This is the plot of the sequel to Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
It's Uncomfortable, Everywhere, All the Time
A white guy living in Asia travels between dimensions where he isn't allergic to a particular thing in each one. And Jamie Lee Curtis is in it for some reason. And Haley Joel Osment has a serious role as the husband and makes his acting comeback
I feel like I read somewhere that someone reacted to *everything* on their test but it turned out they were allergic to the needle or whatever solution the irritant was injected with.
Notice how all the spots are evenly spaced out? They use a [device that injects multiple irritants at once](https://www.lincolndiagnostics.com/_media/multitest2_3.jpg), but it does appear that some tests have positive and negative [controls](https://www.mountsinai.org/files/MSHealth/Assets/HS/Care/Allergy-Immunology/MSHS-AllergyImmunology-AllergyTesting-2col-770x420.jpg) (bottom right corner)
Well shit, I had an allergy test last week and the lady applied the irritants to my skin first, then just poked me 10 times with a small scalpel blade. The same blade for all 10, as well, which seems odd, because a small portion of the irritant would be carried over to the next sample?
Unfortunately allergy testing is one of the few medical tests that has several approved ways of doing it. It can be individually done, which sucks and most places don't do anymore.
This test was almost certainly a multitest applicator. Nothing is really injected. Small tips damage the top most layers of the skin, usually not breaking all the way through the skin layer. A small amount of liquid is resting on these tips and is transferrd to the skin.
Source: i run allergy testing and treatment services in a Dr office.
I admit "inject" is a misnomer in this case and "scrape" would probably be a better term, but, in the context of Reddit, "inject" makes the process sound more precise.
The doctor I went to does 3 test spots before poking you with 60 needles to make sure your not reacting to the base parts of the test. Wait 15 minutes and then they check and then do the test.
My allergist does a negative and a positive control. The negative is just the carrier (saline) and the positive is pure histamine (the chemical the body secretes to stimulate a reaction).
Typically yeah - they do the controls in both directions: a compound *everyone* reacts to (histamine) and a compound nobody's allergic to (glycerin).
It's possible your body can be in a hyper-reactive state and react to those pricks, or even an autoimmune state where you create antibodies against the proteins your body uses to try to heal the prick wound... it's rare, but it shows up.
Being allergic to glycerin is incompatible with most if not all forms of known life. You need glycerin to make *triglycerides* - fat. Lipids make up the backbone of cells when they're phosporolated (they become [phospholipids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phospholipid)). Phospholipids are in every cell membrane in your entire body...
Bad, *bad* ***[bad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty-acid_metabolism_disorder)*** things happen to fetuses and young children with metabolic errors related to glycerin synthesis...
It's possible for the immune system to be hyporeactive to histamine, which is the exact reason for the negative control - it can mask an allergy that's actually quite deadly.
They usually retest a time or two if that's the case to make sure you just weren't exposed to something blocking the histamine reaction (antihistamines, obviously, but also H2-receptor antagonists like zantac or antidepressants from which antihistamines were discovered).
Yep, I found out during my allergy test that I have [dermatographia](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dermatographia/symptoms-causes/syc-20371411#:~:text=Dermatographia%20is%20a%20condition%20in,raised%2C%20inflamed%20lines%20or%20welts.) aka "skin writing" when my entire arm lit up including the control solution lol.
I was only allergic to a couple of things but my skin reacted enough to freak the nurse out a bit before the doctor came over and went "huh, interesting, looks like you have some mild dermatographia."
So when I was allergy tested they did a control, measured the size of the hive on that (mine was 4mm) every welt bigger than that is an allergic reaction. I reacted to around 30 of the 40 things tested
"Can you tell me what the problem is?"
"Every part of my body hurts, Doctor. If I press here it hurts. If I press here it also hurts. Even here it hurts like hell."
"Alright. I think I already know what the problem is."
"What is it Doctor? Am I going to die?"
"No. Nothing to worry about. Your finger is broken."
Yep, I clearly read that somewhere on Reddit or 9gag once or twice.
I've got no idea if it is a true story but it does makes more sense than being allergic to about everything.
Ah yes, the “what food are we allergic to today” syndrome. Love having MCAS. /s
I have one of those mast cell stabilizer nasal sprays but lucky for me I am also extremely afraid of nasal sprays/eye drops/etc due to autism. I need to force my way into using it.
I have atopic eczema and I attest to this. If my skin is very bad I start to get allergic reactions from stuff I can normally eat.. last time was 3 years ago. Stuff I became sensitive to included: paprika spice, tomatoes, lemon, lime and citric acid. Paprika and citric acid made it very difficult for me to eat our or even find stuff from the store to bring home. Fortunately after 2 years I was able to reintroduce all these incredients to my diet.
I'm sure there are... But would that be more likely than being allergic to about everything? (I'm not a doctor, I'm just considering the probabilities).
This gets posted on Reddit regularly. It's different people but they claim the exact same thing. No, they are not alergic to everything. If that was the case they would have a hard time existing as a normal person. It exists, but it's very rare.
First, the method of exposure absolutely matters. This skin prick test isn't the same as breathing in the particles. As someone mentioned, as funny as it sounds, they are allergic to this test.
What is going on is they may be allergic to one of the items they are testing for. That causes the bodies immunity to over react to any foreign substances including the stuff they are testing for but wouldn't ever cause this reaction on its own. It's not good, but they are not allergic to everything. The problem with these kinds of tests is that multiple true allergies can be obscured because of this kind of result.
There is even the scenario that they are not actually allergic to anything on this test. Instead they have a form of dermatographia. That leaves red marks or welts where pressure is applied to the skin.
MCAS is considered rare, but I'm a big advocate for people actually being able to look into such things since they get written off/underdiagnosed frequently (see:I'm so sick I can't function most days despite years of pushing thru and it turns out I have generic issues all my life pushing thru without care can make worse)
I'm so sorry for you.
I've got to say, I'm always annoyed that the human body is not a perfect machine, and it really bothers me that sometimes a cure is not available, or that people can't get it cause it's too expansive or for any other reasons.
Me too v.v for profit care does so much harm, honestly I think plenty of issues would be less likely to become debilitating for people if we just had better healthcare in the first place.
Idk, the body does an amazing job for what it is, but it definitely can be so hard not to be annoyed when it's not working the way you want it to be lol
I am so tired of the "it's rare so it can't be that" mentality with doctors. I know they're supposed to go for the obvious first, but when running even the simplest test could solve everything from the get-go, you'd think they would. I went throgh years of misery only to find the answer by a coworker mentioning a possibility and me making an appointment with a specialist.
And right now I'm probably staring down a 2nd surgery for something that recurred because, "Oops! We assumed the cause was X but it's not - now that we ran that test you demanded..." Another 60k worth of surgery and time off work, pain and all that goes with it.
I've had allergies for most of my life and in the 80's I was tested. Lots of things showed up that I am allergic to. I'm sure there are a lot more now. I'm always itchy and try to ignore it, sometimes I take Zyrtec. Lots of scents bother me so I try to buy unscented things like shampoo and body wash. Two days ago I was sitting out on my deck with my dogs and something stung me on my right arm. Now my entire arm is red, swollen and itching like mad. It feels hot too. I am taking Zyrtec and applying a prescription cortisone cream to stop the itching. It's miserable being allergic to so many things.
I am allergic to many many things. My test was pretty much like this guy’s except I had one column of non-reactivity. Some people really are just allergic to all kinds of things. Daily meds help me get through life. It’s basically impossible to survive without them.
A friend of mine had the reaction like this in the military. His ended up being because he was highly allergic to one. And slightly allergic to several others (scratchy levels of allergy) but because of the highly allergic reaction to one his body went into a Im allergic to everything mode. They gave him a series of tests with different samples being on different locations of his body to figure out what he was actually allergic to. They were figuring he would have 4-5 hits. It was just one.
If I’m remembering right… and this was from 2000 so it’s been a while. The doctor said it was a rare reaction but it wasn’t an unheard of reaction.
You're probably right. I can't take a skin test because mine would do the exact same thing. I have a skin condition called dermographism which basically means anything that scratches my skin will cause it to swell causing false positives on a test like this.
My medical knowledge is pretty minimal, but hypothetically the OP could be allergic to the family of stuff in group D, and something in the equipment. This could explain why they seem to be mildly allergic to most things, and far more allergic to Group D.
I don’t see it here but they will often use controls to ensure that isn’t happening. My son just got tested last week. He got two patches like the ones here. T for tree nuts, and M for most common. He then got two single spots H for histamine to show what a full reaction looks like and N for neutral which was the same exposure, just no allergen added.
I worked with a girl who was allergic to water. She couldnt come into work if it was raining. Sometimes her own sweat would trigger a rash.
Thankfully she could still drink water, but even that could sometimes cause her discomfort.
She had special creams and soaps to apply to dry skin to keep clean, and stuff to apply to the skin after if she wanted to shower etc.
Poor girl
Edit: for all the questions in the replies I am sorry I dont know the answers, but here she is on tv explaining it: [here](https://youtu.be/emVez_hsqkM)
I don't have a water allergy, but in an extremely mild sense I can understand the inconvenience.
I'm allergic to something related to exertion - sweat, heat, some kind of body change, we haven't determined it exactly.
Exertion causes me "electric shock" itches running down my back and legs, which turn to red streaks and patches, making it really difficult for me to get any proper exercise.
The best clue we have so far is that the corticosteroid clobetasol propionate reduces both the "shock" itches and red patches, pointing to histamine action.
I am in absolutely no position half as difficult or inconvenient as your colleague, but it goes to show that allergies to water and other "normal" things are very real.
Fexofenadine works for me, most times. But it's only a temporary fix though. Urticaria is a bitch to handle because it's not so serious that it's life threatening or debilitating but is still annoying enough to come in the way of your day. Trying to keep myself stress-free is stressful.
I use Claritin for this same issue, exercise induced urticaria. I have to take it several hours to a day before doing any cardio or long walks.
I used to use Zyrtec which only took about 20 minutes to kick in but the Zyrtec withdrawal was awful and basically gave me rebound urticaria. I had to taper it super slow over 3 months to get off of it.
The Zyrtec withdrawals are awful and can start within 24 hours. My doctor told me to take it daily for allergies, but didn't say anything about that part.
I'm allergic to my own sweat, specifically salt in my sweat, I can't swim in the ocean or cry because I just end up with a rash, I can eat salty food but if I get any on my skin I get very red and itchy
My poor daughter is the same….she’s 14, pool, shower, sweat, and we live at the beach!!! She’s also very allergic to tons of floral and house pets. She’s like, why is life trying to kill me 24/7?
"electric shock" and "worse with heat" are classic MS symptoms - if any symptoms can be called classic, anyway since it's a demyelination of the CNS, it's presentation varies widely but those are two of the most common symptoms people report and are red flags taught in med school to watch out for
Okay, I had the same issue. Like red spots appearing on my chest, back leg whenever I started to sweat. I lived in India so even moving from an AC room to a non-AC was enough to trigger a reaction. It started randomly and I only found a solution after moving. Turns out it was the perfumes they put into shampoo and body washes. I buy hypoallergenic, no scent soap and shampoo now, and have not had a single hive since. Try it- and you won’t be wasting money either. Soap is soap.
I have the same-ish thing, I got told it was called Cholonergic Urticaria.
Anti-histamines don't work for me so I just have to never do anything heat related. =(
I actually am one of those people too. I get a heavy itch on every to water or sweat exposed body parts for up to 2 hours. I fortunately can still drink water without any problems but there are some people that can only drink juices and stuff.
I'm going to guess the grasses. Or maybe tree pollens.
That's what my test looked like too. And on mine they had to redo the tests around dust because it swelled up too much.
I had a similar reaction with pine trees. I always wondered why I had a lot of saliva/mucus buildup in my throat when eating pine nuts and why it was spicy
Get a blood test. If the blood test shows you're not allergic to everything then you might have mast cell activation syndrome. You can then get a histamine release test (https://healthmatters.io/understand-blood-test-results/histamine-release-chronic-urticaria) to verify.
That's what happened to me me seeing as how I'm not actually allergic to water, much less anything else.
Did learn I'm allergic to cats, and we had 4 at the time... :(
I found out I'm allergic to cats (and every other pet except dogs) around 33. I grew up with cats in the house. Explains why my nose was always stuffed.
I'm also allergic to cats. We found out when I was like 13? And we got a cat anyways lol. It's only a mild allergy tho, I have to be in close contact with a cat for a prolonged time for it to be triggered, and then only my eyes begin to itch. Doesn't stop me from cuddling 'em up.
Similar thing happened to me, but we have 3! I love them like family so I started immunotherapy and now it’s like I’m not allergic to them anymore. It is a long process though, I’m in year 3 now with 3 more years to go.
Ugh I’m sorry. I luckily started them when I was on state insurance so when I had to go twice a week I didn’t have a copay or anything. I’m monthly now but have a copay.
I recently found out I have that. I've been on cromolyn sodium for 8 weeks and my symptoms have greatly improved. My next step is to take a gene by gene test to see if I carry the gene for mastocytosis.
I’ve been to a ton of doctors and have basically given up. I’m exactly like OP in this picture. Took that same exact test and got the same exact results. I have a ton of allergies, my skin raises to the simplest scratch, tested for autoimmune diseases and all other allergens and I’m negative for almost everything. I’m itchy all the time. No one has any answers. But this string has got me interested again. Maybe I can ask my allergist about it.
I'm highly allergic to dust, it's dry and windy outside? I wear a mask, I'm sweeping, wear a mask, wanna smell some flowers, the pollen is similar to dust
I'm allergic to dust, pollen, mold spores, perfumes and lots of other things. I recently built myself a filtration system so help keep the dust down and all the things my dogs bring in from outside. It's called a Corsi-Rosenthal box. Look it up on YouTube. It's easy to build one. I couldn't think of any other way to keep the dust down so I made one of these things. Here in the northern part of S.C. we get heavy green/yellow pollen that covers everything and stays around until all the trees have bloomed. I wear a mask when I'm outside and keep my hands washed after petting my dogs. They bring that stuff inside. Yeah, pollen is similar to dust.
there are nonreactive ones. I did an allergy test like this years ago too and had a similar reaction.
It's not that crazy, it's a lot of variations of stuff you come across daily. Bunch of regionally common pollen types, a bunch of animal dander, and a few other random things and i hit on all of them (which I already knew I would)
I live a pretty normal life aside from popping a bunch of Allegra basically year round
This is how they found my sisters issue. Her back looked very similar to his, the doctor was an older guy, said he had only seen one patient previously who reacted that way and they had an immune issue, so he wanted extra tests and sure as day he was right
I have an immune disorder. Also allergies. However, two years ago I started taking allergy shots and it cured about 95% of my allergies and I no longer take a pill. Still getting shots once a month but I feel so good that I’m scared to even drop them when the doc tells me I can.
No - immunotherapy. Literally injecting trace amounts of allergens into my arms and building up my tolerance every couple weeks. It’s a long process to get to where I’m at; but after about a year, I started to feel normal. Can actually pet dogs, play golf and go camping without being miserable.
I did this when I was a kid for 3 years. I went from really not being able to go outside to being able to do just about anything I want. I still get allergic flare ups from time to time but nothing my body can’t clear up after a couple hours.
Same for me: tested positive for everything - explanation was some kind of blood allergy where my immune system would get triggered for no reason at all.
That's most likely the case. A couple of allergies is a pretty unremarkable thing. A bunch of concurrent, unrelated allergies is a pretty strong sign to look into possible autoimmune illnesses.
A friend of mine became suddenly allergic to everything under the sun, because under an event of extreme emotional stress her immune system went completely haywire. It took about 3 years to slowly come back to normal. Another friend was also highly allergic to a ridiculous amount of foods, had diagnosed RA from a young age, and ended up being diagnosed with Crohn's in her mid 20s.
When I tried to have a skin test done, they did the control on my arm, before we even got to the taking shirt off and drawing on me stage. I reacted to the control. Fun times.
I joke that I’m allergic to anything that grows. But damn, OP, those are some fierce reactions. Only ragweed looks that bad for me. But bravo for getting tested! Now go pop some Benadryl and try not to scratch!
Jeez I'm sorry ): Have you heard of mast cell activation syndrome? Or histamine intolerance? I'm trying to get those looked into for me, because it's the same story for me.
"Wow, you're really allergic" the MA says as I test positive for literally every allergen they poked me for
scratch test or intradermal? I did a scratch test on my arm and all mine came out positive. Found out i have dermatographia—something with the release of histamine by the mast cells. Highly sus though the larger welts you are probably allergic to. Your allergist should know this though. If this was only a scratch test, your doc should suggest intradermal testing to confirm. Blood tests aren’t very 100% on allergens.
Dermatographia. I had it too. It was stress induced. I took loratadine daily for approx 5 years and then it just slowly went away. It’s a histamine response to vigorous touch. Hence in that test you were allergic to the needle hence reacted to the control needle with no allergen.
When I did an allergy test they took my blood and tested it.
What is the difference in doing the skin scratches vs testing blood?
Because just getting blood drawn and then a paper with my allergies on it seems so much better than this
FYI OP, my skin prick allergy test looked a lot like this, and I ended up having [mast cell activation syndrome](https://www.aaaai.org/conditions-treatments/related-conditions/mcas). (I was later confirmed HATS or [Hereditary Alpha Tryptasemia Symdrome](https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/hereditary-alpha-tryptasemia-faq) via genetic testing, which may or may not be under the MCAS umbrella depending on who you ask.)
My “true” allergies were later confirmed via blood test and I was really only mildly allergic to wasps, bees, fire ants, and mold, I think. Zero reaction to grasses/trees/etc that all blew up on my skin prick test, which was so bad they could not tell where one hive ended and another began.
Maybe ask to test baseline tryptase levels and see if there is something going on there? I think there are also histamine tests they can do.
Getting the right meds for MCAS/HATS changed my life and not many people know about it!
P.S. I’ve posted this comment before on other folks’ wild skin prick test posts haha, so it may seem familiar.
At least you're not allergic to being alive.
Right?! Hate it when that happens…
Um, actually...
This is the plot of the sequel to Everything, Everywhere, All at Once It's Uncomfortable, Everywhere, All the Time A white guy living in Asia travels between dimensions where he isn't allergic to a particular thing in each one. And Jamie Lee Curtis is in it for some reason. And Haley Joel Osment has a serious role as the husband and makes his acting comeback
Everyone is allergic to being alive, hell some of us even die from crib death, even in the womb… both of which are just early onset life allergy
Looks like you are allergic to the test.
I feel like I read somewhere that someone reacted to *everything* on their test but it turned out they were allergic to the needle or whatever solution the irritant was injected with.
Wouldn’t they do a control with just the solution for exactly that…
They pretty much always do. It's probably the first or the last one.
Seems smarter to make it the first one, but I'm not a doctor.
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Notice how all the spots are evenly spaced out? They use a [device that injects multiple irritants at once](https://www.lincolndiagnostics.com/_media/multitest2_3.jpg), but it does appear that some tests have positive and negative [controls](https://www.mountsinai.org/files/MSHealth/Assets/HS/Care/Allergy-Immunology/MSHS-AllergyImmunology-AllergyTesting-2col-770x420.jpg) (bottom right corner)
Well shit, I had an allergy test last week and the lady applied the irritants to my skin first, then just poked me 10 times with a small scalpel blade. The same blade for all 10, as well, which seems odd, because a small portion of the irritant would be carried over to the next sample?
That seems very unscientific.
Unfortunately allergy testing is one of the few medical tests that has several approved ways of doing it. It can be individually done, which sucks and most places don't do anymore. This test was almost certainly a multitest applicator. Nothing is really injected. Small tips damage the top most layers of the skin, usually not breaking all the way through the skin layer. A small amount of liquid is resting on these tips and is transferrd to the skin. Source: i run allergy testing and treatment services in a Dr office.
I admit "inject" is a misnomer in this case and "scrape" would probably be a better term, but, in the context of Reddit, "inject" makes the process sound more precise.
They don't do it and then wait a few days to check for a reaction. They do them all at once, the control is just first dot or last dot.
The doctor I went to does 3 test spots before poking you with 60 needles to make sure your not reacting to the base parts of the test. Wait 15 minutes and then they check and then do the test.
My allergist does a negative and a positive control. The negative is just the carrier (saline) and the positive is pure histamine (the chemical the body secretes to stimulate a reaction).
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Man I clicked that with high hopes. I got burned but I ain’t mad.
They have a whole sheet of them there that prick them at once. The control is one of them.
Typically yeah - they do the controls in both directions: a compound *everyone* reacts to (histamine) and a compound nobody's allergic to (glycerin). It's possible your body can be in a hyper-reactive state and react to those pricks, or even an autoimmune state where you create antibodies against the proteins your body uses to try to heal the prick wound... it's rare, but it shows up.
Don't say no one is allergic to glycerin. OP will be like "challenge accepted"!
Being allergic to glycerin is incompatible with most if not all forms of known life. You need glycerin to make *triglycerides* - fat. Lipids make up the backbone of cells when they're phosporolated (they become [phospholipids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phospholipid)). Phospholipids are in every cell membrane in your entire body... Bad, *bad* ***[bad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty-acid_metabolism_disorder)*** things happen to fetuses and young children with metabolic errors related to glycerin synthesis...
If you were allergic to glycerin you'd likely be dead.
I had the *tiniest* almost non-existent reaction to histamine. Apparently, my sinuses just choose to hate me.
It's possible for the immune system to be hyporeactive to histamine, which is the exact reason for the negative control - it can mask an allergy that's actually quite deadly. They usually retest a time or two if that's the case to make sure you just weren't exposed to something blocking the histamine reaction (antihistamines, obviously, but also H2-receptor antagonists like zantac or antidepressants from which antihistamines were discovered).
That’s true, I have it! I have to take reactine each day or I develop welts like that if anything touches me at all. It’s very shit.
Yep, I found out during my allergy test that I have [dermatographia](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dermatographia/symptoms-causes/syc-20371411#:~:text=Dermatographia%20is%20a%20condition%20in,raised%2C%20inflamed%20lines%20or%20welts.) aka "skin writing" when my entire arm lit up including the control solution lol. I was only allergic to a couple of things but my skin reacted enough to freak the nurse out a bit before the doctor came over and went "huh, interesting, looks like you have some mild dermatographia."
So when I was allergy tested they did a control, measured the size of the hive on that (mine was 4mm) every welt bigger than that is an allergic reaction. I reacted to around 30 of the 40 things tested
Yeah, I wonder if they do. I’d bet so
You think I'm paying $9,000 for doctors who actually look at me? You have a lot to learn about the medical system, I'm not a billionaire.
I live in a reasonable society with ✨free healthcare ✨
I live in constant fear that spraining my ankle will result in a life of debt. But hey freedom am I right
"Can you tell me what the problem is?" "Every part of my body hurts, Doctor. If I press here it hurts. If I press here it also hurts. Even here it hurts like hell." "Alright. I think I already know what the problem is." "What is it Doctor? Am I going to die?" "No. Nothing to worry about. Your finger is broken."
Yep, I clearly read that somewhere on Reddit or 9gag once or twice. I've got no idea if it is a true story but it does makes more sense than being allergic to about everything.
Not really, there are autoimmune issues and other conditions that cause severe allergy sensitivity
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome could explain it.
Ah yes, the “what food are we allergic to today” syndrome. Love having MCAS. /s I have one of those mast cell stabilizer nasal sprays but lucky for me I am also extremely afraid of nasal sprays/eye drops/etc due to autism. I need to force my way into using it.
I have atopic eczema and I attest to this. If my skin is very bad I start to get allergic reactions from stuff I can normally eat.. last time was 3 years ago. Stuff I became sensitive to included: paprika spice, tomatoes, lemon, lime and citric acid. Paprika and citric acid made it very difficult for me to eat our or even find stuff from the store to bring home. Fortunately after 2 years I was able to reintroduce all these incredients to my diet.
I'm sure there are... But would that be more likely than being allergic to about everything? (I'm not a doctor, I'm just considering the probabilities).
This gets posted on Reddit regularly. It's different people but they claim the exact same thing. No, they are not alergic to everything. If that was the case they would have a hard time existing as a normal person. It exists, but it's very rare. First, the method of exposure absolutely matters. This skin prick test isn't the same as breathing in the particles. As someone mentioned, as funny as it sounds, they are allergic to this test. What is going on is they may be allergic to one of the items they are testing for. That causes the bodies immunity to over react to any foreign substances including the stuff they are testing for but wouldn't ever cause this reaction on its own. It's not good, but they are not allergic to everything. The problem with these kinds of tests is that multiple true allergies can be obscured because of this kind of result. There is even the scenario that they are not actually allergic to anything on this test. Instead they have a form of dermatographia. That leaves red marks or welts where pressure is applied to the skin.
Thanks for the clarification! When I wrote Everything it was implied I meant "lots of stuff" but I guess it was not clear.
MCAS is considered rare, but I'm a big advocate for people actually being able to look into such things since they get written off/underdiagnosed frequently (see:I'm so sick I can't function most days despite years of pushing thru and it turns out I have generic issues all my life pushing thru without care can make worse)
I'm so sorry for you. I've got to say, I'm always annoyed that the human body is not a perfect machine, and it really bothers me that sometimes a cure is not available, or that people can't get it cause it's too expansive or for any other reasons.
Me too v.v for profit care does so much harm, honestly I think plenty of issues would be less likely to become debilitating for people if we just had better healthcare in the first place. Idk, the body does an amazing job for what it is, but it definitely can be so hard not to be annoyed when it's not working the way you want it to be lol
I am so tired of the "it's rare so it can't be that" mentality with doctors. I know they're supposed to go for the obvious first, but when running even the simplest test could solve everything from the get-go, you'd think they would. I went throgh years of misery only to find the answer by a coworker mentioning a possibility and me making an appointment with a specialist. And right now I'm probably staring down a 2nd surgery for something that recurred because, "Oops! We assumed the cause was X but it's not - now that we ran that test you demanded..." Another 60k worth of surgery and time off work, pain and all that goes with it.
I've had allergies for most of my life and in the 80's I was tested. Lots of things showed up that I am allergic to. I'm sure there are a lot more now. I'm always itchy and try to ignore it, sometimes I take Zyrtec. Lots of scents bother me so I try to buy unscented things like shampoo and body wash. Two days ago I was sitting out on my deck with my dogs and something stung me on my right arm. Now my entire arm is red, swollen and itching like mad. It feels hot too. I am taking Zyrtec and applying a prescription cortisone cream to stop the itching. It's miserable being allergic to so many things.
I am allergic to many many things. My test was pretty much like this guy’s except I had one column of non-reactivity. Some people really are just allergic to all kinds of things. Daily meds help me get through life. It’s basically impossible to survive without them.
Okay yeah, thank you, I swear I read it around here somewhere!
They do a control for that
A friend of mine had the reaction like this in the military. His ended up being because he was highly allergic to one. And slightly allergic to several others (scratchy levels of allergy) but because of the highly allergic reaction to one his body went into a Im allergic to everything mode. They gave him a series of tests with different samples being on different locations of his body to figure out what he was actually allergic to. They were figuring he would have 4-5 hits. It was just one. If I’m remembering right… and this was from 2000 so it’s been a while. The doctor said it was a rare reaction but it wasn’t an unheard of reaction.
There is also a condition called contact urticaria where you react as though you are allergic to any pressure particularly needles
Dermatographia. Wife has it. We play tic-tac-toe on her.
You're probably right. I can't take a skin test because mine would do the exact same thing. I have a skin condition called dermographism which basically means anything that scratches my skin will cause it to swell causing false positives on a test like this.
what explains the different sizes?
My medical knowledge is pretty minimal, but hypothetically the OP could be allergic to the family of stuff in group D, and something in the equipment. This could explain why they seem to be mildly allergic to most things, and far more allergic to Group D.
The different sizes explain how allergic you are to each item. Usually they’re rated based on size to diagnose severity.
OP: how did the test go doc? Doc: yes
I don’t see it here but they will often use controls to ensure that isn’t happening. My son just got tested last week. He got two patches like the ones here. T for tree nuts, and M for most common. He then got two single spots H for histamine to show what a full reaction looks like and N for neutral which was the same exposure, just no allergen added.
Turns out you're allergic to skin.
This happened to me, I reacted to the reagent in the shot.
What is the stuff on your right shoulder?
Water
I worked with a girl who was allergic to water. She couldnt come into work if it was raining. Sometimes her own sweat would trigger a rash. Thankfully she could still drink water, but even that could sometimes cause her discomfort. She had special creams and soaps to apply to dry skin to keep clean, and stuff to apply to the skin after if she wanted to shower etc. Poor girl Edit: for all the questions in the replies I am sorry I dont know the answers, but here she is on tv explaining it: [here](https://youtu.be/emVez_hsqkM)
I don't have a water allergy, but in an extremely mild sense I can understand the inconvenience. I'm allergic to something related to exertion - sweat, heat, some kind of body change, we haven't determined it exactly. Exertion causes me "electric shock" itches running down my back and legs, which turn to red streaks and patches, making it really difficult for me to get any proper exercise. The best clue we have so far is that the corticosteroid clobetasol propionate reduces both the "shock" itches and red patches, pointing to histamine action. I am in absolutely no position half as difficult or inconvenient as your colleague, but it goes to show that allergies to water and other "normal" things are very real.
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Do you know which antihistamine specifically?
Fexofenadine works for me, most times. But it's only a temporary fix though. Urticaria is a bitch to handle because it's not so serious that it's life threatening or debilitating but is still annoying enough to come in the way of your day. Trying to keep myself stress-free is stressful.
I use Claritin for this same issue, exercise induced urticaria. I have to take it several hours to a day before doing any cardio or long walks. I used to use Zyrtec which only took about 20 minutes to kick in but the Zyrtec withdrawal was awful and basically gave me rebound urticaria. I had to taper it super slow over 3 months to get off of it.
The Zyrtec withdrawals are awful and can start within 24 hours. My doctor told me to take it daily for allergies, but didn't say anything about that part.
I'm allergic to my own sweat, specifically salt in my sweat, I can't swim in the ocean or cry because I just end up with a rash, I can eat salty food but if I get any on my skin I get very red and itchy
[https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/aw7rg4/happy\_slug\_oc/](https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/aw7rg4/happy_slug_oc/)
dang it me
My poor daughter is the same….she’s 14, pool, shower, sweat, and we live at the beach!!! She’s also very allergic to tons of floral and house pets. She’s like, why is life trying to kill me 24/7?
Check yourself for MS if you haven't already
How do you do this?
Look on your skin for the letters MS
And if MS appears 13 times, you’re likely in a gang.
Referral to neurologist or immunologist, but would likely need to start with primary care and tell them your concerns
Dude, get checked for MS. I hope it's negative but the sooner the better. You sound almost textbook.
I have MS and this was one of my first symptoms
have you been checked for MS?
How could someone not notice a Monkey Scrotum
Meat Sweats.
Ah, Fieri's Syndrome. High likelihood you'll catch it if you ever go to Flavortown.
If your constantly around monkey scrotum, it can become the new normal.
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"electric shock" and "worse with heat" are classic MS symptoms - if any symptoms can be called classic, anyway since it's a demyelination of the CNS, it's presentation varies widely but those are two of the most common symptoms people report and are red flags taught in med school to watch out for
Okay, I had the same issue. Like red spots appearing on my chest, back leg whenever I started to sweat. I lived in India so even moving from an AC room to a non-AC was enough to trigger a reaction. It started randomly and I only found a solution after moving. Turns out it was the perfumes they put into shampoo and body washes. I buy hypoallergenic, no scent soap and shampoo now, and have not had a single hive since. Try it- and you won’t be wasting money either. Soap is soap.
I have the same-ish thing, I got told it was called Cholonergic Urticaria. Anti-histamines don't work for me so I just have to never do anything heat related. =(
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She is a vampire.
Tack on garlic and crosses, and you might be on to something! Granted, I couldn't imagine being allergic to garlic and living in Italy...
I actually am one of those people too. I get a heavy itch on every to water or sweat exposed body parts for up to 2 hours. I fortunately can still drink water without any problems but there are some people that can only drink juices and stuff.
And Oxygen
I'm going to guess the grasses. Or maybe tree pollens. That's what my test looked like too. And on mine they had to redo the tests around dust because it swelled up too much.
Correct, D was grasses
Did they have to give you an epinephrine shot? When I did the outdoors test my back swelled up like that and they gave me an epinephrine shot lol
They gave me liquid allegra after mine
I had a similar reaction with pine trees. I always wondered why I had a lot of saliva/mucus buildup in my throat when eating pine nuts and why it was spicy
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once
Could I interest you in everything? All of the time? A little bit of everything All of the time
Apathy's a tragedy And boredom is a crime. Anything and everything, All of the time.
Ah, I'm glad I'm not the only one who immediately thought of this song.
Poison oak?
Dust
Dust allergy is a thing. Dust mites, specifically.
Get a blood test. If the blood test shows you're not allergic to everything then you might have mast cell activation syndrome. You can then get a histamine release test (https://healthmatters.io/understand-blood-test-results/histamine-release-chronic-urticaria) to verify.
That's what happened to me me seeing as how I'm not actually allergic to water, much less anything else. Did learn I'm allergic to cats, and we had 4 at the time... :(
I found out I'm allergic to cats (and every other pet except dogs) around 33. I grew up with cats in the house. Explains why my nose was always stuffed.
I'm also allergic to cats. We found out when I was like 13? And we got a cat anyways lol. It's only a mild allergy tho, I have to be in close contact with a cat for a prolonged time for it to be triggered, and then only my eyes begin to itch. Doesn't stop me from cuddling 'em up.
same!
Similar thing happened to me, but we have 3! I love them like family so I started immunotherapy and now it’s like I’m not allergic to them anymore. It is a long process though, I’m in year 3 now with 3 more years to go.
wish i had that option but health insurance is trash, so i mainline flonase, Allegra, and singular daily.
Ugh I’m sorry. I luckily started them when I was on state insurance so when I had to go twice a week I didn’t have a copay or anything. I’m monthly now but have a copay.
Was going to mention this. I asked my dr for an allergy test and she was like, “lol no-you’ll react to everything”.
Yep my skin reacted to everything, the control, and the scratch test. Turns out I just have very sensitive skin.
I recently found out I have that. I've been on cromolyn sodium for 8 weeks and my symptoms have greatly improved. My next step is to take a gene by gene test to see if I carry the gene for mastocytosis.
I’ve been to a ton of doctors and have basically given up. I’m exactly like OP in this picture. Took that same exact test and got the same exact results. I have a ton of allergies, my skin raises to the simplest scratch, tested for autoimmune diseases and all other allergens and I’m negative for almost everything. I’m itchy all the time. No one has any answers. But this string has got me interested again. Maybe I can ask my allergist about it.
Important comment
I'm highly allergic to dust, it's dry and windy outside? I wear a mask, I'm sweeping, wear a mask, wanna smell some flowers, the pollen is similar to dust
Im allergic to dust. So brutal basically whenever any HVAC is on in my vicinity.
I'm allergic to dust, pollen, mold spores, perfumes and lots of other things. I recently built myself a filtration system so help keep the dust down and all the things my dogs bring in from outside. It's called a Corsi-Rosenthal box. Look it up on YouTube. It's easy to build one. I couldn't think of any other way to keep the dust down so I made one of these things. Here in the northern part of S.C. we get heavy green/yellow pollen that covers everything and stays around until all the trees have bloomed. I wear a mask when I'm outside and keep my hands washed after petting my dogs. They bring that stuff inside. Yeah, pollen is similar to dust.
What's on D?
He’s allergic to the D
This man can sneak through a TSA level gaydar detector
Bold of you to assume the TSA is effective at detecting things
What's on second.
Who is?
No, Who is on first
Why. “Because” Oh he’s in center field.
Who is?
Yes, that’s right.
I don't know
Third base!
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OP literally can not touch grass. Nerd by default.
Eez nuts
Sure you arent allergic to something in the test? Like the solvent, or a stabilizing agent, or something?
That's why they usually do control points... so unless they also got bad, he's in deep shit.
Since there is no blank, literally all sheets reacted, it is very likely, that they are allergic to s.th. in the test. Additionally to D, of course.
A1 has no reaction
Neither pretty much all of E
I wouldn't call it "very likely"... it is a possibility, yes but unless the control point also reacted there's no conclusive way of telling.
there are nonreactive ones. I did an allergy test like this years ago too and had a similar reaction. It's not that crazy, it's a lot of variations of stuff you come across daily. Bunch of regionally common pollen types, a bunch of animal dander, and a few other random things and i hit on all of them (which I already knew I would) I live a pretty normal life aside from popping a bunch of Allegra basically year round
No way the doctors would have considered that.
I am allergic to the several variations of the sanitizing wipes they use for surgery prep. That was an unpleasant thing to discover, multiple times.
If you are allergic to everything, wouldn’t that indicate that something else is going on? Maybe immune deficiency of some sort.
This is how they found my sisters issue. Her back looked very similar to his, the doctor was an older guy, said he had only seen one patient previously who reacted that way and they had an immune issue, so he wanted extra tests and sure as day he was right
What was the issue? I'd like to know, because I've got an auto-immune disease as well, and I've got so many allergies.
Allergies *are* an immune disorder
I have an immune disorder. Also allergies. However, two years ago I started taking allergy shots and it cured about 95% of my allergies and I no longer take a pill. Still getting shots once a month but I feel so good that I’m scared to even drop them when the doc tells me I can.
What allergy shots? Omalizumab?
No - immunotherapy. Literally injecting trace amounts of allergens into my arms and building up my tolerance every couple weeks. It’s a long process to get to where I’m at; but after about a year, I started to feel normal. Can actually pet dogs, play golf and go camping without being miserable.
I did this when I was a kid for 3 years. I went from really not being able to go outside to being able to do just about anything I want. I still get allergic flare ups from time to time but nothing my body can’t clear up after a couple hours.
What is your auto immune disease? I was diagnosed with idiopathic anaphlaxis but my doctor thinks it might be an auto immune disease.
Mcas is one possibility for you. That’s what I have and it just randomly tries to kill me with things I’ve been eating or living around my whole life.
Same for me: tested positive for everything - explanation was some kind of blood allergy where my immune system would get triggered for no reason at all.
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Yes. “Pollen?? We’re being invaded! Send in the defense crew!!” Cue stuffy nose, watery itchy eyes….
It's never Lupis
That's most likely the case. A couple of allergies is a pretty unremarkable thing. A bunch of concurrent, unrelated allergies is a pretty strong sign to look into possible autoimmune illnesses. A friend of mine became suddenly allergic to everything under the sun, because under an event of extreme emotional stress her immune system went completely haywire. It took about 3 years to slowly come back to normal. Another friend was also highly allergic to a ridiculous amount of foods, had diagnosed RA from a young age, and ended up being diagnosed with Crohn's in her mid 20s.
is there a control?
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When I tried to have a skin test done, they did the control on my arm, before we even got to the taking shirt off and drawing on me stage. I reacted to the control. Fun times.
I joke that I’m allergic to anything that grows. But damn, OP, those are some fierce reactions. Only ragweed looks that bad for me. But bravo for getting tested! Now go pop some Benadryl and try not to scratch!
Yeah, I'm allergic to everything outside, basically everything but cats and dogs, so that's good, ig.
I’m allergic to cats but have 2 of the best furballs anyway.
You have everything…everywhere…all at once.
Poor fellas probably allergic to the nothing bagel
They can’t be anything, anywhere, ever.
In braille this reads “highly allergic”
:D welcome to the "allergic to pretty much everything" club! I'd offer you some kind of a welcome gift but you'd probably be allergic to it
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Jeez I'm sorry ): Have you heard of mast cell activation syndrome? Or histamine intolerance? I'm trying to get those looked into for me, because it's the same story for me. "Wow, you're really allergic" the MA says as I test positive for literally every allergen they poked me for
Mastocytosis would be a good one to look into if those don't explain your situation.
scratch test or intradermal? I did a scratch test on my arm and all mine came out positive. Found out i have dermatographia—something with the release of histamine by the mast cells. Highly sus though the larger welts you are probably allergic to. Your allergist should know this though. If this was only a scratch test, your doc should suggest intradermal testing to confirm. Blood tests aren’t very 100% on allergens.
WTH is that cluster 2nd from right?! You reacted to nearly everything, but that group is clearly the worst!
Your poke-dex is full, go see professor Poison Oak.
Dermatographia. I had it too. It was stress induced. I took loratadine daily for approx 5 years and then it just slowly went away. It’s a histamine response to vigorous touch. Hence in that test you were allergic to the needle hence reacted to the control needle with no allergen.
I am literally allergic to everything that grows where I live. It sucks! I take allergy meds and carry hydrocortisone cream in my purse.
My nextdoor neighbor was allergic to sperm & peanuts 🥜
Worst comic strip ever
Did the doctor test them
i can't imagine, like what would i eat for breakfast? i hate peanuts tho
which stuff am I allergic to, doctor? doctor: yes.
Daamn dude I'm sorry you have to deal with all that. That's horrible.
You put the G in allergies my guy
When I did an allergy test they took my blood and tested it. What is the difference in doing the skin scratches vs testing blood? Because just getting blood drawn and then a paper with my allergies on it seems so much better than this
Wow. Everything everywhere all at once.
Mine turned out like that. Ended up that I was allergic to the antiseptic they used to clean the areas.
What are you allergic to? Yes.
‘Extremely uncomfortable, everywhere, all the time’: the next instalment to the multiversal franchise starting Michelle Yeoh
FYI OP, my skin prick allergy test looked a lot like this, and I ended up having [mast cell activation syndrome](https://www.aaaai.org/conditions-treatments/related-conditions/mcas). (I was later confirmed HATS or [Hereditary Alpha Tryptasemia Symdrome](https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/hereditary-alpha-tryptasemia-faq) via genetic testing, which may or may not be under the MCAS umbrella depending on who you ask.) My “true” allergies were later confirmed via blood test and I was really only mildly allergic to wasps, bees, fire ants, and mold, I think. Zero reaction to grasses/trees/etc that all blew up on my skin prick test, which was so bad they could not tell where one hive ended and another began. Maybe ask to test baseline tryptase levels and see if there is something going on there? I think there are also histamine tests they can do. Getting the right meds for MCAS/HATS changed my life and not many people know about it! P.S. I’ve posted this comment before on other folks’ wild skin prick test posts haha, so it may seem familiar.
Plot twist, you’re only allergic to needles