Allergy Tests Take 1

So today I had my first battery of allergy tests. They tested me for a mere 92 allergens. It sounds like a lot, but it's really quite a limited test. I was mostly tested for foodstuffs, grass, pollen, and cats.

I was so nervous heading into the doc's office...cold sweats, high anxiety. See, I have a HUGE fear of needles, and I had imagined sort of a mad scientist scenario where they strap me to a table and stab me with jagged needle after jagged needle. Fortunately, it wasn't like that at all.

Really they use these plastic toothpicks to poke you in the back a few (92) times.

The worst part about it is the waiting. You can't lean on your back so you pretty much end up sitting on the edge of the "table" wearing a paper shirt that wasn't designed to be accompanied by today's low-rise pant styles (it left my gut hanging out--I'm pretty!).

Anyway, they come back 20 minutes later and see how things look. The good news? I'm not allergic to my darling cat. The bad news? The skin test shows that I might be allergic to [insert dramatic drum roll here] chocolate.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Now the good news is that isn't definite. Basically at this point I have to keep a food journal and see what unfolds. My mom thinks I should just gorge myself on chocolate to see what happens--get over the waiting.

The worst part about this whole "going to the specialist" ordeal (and it was an ordeal), is that the doctor seemed to think I was making up the allergic reactions. In fact, he is convinced that I merely have eczema. Here's the problem with that doc, I moisturize daily, and never have dry patches of skin--just flaming red itchy hives.

His other solution? Ply me with pills daily. Great. Yep. Just take claritin every day for two months. And here's another pill for emergencies only...and another steroid cream. And the capper, stop using hair product (except for some special shampoo they floated me some samples of).

I mean, can we just do a real battery of allergy tests and figure out what it is so that I can avoid it instead of taking meds daily? Seriously. How about a whole body approach versus a medicate the symptoms approach? Is that too much to ask in this day and age?

Clearly, I'll need to get a second opinion.