My Morning with Angioedema

My beautiful morning snarl

Hello friends! It is Purple Hair Ladies (yes, I will re-dye my hair in the next few weeks) blog post about... Angioedema.

EGADS! What happened to your face?

This my friends, is called angioedema. In case you aren't aware of this wonderful torture that some people live through, it's kind of like hives. From our friends at wikipedia, it is defined as:

"... the rapid swelling (edema) of the dermis,subcutaneous tissue,^[1]mucosa and submucosal tissues."

If you don't have this, GOOD! You don't want it!

How long have you had angioedema? 

I was first diagnosed at 9 years old. After going to the ER (A&E) for a swollen lip, chin, tongue, and neck after a long hot bath, and after CPS was satisfied that my mom didn't clock me in jaw, a doctor came in and said "Oh! That's angioedema." Although, back then, 29 years ago, it was referred to as Angioneurotic edema because they thought it had something to do with the nerves.

How do you treat it?

Usually, I treat it with Diphenhydramine (AKA Benadryl). I buy bottles of 1000 Capsules of 50 mg in each capsule from Amazon. They also have smaller bottles of 100 capsules as well. These bottles of diphenhydramine are CORN FREE (which is why I buy them instead of not regular name brand Benadryl.)

Also, if my angioedema reaction is bad enough, I have an epipen that keep on me at all times in an Epipen holder. They even have some pretty cute ones for kids. Mine is by AllerMates and is actually for kids, but I am a kid at heart LOL.

Why do you get these Angioedema swelling?

If they don't know what causes it, it's called idiopathic angioedema. There is a facebook page dedicated to supporting those of us with chronic idiopathic angioedema. Sometimes I don't know what causes my swells. Other times it could be from heat (yup, I'm allergic to HEAT!), tomatoes, sleeping on my pillow wrong, touching a soap I am allergic to, putting on the wrong chapstick, or having a panic attack (yup, I'm allergic to stress too!).

It's not all bad though.

After awhile you learn to live with it, like I have. It just  becomes a part of who you are. I am going to a new allergy specialist in November, so hopefully they will be able to help me even more. But for now, I live my life and enjoy the nights as my daytime so I don't itch and burn and swell. Yup, I am a vampire LOL. Just kidding, although I feel like it some days.