Hives

I can't recall the first time that I was diagnosed with allergies but there is no doubt that I am highly allergic to a large number of allergens. The problem is and I do understand the immunology as I age I get more allergenic to things that when younger I could tolerate but no longer can. The science behind this is allergies work on the threshold principle. This means you can be exposed to a certain allergen up to a certain level without reacting but if you go over that level you will react and then each exposure will result in stronger reactions. I think I experienced my first outbreak of hives about 15 years ago. Well apparently hives is now a part of my almost daily life. I would have added a picture but that would just gross you out. Anyway, the last few days have been a bit on the brutal side with respect to hives. If you haven't had hives imagine a mosquito bite the 10X the reaction. I react bad to mosquitos as well but hives are seriously so much worse!

A few days ago I went out to the garden to do a bit of picking. I know I was not bit by anything and yet in less than 10 minutes I had an outbreak of hives. I broke out with hives while canning tomatoes and again on the boat a couple of nights ago. I refuse to take anti-histamines due to the side effects but my gosh I might have to given this recent round of allergic reactions. I am certainly not impressed but I'm not going to let it get me down! I think I will start increasing my daily dose of Vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency has been implicated in allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases. Quite often supplementing with Vitamin D will alleviate the symptoms so it is worth a try. At the same time I am will be working on getting outdoors a bit more daily to stimulate natural Vitamin D synthesis. Unless it is raining out I'm back to my daily walks. This should help boost my natural Vitamin D synthesis while getting me a bit more in shape and that's not a bad thing. Besides if boosting the Vitamin D levels in my body eliminates the hives I will certainly be a happy camper!

Garden Gnome
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