Published on 12, July, 2020
Does anyone else have loads of allergies? I've got loads, and intollerances too, although to be honest I'm not sure theres always that much of a difference. I'm allergic to penecillin, flagyl, NSAIDS, aspirin, opiates, latex amoung the most serious, with latex the allergy is so bad if I have to have an operation I have to have a theatre specially cleaned for me. Even being touched for 30 seconds with a glove brings me up in red bumps. I seem to be allergic to PEGs which are in everything from laundry products to make-up, I spend a fortune on cleaning products because I can't use ordinary ones, likewise body care products, I wish I could go to Lidl and buy thier own brand toothpaste for 79p like everybody else, instead of a fiver on one that has none of the stuff that I'm allergic too. I can't go swimming and can't swim because I'm allergic to chlorine, other people perfumes are a nightmare. I dont' go out to eat or get takeaways because of allergies and intollerances. The allergies probably effect my life more than all the other health conditions combined, certainly the quality of life. I'm told that this is something common amoung women with autism, but it rarely comes up in anything I read about autism, I originally found the information about allergies and autism in information I was reading from a study in Australia, they seem much more clued up than we are. Another thing I can't take are anit-histamines, they either don't work at all or make me lactate which is a 1 in 10,000 side effect, if I really needed them because I was bitten by a snake or something then I would have them, but I can't use them on an everyday basis.
Doctors, dentists and hospitals all totally freak out when they realise how many thing I'm allergic too and I'm sure many think I'm making it up, Ive had several rows with people becase of it, I've been delisted by dentists and there have been some doctors who've given me penecillin even though they know I'm allergic, I always double check with the dispensing pharmacist when I get something from a new doctor. At my GP's surgery I'm known as The Woman Who's Allergic To Everything, but at least they take me seriously and do what they can to help me with meds.
Is anyone else so allergy prone and what do you do about it? Do you get much help and support for it?
It is quite common for us autistics to have ‘all the things’ (including health problems and allergies).
Below I have linked to two videos that explain why rather in depth:
https://www.youtube.com/live/VVJxpaJAt94?si=IfmVsp-zt286DFez
https://www.youtube.com/live/udX_dDYqGYE?si=K_kLfsIynULYUgsS
I hope these videos are useful for you.
AA Thank's but I don't have the tech to watch videos.
I'm not sure about stress being a trigger, although it could be, I'd love to see an allergy specialist, but they seem to be an endangered species on the NHS. I did try an alternative one once, the muscle testing thing, the woman was convinced I was allergic to things I wasn't and had things I didn't, so that was a bit of a bust, although I think it was the practitioner rather than practice.
I think unless I completely isolated myself from other people and lived in the middle of nowhere I'd find it very difficult to live in a less stressful environment, and if I did, then I'd get super stressed if I had spiders in the bath or something. I can't sleep in a room with spiders in it, the bigger the spider the worse it gets. I tried seeing a psychologist abut the spider phobia and she said that the usual ways of dealing with phobias wouldn't work with me. When my mum was pregnant with me a massive spider fell from the loft hatch and into her hair and my dad didn't believe her until it dropped on her shoulder. That sort of trauma can imprint on a foetus which is what she thought had happened with me.