active ingredients in Vicks Vaporub) because I remember always wanting to try it when I was little. It looked so soothing in the commercials. I'm not sure why I thought dabbing stuff on my chest and below my nose would turn out okay. I did so and it did feel good to breath in until my chest and lip started BURNING horribly. I quickly washed it off and my whole chest and my upper lip were inflamed and burning for hours afterward. Regardless of my ministrations.. the burning. Oh... the BURNING. It was horrible.

Other random allergies?

• Penicillin/Amoxicillin (not sure which) gave me an insanely uncontrollable nose bleed when I was little and every since I've been firmly on Azithromycin. *See post about being sick
• Kiwi. I'm no longer allergic to this. I also had a crazy nose bleed while eating these SLASH drinking things like Kiwi Strawberry Snapple. I can safely eat them now though. Delish!
• Microfiber blankets. Yeah the ones that are so super soft that they catch on your calluses? My skin doesn't like them. It makes it get all rashy.
• Bourbons/Whiskey gives me.. body hives. Not 100% sure about this one. Happened twice after drinking either. (I'm not really a drinker. I just had a glass with some coke on both occasions)

I'm feeling itchy just writing this!! Fear not readers... I doubt I will obtain an allergic reaction to posting blogs!

Thank you so much for following along!