Holidays!

Merry Christmas! With all my traveling the last couple months, I have been avoiding my blog. Thank you to my readers for checking in. So, I had several sessions with a naturopath and have noticed my body functioning better! I have had more energy which I need with my job. The hives are still coming. She told me to stay on my medication through the holidays and check in with my doctor near the end of January to see if I can go off my meds. I think the increase in hives is from the holiday stress. Although, the holidays are so fun and exciting, there is always stress that follows. Stress breaks down your immune system, so it is extremely important to take care of your health during the holidays. I am headed for New York in 2 days and am praying that my lip doesn't swell up and that my hives are minimal. I will keep you posted. The great thing is, I have been able to go to parties, go out with friends and have a great time despite the hives and itching. I also bought a water filter for my shower to see if that makes a difference. You can find them at Sephora (Jonathan). I love how my hair feels. With all the chlorine in the water, I was being asked if I was a swimmer. I have only used it for a couple days and it is wonderful, but my husband keeps bumping his head on it.

I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included.
Bernard Manning 

Natural Healing?

A friend of mine recently told me that she was completely healed of a dairy allergy that she has lived with for years. Her fiance too has been healed of several of his allergies that he has suffered with throughout his life. The answer? They went to a naturopath who administered NAET treatments, which stands for Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques. I have never been to a naturopath before, but this absolutely makes me want to look further into it. I also talked to a lady recently who suffers with chronic hives from the cold. She saw a naturopath in Los Angeles and has only had a couple hives since! Doctors had told her that there was nothing she could do except take medication for the rest of her life. She wasn't satisfied with that answer and seeked out a naturopath. So, I am going to check it out and blog about my experiences. At least if it doesn't eliminate my hives, I will know that I have exhausted all options. If you have had any experiences with a naturopath either positive or negative, I would love to hear about it.

Stay Tuned,

Playa Girl

"My doctor gave me six months to live, but when I couldn't pay the bill, he gave me six months more."

-Walter M.

Fainting in Vegas

Okay, so for you girls that were there with me in Vegas..I know you were waiting for this post. Also, I love you and thank you for taking care of me!

Over Memorial Day weekend a group of girls and I took a road trip to Vegas in celebration of a friend's 30th birthday. So we were shopping..yes shopping when I gracefully fell to the floor outside the shops at Mandalay Bay.  Thankfully, it happened right in front of where they film "Top Chef" apparently, there would have been no way of knowing that except for the fact that the show's medic came rushing to my side.  I was completely unconscious for a few seconds when I was awoken to a man with a studio headset on asking me "How many fingers am I holding up?"  At that moment, all I knew was I hit the floor in front of several people and I was wearing a skirt.  I see guys with headsets scrambling around talking about some television show and I am thinking, are they filming me, how horrible, what is going on?    They start asking me a bunch of questions and thankfully I am answering them all correct.  

Next, I was taken in an ambulance to a nearby hospital hooked up to all kinds of monitors and told to eat tubes of glucose because my sugar levels were super low.  Talk about drama in Vegas. 

In the hospital, one of my friends was allowed to come back and low and behold the doctor and her knew each other.  She used to date his brother and there families were pretty close friends. What are the odds of that? That made me feel pretty certain that I was in the right place. We then tried to set him and my other friend up. They exchanged numbers, nothing ever came of it, but they are both still single so you never know. 

It turned out that I had dehydration. Looking back, I remember being especially thirsty that entire day. I had drank some water, but had also drank an americano, diet Red Bull, passion tea, diet pepsi and I was in the desert..so that was way too much caffeine for my body. At least that is one idea, but it could have also been an allergic reaction or anaphylactic shock. 

Anaphylactic shock, is also known as anaphylaxis, it is a severe, life-threatening reaction to certain allergens.  Anaphylactic shock is also characterized by a sudden drop in blood pressure (which did occur with me, every time I stood up, my blood pressure dropped dramatically. These are the most common symptoms for anaphylactic shock. However, everyone is not the same and may experience symptoms differently. Other symptoms may include:

• itching and hives over most of the body
• swelling of the throat and tongue
• difficulty in breathing
• dizziness
• headache
• stomach cramps, nausea, or diarrhea
• shock
• loss of consciousness

Anaphylactic shock can be caused by an allergic reaction to a drug, food, serum, insect venom, allergen extract, or chemical. So, I don't know for sure. There were plenty of factors that could have contributed to my incident. 

I did feel better the next day, which was the actual birthday of my friend. We were able to hang by the pool, do some more shopping and of course my favorite thing, dancing! 

Two weeks later, The Hangover, came out (great movie, I have never laughed so hard since Dumb and dumber).  My friends and I laughed when Phil Wenneck (Bradley Cooper) woke up to find a hospital bracelet on his wrist. Yes, that was me. 

Stay Tuned, 

Playa Girl

"Vegas means comedy, tragedy, happiness and sadness all at the same time."
Artie Lange

The Pouring Rain

You may think the sky is falling, feel the pouring rain, be blinded by the lightning, you may be scared to death but you are not alone. I went through this and there is hope. My hives got to a point where I felt like I was going to die and I was asking Jesus to take me home. I got better, much better and was delivered from that dark place. If you are suffering, don't lose hope. Although it is hard to see the road ahead, believe and know that this life is a journey full of great trials, but you will make it through the valley. To be honest with you, I am thankful for all that I have endured with this, I have gained so much knowledge and truth from this experience that I will carry with me. Of course, I want to be completely healed and to have no more hives or allergies ever again and not have to be on medication, but as for now this is the hand I have been dealt and I plan to make it a royal flush.


Til Next Time,


Playa Girl


This will make you laugh:


"I blame my mother for my poor sex life. All she told me was 'the man goes on top and the woman underneath.' For three years my husband and I slept in bunk beds." Joan Rivers

Allergies on the Rise

I remember back to when I was a child and not knowing anyone with allergies. Nowadays, it seems like everywhere you turn, someone has an allergy of some sort whether it be food, pets, insect stings, pollens or something else.  According to Immunologists in the UK, fruit and vegetables are taking the place of peanuts as a major cause of allergies in children. (Nicole Butler of abc.net, April 8, '09)   My doc told me that in the past 10 years food allergies in children have increased by 10%. Wow, that's huge, what is going on?

I had no idea that one could develop food allergies later in life..but apparently they can..case and point.  Right now, I am sitting at the coffee shop and I have already heard two people asking for soy milk because they are allergic to dairy. My brother is allergic to dairy, what an awful allergy to have. He can't have cheese, ice cream, cake, milk, yogurt, etc.. I always feel bad for him when we go out and he has to confirm with his waiter/waitress that his entree doesn't contain dairy. Now, I feel his pain being that I am allergic to wheat. Yes, there are substitutes, but subs are almost never as good as the original (in my experience at least).

So, next time you are out with a friend who has an allergy, instead of rolling your eyes when they order (not that you do), go with the flow and count your blessings that you can eat whatever the heck you want. 

Til Next Time,

Playa Girl

"When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity." - Albert Einstein

The Sun is Shining in LA

Mid September, clear blue sky, beautiful ocean waves. Oh, how I love Santa Monica. The air is even clear today. It seems that getting back to the allergist for my shots is helping. I had been on vacation for a few weeks, so I hadn't had my shots for 15 days and I was starting to see more irritating red bumps forming on my skin. Today, I don't see any, but they are pretty good at hiding from me since they know my disgust for them. I am also so happy that I lost a pound, yes only 1 pound since Saturday but it gives me hope and here's why. 
When you see an overweight person, don't be so quick to judge them and think they eat too much and are lazy. They could be on steroids or anti-depressants. When my doctor wanted to put me on prednisone, I was so unhappy to read all of the side effects, such as weight gain, "moon face", water retention.... Thankfully I only had to be on steroids for a week at a time and I actually lost weight when I was on them, they made me excited and full of energy that I couldn't even sleep. 
I had a pretty severe case of hives, swollen lip, fainting..etc late May and my doctor told me I really needed to take doxepin which is an anti-depressant, but happens to be one of the best histamine blockers (hives are a result from the release of histamine in your body). I laughed when I googled side effects of doxepin and the #1 side effect is "massive weight gain" and it makes you incredibly tired like zombie tired.  Are you serious? This drug is supposed to help depression, by what making you rapidly gain weight and be so tired you can't get out of bed. It is 2009 and this is the best we've got? 
Reluctantly, I started taking 20-30 mg of doxepin a day and yes I was soooo tired.  I was told to stick with it and my body would get used to it, which it did and it didn't make me tired or drowsy anymore. I did however gain 10 lbs in less than 2 months. I have been on it since the end of May and am trying to get my weight back down to where it was. Wish me luck! I read somewhere that people on doxepin gain on average 4 pounds a month and someone I met gained almost 90 pounds in a year. Yikes, we are supposed to be getting healthier.  The fact that I lost a pound this week, gives me hope that I can still be taking my meds and lose weight...time will tell. 

Til next time,


Playa Girl


To make you smile:
"You have to stay in shape. My grandmother, she started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we don't know where the heck she is."
Ellen DeGeners.

Shots, Shots, More Shots



So, I was back at the Allergy office for my shots today. I have been getting them twice a week since late April. The crazy thing is that you have to pay for parking at my doc’s office and they do not validate. So for the 10 minutes it takes me to get my shot it cost $2.50, which isn’t much but can add up when you visit twice a week. So just because my husband and I don’t like the system (not about the money so much), he usually drops me off and then waits in a nearby parking lot until I am done.


The doc said the shots will help build up my immune system. Basically my body is attacking itself and I did react positively to a few allergens. So anytime I come in contact with allergens, my immune system basically explodes in the form of hives. One of those allergens is wheat, so I have been staying away from it. Yes, I do dream about pizza. I am glad I went to Chicago last summer before all of this…since I had the best pizza of my life at Gino’s pizza. If you haven’t been there, you seriously need to go even if it is just for the pizza. Chicago is a great city though, one of my favorite. It is amazing how many foods have wheat flour in them: cakes, cookies, crackers, bread, soup even, pasta….the list goes on. Good thing I really love corn…Mexican is my favorite and that I can eat.


Today was a great day despite a few more hives on my body. I was still elated that the Seahawks crushed the Rams yesterday 28-0!! Yay! I will leave you with some comic relief.


Stay Tuned,


Playa Girl




Quote from NBC’s The Office,


“I’m an early bird and I’m a night owl, so I’m wise and have worms.” Michael Scott in Office Olympics  :)