I have been suffering from "seasonal allergies" for about 10 or 15 years now. Last spring in addition to the lovely sneezing and itchy eyes I broke out in hives on my neck and chest for about 3 months. When the hives returned last week I decided it was time to get help. In the past I have seen my regular doctor and haven't gotten much help, so I decided to see an allergy specialist. My new doctor said that they don't usually do allergy testing on first time patients, but the hives concerned him so he decided to test me right away. The first round of testing includes plants and animals. I got 48 needle pricks on my arms and I found out that I am very allergic to mountain cedar and box elder trees. I am also allergic to cottonwoods, sage brush, wheat pollen and a few other plants that I don't remember. I am not allergic to any household pets. I have to go in again on Thursday for food allergy testing, and then again next Tuesday and I don't know what they will be testing me for then. Once I finish the tests I will start desensitization shots which should be a lot of fun. I had a bunch of hives at the injection sites for about 2 hours, but now they have faded and I just have needle track marks running up and down both of my arms.
Below is a picture of what my neck has looked like for the past week.
