Hi Hon!!
Im glad we have you back here again, no matter the why, we are KEEPING you LOL...Im so sorry youre going through that garbage with interviews, jobs you dont know if you will be able to keep because of your symptoms. For right now, you have to keep it up.. I understand no other choice. But please remember, its time to start paperwork so in the future IF you need disability, youre ready and that takes some time. Please read some of the posts in the DISABILITY thread ok??

Now,, I want you to sit down and make a list of your talents, seriously--not just those youve worked with. I would love to see you start a very small home business where you can be more felxable and not worry about other peoples reactions.  I understand thats easy for me to say, not so easy to do... Just think about it ok?? Pet sitting, babysitting during the day, running errands for people, maybe being someones assistant. Anything to give you more independance.

I think yellow light bulbs give off more heat than white ones do, Im not positive. I know what you mean about ice water!! If I had to choose between eating and a bag of ice--I would choose ice lol.  Hey, when you go to an interview, you know the anxiety will make you heat up--try this, take some small baggies and freeze them, then put them under your clothes and be cool while you talk

Im thinking of you Hon... and hoping you are soon to be with the one you love and happy
HUGS!
me

Wow, this thread has so much in it that I can relate to.

Thanks for bringing up the problems with the ears.  When I am going through a bad spell, I can tell right away in the ear tubes.... yep, I get like a weird accoustic sound as the fluid starts to accumilate.  Always happens when I flare.  It gets so much so at some times, that I seriously thought I had a bug in my ear or something! Sometimes sounds like butterflies in my ears!  I had a whole evaluation for vertigo too, nothing wrong with the ears, they are normal and my hearing is very good.  I think it must do something to my acoustic nerves when it flares up or something.  It feels really weird when that happens.  I also get a tingly feeling up and down my spine at those times too.

Ditto on the store lighting. YES, I get that all the time.

Yes with the stress... learned the hard way this spring about that one!

So, if I can offer you one word of encouragment about the job hunt... I got interviewed on the phone for a job just 10 minutes after I had my bone marrow biopsy in the hospital.  They asked if they could interview me, and I told them, "Well, I'm in the hospital and I just had a bone marrow biospy, but I don't mind if you don't mind.  It's not like I have anywhere to go or anything else to do but watch re-runs on the TV."

As it turned out, I got called back for two more follow-up interviews and was actually offered the job.  Wound up turning it down as it would have been too stressful and for some other concerns. However,it  just goes to show you that anything is possible in this weird econcomic world right now!!!!!

So chin up on those job interviews.  I'm right there with you now.  I am hesitant to take the Benedryl beforehand, as I am afraid I will start yawning when they ask me questions.  I usually schedule the interviews right after I had my Gastrocrom if possible.  That covers me for awhile!

Job Interviews = Doctor consultations!!!

What I do when I KNOW I'm going into a high stress situation, I take an extra antihistamine (allegra in my case) about a half hour before the situation.  Since doctors are one of my known triggers ( haha!)  depending upon the situation and the doctor I've taken allegra ahead of time!  This usually isn't for my local doctors but for those who are a 2-5 hour trip away and I've already got the stress of travelling on top of the stress of the consultation and if the doctor is a NEW doctor and doesn't know me I don't want to be giving him any peek shows with my acting up cause otherwise they tend to think it's all emotional and although the stress of having to meet with a new doctor is emotional/anxiety related due to past doctor traumas, it's not the thing that is wrong, it's the masto being triggered by the anxiety.  So, in order to keep the reacting down to a minimum of only a flush or rash, then I take meds ahead of time.

I've also done this when I've had to give public speaking engagements.  I will take that extra antihistamine so that I don't have the worry of going into kiniptions during the engagement!  Honestly, when you already have a stressfull situation you know is going to provoke your mast cells, the very best thing you can do for yourself is to eliminate some of that anxiety and worry!  So, by taking the extra antihistamine you put your mind at ease and say, Well, I should get through this without any problems.  Yes, you are psyching yourself out of triggering, but let's face it - too many of us have found ourselves in the midst of the trouble saying, Why didn't I listen to myself and take that medication before hand "just in case" !   I've done this once too many times myself and it wasn't until I asked Dr. Castells about one specific subject and I sat thinking about it that I realized what she was saying to me.

The subject was that of sex and having sex trigger a reaction.  She told me that the extra activity can trigger an attack, however, with orgasm histamines are released and this will send some of us right over the edge.  She said that the way to deal with this, in order to PREVENT the reacting was to take an extra antihistamine 1/2 hour before the activity!   BINGO!!  This was the key to going into any major stressfull situation, that of PREVENTATIVE medication so that you could keep your levels of antihistamines high enough to deal with the known provocation that your stressfull situation was going to create.

Now, granted, she spoke to me only about the situations regarding sex, however, it is I who has translated this into other stressfull situations.  She was not giving this advice solely to me in the sense that I was asking about what do I do when I find I've got trouble.  I had written to her about other patients in general and what do WE all do with this specific situation.

However, like anything else we all talk about here, if you are unsure, speak with your doctors about how to deal with this.  My doctors have CONFIRMED for me that this is what I need to so and they have openly said to me, Lisa, be free as to what you need to do to prevent anaphylaxis!  And when I've reacted in front of my masto doctor (yes, I react in front of her too!  She gets so excited to see the flushing just pop up suddenly and then watches me as I go into kiniptions! ) she's said to my husband to grab my meds and give it to me!!  

If this is what we've got to do to remain stable, then so be it!!   I suspect, however, that I'm once again undermedicated for I'm having to pop them pills too frequently now and that's a sign that I'm not medicated sufficiently.   So, I'll be taking another trip to see her soon!!!

I hope this helps!

Lisa