Managing Severe Allergies (instead of them managing me)

   It seems like the majority of people deal with allergies during different seasons of the year.  In the last 2 years I have experienced some major allergy problems.  At first I felt that I would be able to go to the doctor, have her prescribe me some medicine and be done with it.  Wishful thinking...Allergies are more complicated than that for most people and I'm apparently not the exception to that rule!  So after 2 years of fighting with them while taking lots of Zyrtec-D, I am on a mission to learn as much about allergies and my body's reaction to them as I can! 

What I've done so far:

     Step 1:  GET AN EPI PEN or TWO!!!!!  After my first reaction just one week after my youngest daughter was born, I realized that I never wanted to feel the fear of helplessness I felt as my throat was swelling closed along with my eyes, my lips tingling and my respiratory system shutting down. All of the "what if's: that went through my mind that day like; What if I had been home alone with my four children? What if I had not thought to take benedryl before I left for the hospital even worse what if I hadn't had any benedryl in the house! What if the hospital had been further than 5 minutes away? Thankfully the Lord saw fit to have my sisters up visiting me while my husband was away in California.  I did have benedryl and although I had never had an anaphylatic reaction I did think that it had to have been some kind of allergy related reaction so I did take benedryl before heading the hospital and my sister drove me.  Now I always carry an Epi-pen and I started carrying a pill box with benedryl in all my purses (you would too if you knew it saved your life). I also gave benedryl pill boxes to my family members for their b-days because you never know when you or someone you know will have an allergic reaction to something and it will save your life.  I know, I know I should be sales rep. for Benedryl but I have a feel passionately about the subject.

  Step 2: Allergy Blood Panel - Did this last October and learned a lot of good info.  After having had FOUR anaphylatic reactions my doctor and I were pretty sure I must be allergic to something I was eating but no foods came back significantly high.  I have a slight allergy to sesame seeds but not enough to cause a severe reaction.  However, I learned that I am severely allergic to mountain cedar tree pollen and mold came back pretty high as well.  I had NO idea that you could be so allergic to a tree's pollen that it could cause you to have a severe attack and even go into anaphylatic shock just from exposure to the outdoors. 

  Step 3: Change all of house and vehicle filters to allergen filters.  These do a better job of filtering out the pollens from outdoors.  I also changed my vacuum filter to Febreze allergen filtration bags.  Only $5.88 for 3 at Wal-mart and they smell really good when you vacuum too.  We also had our outdoor airconditioner unit cleaned too but I don't know if that affects the allergens indoors it is good for your airconditioner though :)

  Step 4:  Keep track of your good and bad days and what the weather and pollen counts were on those days to see if you can see any patterns forming. 

  Step 5:  Look into getting allergy shots and/or homeopathic treatment.  (I'm still working on this one).

My Conclusion of the Master Cleanse

   So it's been one month since we began the master cleanse and this is my conclusion:

Would I do it again?  YES!  But not anytime soon ;)  Lemons are not my favorite fruit right now if you know what I mean.

What did I learn?  I learned that I can discipline my body in a way I never knew I could.  I learned that if I can do this anyone can do it.  Even now it's hard to believe that I was able to go 10 days without eating any food and yet I did not starve to death :)

Did I keep the weight I lost off?  Yes, I did gain 2 lbs back within a few days but within a week it was off again.  So a total loss of 10 lbs. 


TIPS I learned from doing the Master Cleanse:

Salt water flush - Do with Hot water not cold or luke warm.  Use a straw and drink as fast as possible.  Yes, it's nasty!

Drink 10oz of lemonade at least every 2 hours - the key is to never allow yourself to get hungry, it's a lot harder to feel full once you get hungry.

Make sure to drink the detox tea and keep peppermint tea on hand to drink when you need something other than lemonade

Cayenne and Red pepper are NOT the same thing....red pepper is much grittier...use the cayenne!

Try to take a multivitamin for added energy each day

If you want to burn more fat then go on a couple mile walk or do a workout daily

Go to the health food store and pick up  probiotics to take after you finish up the cleanse to help restore the good bacteria to your system.

If you get a yeast infection you have probably cleaned out too much of the good bacteria and it's time to wean yourself off of the cleanse.

Be careful to break the fast properly but don't be afraid to begin to eat on the eleventh day.  We ate a full meal that night and did fine

That's all I can think of.  I am no expert on fasting as this was my first time doing so for this long but if you have any questions feel free to post.