Allergies, revisited

My allergies have not resolved. I'm no longer using shampoo or toothpaste, although that's not as gross as it sounds because I'm doing both things with baking soda (really! it works!). I'm double rinsing all the laundry and we switched laundry detergents to one that doesn't seem to bother my skin when applied to my inner arm. I've looked at all the ingredients in all my lotions and have discarded any that appeared suspicious and am now using only Aveeno, which doesn't make me break out in little red dots.

Despite all of those changes, my allergies are getting worse. I'm taking generic OTC Zyrtec and an asthma medication that my doctor prescribed me. I'm also taking Benadryl before bed because I get so itchy.

My new theory is that it's a food. Having changed all the outside-the-body chemicals that I can think of, this is the best option of those remaining. Other options include an allergy to one of my animals, but I'm not getting rid of them, so I'm going to test the food theory first.

Supporting this idea is the observation that directly after I finished eating left-over Indian food this evening, my nose started running and I started coughing. Now, about 40 minutes post-Indian food, I'm getting very itchy in a variety of different places. I haven't changed clothes or done anything that seems likely to have caused an allergy outbreak.

I'm starting a new elimination diet tomorrow. It's going to be a pain in the butt because I'm trying to combine the hypoallergenic diet I tried last time combined with a low salicylate diet. Unfortunately, the two diets are almost entirely non-overlapping. The hypoallergenic diet excludes a lot of things, but most fruits and vegetables are ok. The low salicylate diet excludes most fruits and vegetables, but a lot of other foods are acceptable. I went through and combined both lists and here's my acceptable foods for the next 10 days:

bananas

ripe, peeled pears

cabbage

lentils

green (but not yellow) split peas

dried beans

lettuce

celery

malt vinegar

salt

possibly either sunflower or saffllower oil

rice

turkey

fish

As far as I can tell, there are no actual meals that can be made of foods off of this list. My plan is to make rice and beans and then just whine a lot over the next 10 days. If I see an improvement in 10 days, I'll start adding foods back in one at a time to see if there's any effect. If there's no improvement in 10 days, I'm going back in to see the doctor to get better drugs.