Dust & Cat Allergies

So the inevitable has happened - my skin has flared and left me in a bad way. Ugh.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was going to visit my family up north because I haven't seen them for a while and I needed to sort through my old bedroom. Unfortunately hotel prices were ridiculously high for when I had planned to visit so I stayed with my Uncle who lives in a pet free house. My Mum helped to clean and tidy it before my stay to prevent me from reacting to any potential dust.

For her own home, she attempted to make it a cat-free zone for the duration of my stay; locking the cats in the utility room with the freedom to go outside. I felt so cruel for allowing her to do this as they are rescue cats and became really upset and indeed vocal that they were being abandoned. It was heartbreaking. Cats are my favourite animals after all and I hate the idea of allowing them to be upset, but at the end of the day my health is more important.

Benny boy on the window sill - I hadn't realised I'd got such a hilarious photo of him LOL

My Mum hoovered the entire house, paying close attention to textile areas, such as removing the blinds and placing an abundance of carrier bags and whatever plastic she could find over the top of the bed to stop me reacting.

I didn't enter her house until the second day of my visit to withhold from a potential reaction occurring; loaded up on antihistamines. We even took further precautions by purchasing dust masks and cotton gloves to enable me to look through my belongings without touching or breathing in allergens that would cause an asthma attack or flare of the skin. I looked ridiculous and felt ridiculous that I needed to go to such extremes but they did help to an extent. It wasn't until after an hour of being in the room that I bent down to look through a wardrobe that my poor eyes that had been unprotected had a reaction and all of a sudden I had to be out of there. My eyelids were weeping. 

  Me donning mask and gloves
Me when I got home. Annoyingly my phone has made it look less severe than it was but I must stress that my face was clear and pale the day before.
The positives that can be brought to light are that I was still able to look through my things albeit for a short period of time whilst wearing the dust mask and gloves as they minimised my exposure. I should also be thankful that I didn't need to use the EpiPen or need to be rushed to hospital due to the lengths my Mum had gone to make the house more "Jenny Friendly". My asthma did flare whilst I was there but I only needed to take my inhaler a minimal amount of times compared to previous visits where I would take it countless times (naughty, naughty!).
Fortunately I had a text from a colleague last night asking if I could start work 3 hours later today which I am more than thankful for as I am in desperate need of the extra recovery time. A blessing in disguise really!

Hope everyone else's eczema/ allergies are behaving today :)

Topical Steroid Addiction & Allergies to Animals

Hope everyone's eczema isn't too bad? Mine is actually brilliant today. It's still there, and most prominent on my arms with scabs left all over my face, neck and chest but today has been the first day in such a long, long time where I haven't had a shower and I don't feel horrendous for skipping it. It's quite a big step given how my eczema has been manifesting itself recently, to the extent that without a shower I don't feel life is worth living so this is a MASSIVE development as it isn't often at all that I'm able to appreciate this luxury.

Today I had an appointment with my GP who I very seldom see as I usually just go straight to the dermatology department at the hospital as they're more understanding of my needs. I came out with an Epi-pen in the hope that it will be an added reassurance for when I go to see my Mum next week. I have severe allergies to fur bearing animals but have never gone into anaphylactic shock so wasn't sure if I would qualify, but my reactions are so severe that I warrant immediate hospital attention. My entire face swells, with my eyes swelling shut; I become incredibly itchy from head to foot, with a very prominent red rash; my skin begins to weep even if I don't scratch it and I have a severe asthma attack (and this is without even touching the animal!). It's gotten worse and worse every time I've been back there but I need to look through my belongings in my old bedroom to see what can be chucked and what kept. I'm just frightened that one day I will have an anaphylactic fit, so at least I now have a necessary precaution if it was to occur.

I was quite annoyed by the doctor's attitude to the situation. He told me I shouldn't enter a person's house where there will be a fur bearing animal, yet surely there will be a time where I will unknowingly and unwillingly go into someone's home who does have a fur bearing pet. What on earth do I do then? I mean I obviously understand why he said it, as it's my health that needs to be kept in check at the end of the day, but still, I can't completely avoid animals when the majority of people I come into contact with on a daily basis do own fur bearing pets.

It's hard enough as it is at work accepting returned clothing where you can visibly see it is completely covered in animal fur. Obviously I go and wash my hands directly after I have dealt with the customer for fear of touching my face and having a bad reaction, but it's not an unavoidable thing for me to actively do. Even friends and family end up being covered in animal fur and it isn't as though I can wear a bubble suit whilst acquainting them. It's a bloody annoying allergy to have and it makes me despise my body. I love animals a huge amount but my body has decided that it doesn't. So sad.


Do you have severe animal allergies? How do you deal with them?


  My Mum's gruesome twosome!
Cats are my favourite animal ever :( My life is shit.