Allergy Testing

Many people in the world are allergic to insect stings, including me.  I've always had a slightly stronger reaction to biting and stinging insects than most people, but never had one bad enough to warrant going to the doctor or hospital.  That all changed in June 2011.  I was stung by what I thought was a bee, but it was actually a yellow jacket.

Since then, I've carried EpiPens and tried to avoid being outside as much as possible.  I had to stop doing yard work and hire someone to do this for me.  EpiPens expire and I needed to get a new prescription for them.  I originally scheduled an appointment with my internal physician, but a coworker recommended I go to an allergist.  I researched this a little and decided this was probably the way to go.  I didn't realize you can get allergy shots to possibly "cure" you of your allergy.

I had my initial appointment with the allergist and he prescribed new EpiPens for me.  He also recommended I have allergy testing to confirm exactly what I'm allergic to.  I agreed and scheduled the allergy testing.  That took place on Monday, May 18.

I checked in and waited.  I was nervous, but not like I am for blood draws.  I should have been nervous.

The lady who was going to do the testing walked me from the lobby to the exam room.  She took my blood pressure and checked my pulse.  My blood pressure was high, but it was only because I was getting nervous about the upcoming needle sticks.  She explained what was going to happen and she asked me to sign some documents.

She left the room to get the syringes with the venom and we got started.

The first thing she did was the histamine test.  She injected some histamine under the skin on my right arm to see if it reacted.  Within a few minutes, it was swollen and itching.  She said that's what they want to see.  We could proceed with the other testing.  Yay me.  This part stung about like a shot.

The next step was to perform the scratch test.  This was to make sure I didn't have a severe reaction to any of the venoms.  If I didn't react, they would proceed to the next step.

For the scratch test, she used a marker to write the initials for the various venoms - HB-Honey Bee, YJ-Yellow Jacket, WFH-White Face Hornet, YH-Yellow Hornet, and W-Wasp.  The line on the left was the control.  They use a water control each time to have something to compare the venom spots to.

She then used a syringe and dropped the liquid on my arm (there was a needle but she didn't inject this - she just let it drip onto my skin).  She then used this little device to "scratch" the skin to get the venom liquid in my skin.

The scratch device looked something like this.

This is my left forearm just after the lady put the venom on my skin and scratched me.  The scratches hurt.  That's the one I figured wouldn't hurt that much, but it was more painful than the histamine injection on my right arm.

Fifteen minutes after the scratch test was started, the lady came back to check.  She confirmed there was no reaction, so we proceeded with the next step.  The next step involved her marking my left upper arm similarly to how she marked my left forearm.  She then injected each of the venoms just under the skin.  That was about as painful as a shot.  There were five venoms plus the water, so six injections total.

I waited for fifteen minutes and she came back to check on me.  No real reaction, so we repeat the last test with more potent venom.

After fifteen minutes, she checked.  No reaction, so we repeat this last step again, with more potent venom.

This time, the yellow jacket reacted a little, but not enough to not use that venom again.  Had I had a strong enough reaction, they would have stopped with that venom but continued with the other venoms.  She asked the doctor to check it and he said to keep going.

We did this again with even stronger venom.  These injections were getting old at this point.  The closer to my elbow she got, the more painful the injections were.

After fifteen minutes were up, she checked and determined the yellow jacket was the only real reaction.  There was a little reaction near the white face hornet venom, but the doctor decided that was from the yellow jacket venom reaction.

I was so glad this was over.  I was bleeding a little from many of the injection sites.  I also had marker on my left arm.  I looked like a mess.  I received twenty-five injections under the skin and six scratch text "scratches."  Those felt more invasive than the needles.

The doctor spoke with me about allergy shots.  He recommended I get immunotherapy to help reduce the reaction to any future stings.  They have to order my venom, so in two weeks, I will begin the weekly shots.  For the first three weeks, I'll get three different injections.  Each will be fifteen minutes apart and will use progressively higher venom dosages.  After that, I'll have one or two injections for six weeks (I can't remember if they said one or two).  After the first nine weeks, I'll go every other week for a while and then eventually go to monthly.  After five years, we'll retest.  If there is no reaction, I'll have allergy shots every two months after that.  I'm assuming it will be for the duration of my life or until I decide to stop.

I'm not excited about the prospect of getting shots, but I'm tired of being scared of going outside.  This is going to be an adventure!