Prednisone Perk

Ok so I have had yet another allergic reaction to my allergy shots. This one not so bad as the first.

Image: http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w310/mom2lillian/DSCF0028-1.jpg
Image: http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w310/mom2lillian/DSCF0027-1.jpg

After the first one I went back down a level and worked my way up to maintenance level, this is my second shot at this level with no reaction last time. This time it burned SUPER bad going in again and I thought 'uh oh' but then countered with the thought that it was unlikely to happen a second time and I was just being paranoid. Hmm maybe not.

Those photos are taken 7 hours after my allergy shot. This time I started on 60mg prednisone immediately because doubling up on all the allergy meds (claritin, allegra, singular and triple doses benadryl dried me out and negatively impacted my lungs). I dont want to let it get out of control again, sast time I let it spread to below the elbow and up around my shoulder blade before we tried steroids and it spread further before they took affect getting down into my fingers and on palm my hands--not fun. My arms were huge swollen hot red lumps ta boot.

So the big question for me is why all the sudden now, I have been at this maintenance dose for 17 months! There are, unfortunately, no clear answers. The allergist while unsure why now said it can sometimes be associated with level allergens in the air being high and then you are exposed to that and the dose is too much cumulatively for your body to handle and tree pollens were very high with this second go round. I reacted to both shots but he said once reaction starts it would react to everything and the one arm definately reacted moreso to start with.

He thinks maybe I cant tolerate (frow whatever reason) the full 0.5 maintenance dose and was thinking of reducing it. I also asked how being pregnant would impact this because I feared having a reaction when I was pregnant as we plan to try again very soon. I did not want to take the chance nor did I want to take steroids etc on the flip side the shots help my lungs adn I want to stay healthy during my pregnancy. He said the protocol for allergy shots when pregnant (they are consdiered safe) is to cut dose in half and come 2x as often so 0.25 every other week instead of once per month. This introduces less allergen to your system at once but still gets the same net exposure over month, less at once means you are less likely to 'overflow your bodies capability handling it'. He said he had never had a reaction with this plan so we would try it for me irregardless of whether I get pregnant this spring or not.

Now for the bonus. I was just getting over a nasty head cold and knew I had a bit of residual in my lungs and sinuses I hadnt been able to get out. The steroid burst seems to be helping out with this immensely I am getting ALOT out and have taken advantage of the reduced inflammation by flooding my body with HTS in middle today along with the regular and I have also finally gotten some good sinus clearing. Steroids are NOT my friend dont get me wrong, I get emotional, jittery, anxious, and hungry but the 6 day course is not bad and is doing my lungs nicely so maybe, perhaps, it was meant to be because I truly do believe that everything happens for a reason!