Another Reaction

Sitting here homebound, I am working hard to stay positive.

The last couple of days I've been in too many places. The pollen count has been high for quite a while, which in turn means the rubber dust is high. I have been going to 2 places each day to run errands. I guess I will need to cut back to only 1 a day for a while.

Yesterday I was in Wal*Mart for ink cartridges. Then I was off to the grocery store with my computer list of items in geographic order. I'm sure I was in there longer than my 15 minute limit. I began having symptoms before I was finished shopping, so I really moved to finish and get out of there.

By the time I got to the cash register I knew for sure. The mind fog had set in. I let the cashier know I"d been in there too long, & she helped me pack my bags quickly. I have learned to make a point of letting someone know when I'm beginning to react, if I remember to do it. That's how bad the mind can get with a reaction.

I'm also slowly understanding calling it rubber and rubber dust gives a much better picture to others of what my "problem" is than if I call it latex. Others see rubber all over. They have no idea when it's called latex just how many items in every day life have latex in them. Over 40,000. There is no way to escape natural rubber latex exposure totally. And yet the prime treatment is avoidance, along with inhalers, Benadryl, epi-pens, and steroids. The worst place to go to get the highest exposure is the hospital and the ER.

When reactions occur, it is so easy to belittle ourselves. We think we should have seen it coming. But none of us can forsee the future. We talk about an exposure glass, like a glass of water. When it becomes full from exposures, it overflows, meaning reactions just start happening. There is a cumulative effect from exposures.

This has given me a brilliant idea, even loaded up on Benadryl. Diabetics can test their sugar level. A thermometer is used to check for a fever. How about something to measure mast cell count or histamine release to check on how full our glasses are?