For completeness' sake

[ilai]

I went to an allergist today and got a series of skin tests. Here are my results:

Foods I am not allergic to:

• apple
• egg white
• strawberry
• wheat
• corn
• banana
• soybean
• carrot
• tomato
• oat
• celery
• egg yolk
• rye
• milk
• crab mix
• codfish
• brazil nuts
• chicken
• shrimp
• cashew
• almond
• pork
• lobster
• peanut
• black walnut
• beef
• clam
• hazlenut [sic]
• English walnut
• tuna
• salmon
• pecan
• rice

Foods I am allergic to:

• Dust mites

Okay, technically that was not a food (even if I might inhale them in my sleep--you're welcome, I'm sure you needed that image). But the two dust mite allergens did produce impressive welts on my arm. And I got to watch a five-minute educational video that was a thinly-veiled advertisement for a certain brand of pillow and mattress covers whose name I will not deign to acknowledge.

Comments

[lakmiseiru.livejournal.com]

Speaking as someone with a strong dust mite allergy, I had pillow covers for about 15 years, and have not had significantly worse allergies since removing them. Vacuuming regularly, changing the sheets, and not having wall-to-wall carpet, on the other hand, are substantially more effective... yet harder to sell you things for :^)

[ilai]

Good to know :) The nurse administering the tests did say that all I really needed was a pillow cover and that I might not bother with mattress covers since recent studies have cast their effectiveness in doubt.

That said, I really do need to clean my room more often than "once in a blue moon". *vague pang of embarassment* The allergist looked at my welts and was surprised my nose wasn't constantly stuffed up.