Allergist #1

My first appointment with the allergist began with a skin prick test of 60 different foods and pollens. With histamine and a positive and negative control injected into the inside of my upper arm, the nurse commenced pricking up and down both arms with different allergens. She checked them 15 minutes later; zero were positive, even corn.

At this point, I was still under the impression that I was allergic to corn. I reacted to EVERYTHING made from corn-- certainly it was corn. But I did think it odd that I did not react to the skin prick from corn. 

The doctor came in and asked me about my symptoms. I explained everything to him, from going gluten-free to my spreadsheet of symptoms and offending foods. 

He was not impressed. He said that I wasn't allergic to corn and that my symptoms were weird. 

"You're face goes numb. What kind of a symptom is that?!" Direct quote.

He explained that because I was living a stressful life, this was probably all in my head. He said that it's nothing to be ashamed of... that I wasn't stupid.... in fact, he's noticed that psychosomatic illnesses are more common in the highly intelligent. 

He said that the only way he could really take all this seriously was to do a blind challenge. A blind challenge is when a test subject is given a variety of substances and then has to determine which one has the offending chemical in it. 

Doctor-- "I could put powdered sugar into a gelcap and then you can see if you can identify it from the placebo."

Me--"What's the gelcap made of? Does it have corn in it?"

Doctor--"I don't know."

Me--"That would add a variable. Also, I don't know if the reaction is in my stomach or my mouth, so if it goes to my stomach instead of reacting in my mouth, then it may be inaccurate."

Doctor--"Well, if you say I can't use a gelcap then I could mix it in juice."

Me--"Depends on the juice. Some have corn syrup. What is the cup made of? Some plastics are made from corn."

Doctor--"Plastic isn't made from corn."

Me--"Some are."

Doctor--"It doesn't matter if plastics are made from corn. That's why we use plastic because it doesn't get into the liquid."

Me--"Bisphenol A has been proven to leach into liquid. That's why manufacturers can't put it in baby bottles anymore."

Doctor--"Well, if you say I can't use plastic, then I can't even nubulize it and challenge."

Me--"There's too many variables, too many sources of corn."

Doctor--"But if you really had a problem with corn--I mean, corn is everywhere! You couldn't eat out, you couldn't be around people with perfume on, you couldn't go in a store..."

Me--"Right. That's where I'm at. It's hard."

The doctor then said that only if I took some kind of blind challenge either in the office or at home would he be willing to work with me. I was so upset as I left his office, I was trembling. 

I went home and the next morning devised my own blind challenge.

My son put 1 tsp of powdered sugar into a glass and granulated sugar into 4 other glasses. Another son blindfolded me, and then they handed me a cup. The first had a maybe 1/5 reaction. The second was 4/5. I got very sick and miserable. But I had passed the blind challenge.

What did I learn? 

1) It wasn't in my head.

2) It was really stupid to do that without a way of pulling myself out of a reaction. At that point, I had no doctor support, no idea what was going on, and no epi-pen. It was a "don't-try-this-at-home" activity.

3) I did not want to go back to a doctor who a) didn't trust my word, b) told me to do stupid stuff at home

Back to the primary care doctor...