Finding out you have an allergy is one thing but this is often just the first step in a very long journey. Something that my husband and I have only come to understand in the last few months as we went from noticing very minor changes in his skin to full-blown contact dermatitis to still seeking the source of the allergy even now.
Yeast is one of the alleged culprits but before we get there let's rewind.
Let's start at the beginning, the very beginning...
It was the year of 1988, birds were tweeting and a baby boy was...
okay jokes not THAT long ago haha, let's just fast forward a little :)
"Mr. Phamished" always had dark, grey circles under his eyes and sometimes the look of excess skin. He had this even when I first met him more than 10 years ago but it never bothered him so neither of us ever gave it another thought.
Earlier this year we started to notice the "bags" under his eyes becoming more and more prominent and his upper eyelid started to become swollen also.
We just assumed it was a case of temporary inflammation caused by the million things that we're all exposed to every day....dust, air pollution, mould, the weather, dust? Thinking it would eventually go away we continued living our lives as we always had. Going to work, playing Oz Tag, going out with friends on the weekend, eating whatever we wanted.
Sliding down the allergy slope of increasingly severe symptoms
I won't scare you all with photos but here's a summary of some of the changes we were seeing...
December: Baggy undereyes + puffy eyelids
January: Above + persistent conjunctivitis, eyelid skin becoming red and raw from constant wiping/washing/cleaning
February: Above + Patchy red skin all over the face and eczema-like patches appearing on the neck, arms and legs
(This wasn't the worst photo by far, just to give you guys an indication, don't think anyone wants anything too graphic!!)
Treatment wise we went down another slippery slope with:
- One local GP which turned into about a dozen GPs which turned into trips to the ophthalmologist, 2 dermatologists and an immunologist
- Basic sorbolene cream to trying every single moisturising cream available at the chemist (at least 20?!)
- Corticoid steroid creams of varying strength
- Basic 'Bion Tears' eye drops to medicated eye drops and eventually chlorsig for treating conjunctivitis
- Oral medication that worked but only provided temporary relief
Stuck in a rut
In February we were seriously at the point where things looked like they were just getting worse every day and every treatment we tried useless. We were starting to lose faith in doctors and the medical profession in general, everyone seemed to have a different opinion and to hear uncertainty from those that we thought would have the answers was frustrating.
Medicine is not an exact science and allergies are an even more mysterious area - we both knew this but it didn't make our situation any better. Everyday was becoming more of a struggle and it was taking a toll on us both - my husband hardly slept because he was so uncomfortable in his skin and this kept me up as well.
We were constantly tired :(
Things were starting to look up
I feel like momentum changed once we saw an immunologist. He gave us some really interesting information about lifestyle choices including foods we ate and the environment we lived in which could be not necessarily causing the problem but compounding it.
We started a desensitisation program where the immunologist created a vaccine specifically for Mr. P based on his prick/needle test results that showed he was severely allergic to yeast, mould and fungus.
Unfortunately the vaccine does not treat the symptoms but the idea is that by slowly feeding the body very small doses of the elements he is allergic to, he will be able to build up a resistance to them over time. This can take 12-24 months but will be worth it if it means he doesn't have these flare ups again.
Other things that we've done
We were advised that he was also allergic to dust mites (most people are) and I didn't want to take any chances so we ended up...$$$$$$
- Buying an anti-allergy / allergy sensitive quilt
- Buying an anti-allergy quilt protector
- Buying an anti-allergy mattress protector
- Buying anti-allergy bamboo pillow protectors
- Buying a humidifier then NOT using it and buying an air purifier instead
We hang dry all of our clothes inside now as we live near a main road and apartment construction so it's possible car exhaust fumes and construction dust are landing on our clothes.
We also realised one of the moisturising creams was actually causing contact dermatitis so we stopped that right away and his face is basically back to normal! Eyes are still a bit puffy but nowhere near as crazy as before! YAY
But the biggest change of all?
Yup, you guessed it. NO YEAST!
What did this mean?
Goodbye pizza...
Goodbye hamburgers...
Goodbye sweet treats, pastries, muffins, cakes, buns...
BUT it's not just bread and bread-related items that contained yeast.
He also needed to avoid all of these items...
Are any of these a surprise to you guys?! It was for us!! Mr. P looked at this list and I know he thought his life was over, but I wanted to make sure we still enjoyed what we ate so I researched and put even more thought into planning our weekly meals.
What does our life look like now?
Well it's pretty good!! I didn't have to cut out yeast but as a sign of "togetherness" and support I also gave up yeast.
When I see this aisle, it's torturous but I actually feel good that we don't eat bread anymore. I actually feel like we have more energy, we're not lethargic, we sleep better AND Mr. P has lost weight! He used to eat toast every morning for breakfast and now he just eats eggs, avocado and greens. Filling and healthy!
Now I get excited when I see these sorts of sales :)
...and our trolley looks like this (please ignore the red lolly bags, they were for my friend!). Plenty of greens :)
Our dinners are pretty much the same except they comprise mostly of meats + vegetables without the side of bread that we used to have :). We replace the bread with rice or pasta instead.
Sometimes I like to make little salads with in-season produce...one example is a random fig salad I threw together recently
What's next?!
Well we will continue the desensitisation treatment and we'll keep our yeast intake to the minimum but we have relaxed it just a little lately, i.e. we ate a burger recently - the first one in 3 months!!
We still don't know exactly what is causing his eye puffiness but for now we can manage it and we hope that the residual puffiness is simply due to the desensitisation treatment.
It's not a complete happy ending yet but we've come so far from where we were it feels close enough! I just wanted to expand on what we had been going through and actually it's been quite therapeutic for me to tell it. Hope it was an interesting read :) If not, I'm sorry!!
LONG POST THANK YOU FOR READING (IF YOU GOT HERE!!)
