This time of the year, fresh food is not very available, except the once a week harvest from my inside garden (greens, and a few strawberries). But I am not taking any antihistamines, and not having problems.
Iād like to learn more about your inside garden. Thatās intriguing. I get veggies from the local King Soopers. Iām cooking beans, peas, stews, etc. Itās that time of year.
It is not that much of a garden, but it does make me a little happier. I started with bring in my pepper planes in the Fall, then it sort of grew. I then did prestart of my garden plants, which is a little early for now. Then I bought a hydroponics kit, which did not work. I reworked it, so now it does.
I now have aero-garden knockoffs.
The original hydroponics kit was intended to be like an aero-garden, with a aerator as such. The problem was the fishbowl air pump was not enough. I converted it to using a small water pump, into a manifold, to distribute the water. A little plastic tubing, and some brass tubing (which is formable), and a timer for the pump, and it is working.
It consisted of a storage bin, and had four holes in the top (and a drain in the bottom). The holes had baskets for the clay balls, and a seeding sponge.
Because the water was being directed over the sponge, for two minutes, every fifteen minutes, that worked when I added the seeds to the sponge.
The next trick was the balance of the feeding stuff. I had heard it is difficult to balance those. I also heard garden plants like manure tea. Then it came to me. Use an old sock filled with composted manure, and change the water weekly (using distilled water for balance).
This is getting long, but if you want to hear more I can go on.
Very interesting. It sounds big, or, at least, sprawled out. If a picture would do it justice, maybe upload one?
Itās not that big, but more of an experiment, because I can.
Also I find frequently that Walmart sells out of lettuce, and strawberries, so this is my attempt to go around that. I am not as successful as I would like, but if I can improve the value of this I will be closer. By value I mean quality, amount of produce etc.
The challenge so far is, besides extending the season of my pepper plants, is the limit on what I can grow. Strawberries, and greens are easy.
Thatās interesting. Iāll have to think about some of that.
Neighbors on one side have encouraged me to start a garden for years. Now the other set of neighbors are going to start a garden this year so fully utilize their water (tired of watering just grass to cut). A garden will reduce the size of the lawn and grow food.
Mandy is the absolute best at growing veggies from eggplants to string beans. She began growing flowers a couple of years ago to make arrangements to give and sell. Sheās very creative with her arrangements.
I need to do maintenance on my backyard and seriously contemplate doing a garden this year. Sometimes the produce put out is not the freshest in the West, which is true of the health food stores.
Pictures or it doesnāt exist. 
Well, no garden this year. Everything has gotten away from me again.
I am 3 weeks away from maintenance doses on allergy shots. It will be interesting to see how reactive I am this season.
I recently transitioned into maintenance doses. Oddly, Iām having more of a reaction with the shots now than I ever did when going more frequently.
I can say that my reactions are less severe, but the shots did not ācureā me of allergies. I still need to take OTC medications.
swertel, Iāve had minor itching with the shots for a month or so now but they donāt seem to think of that as a reaction. I guess if I went into anaphylactic shock or something they might change their minds. Iāve not asked what would constitute a reaction. Iāve not had any sinus problems just the itching.
When I went camping a couple of weekends back, my allergies got pretty bad. I wasnāt prepared for that so I suffered through it. But it was already less severe so that was a nice surprise.
I thought there would finally be no reactions until the shots were completed. I donāt know how long that takes. Theyāve not said. They just released one of their patients about a month or two ago. Next time I see the doc, Iāll ask.
Is the itching localized to the injection site?
I think the criteria for it being an āallergic reactionā is if the itching, inflammation, irritation spreads; or if there is a more serious reaction such as anaphylaxis or such, as you mentioned.
The itching is localized to the injection site. Sometimes it spreads out more, which is annoying.
This year was an uneventful year allergy wise, which was great. I also have a new allergist. My old one really messed up the billing and threatened me with cessation of treatment unless I paid $1500 immediately. They threatened me in front of everyone, which is a big no-no to me.
I worked through all of the insurance mistakes they made and found that I owed them about $800. I could have paid it off. Because they were such jerks, I decided to pay it off monthly.
They never took responsibility for their numerous mistakes. The insurance company was pretty put out w/ them, too.
The old allergist wanted me to do IVIG to boost my IgG. The new allergist suggested I get to the root cause of my low protein. If I could resolve that problem, my low IgG and IgM would resolve. The new allergist was right. When I resolved that problem, my total serum protein came up as did my IgG and IgM. Everything is normal now.
It feels good to feel good. 
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Hi Pam. Congrats, Iām so glad you are feeling better!
I should try your allergist.
Hi Latexman, thank you! You have no idea but Iāll try to make a post later today. It has been another interesting and enlightening year. Others might be able to use those experiences. 
Would require travel for you. But he is very good and level-headed.
Good to hear you are feeling better, Pam. My wife and I are working through our health care bills - she fell and broke several bones back around Halloween, and is slowly mending. The trauma center downtown kept shuffling her around to other hospitals for surgeries, and the ambulance companies are all āout of networkā for our insurance plan. Fun times.
Hey thatās great - it really can get a lot better, if not end entirely.
Getting the right help from people who understand your problem (take the time to figure it out) makes all the difference.
Some health problems came up with me this year, and Iāve been getting allergy tests to figure out if theyāre the cause. Iām sad to say I was tested for every common allergy known to mankind, but I failed all of them. Not a single allergy. Not even the easy ones like dog hair or pollen. Iāve never failed a test so miserably before.
Sorry to hear about your wife, Ben. 
Our EMS is county run. If we donate $60, every family member at our address gets free, unlimited ambulance service for the year. At $1000/ride and my insurance covers only 50%, thatās a flipping bargain! And, if we donāt need it during the year, itās for a good cause, and itās not enough to break the bank!
My wife has had a bad year too. Heart attack 12/26/2023. Stent installed 12/28/2023. While getting a scan then, they saw a tumor on her right kidney, but elected to wait 6 months during heart recovery. In June she had 1/2 her right kidney removed. Surgeon said he got it all. Pathologist confirmed. No further treatment! One week later, she was peeing blood. Surgeon nicked something and they had to put in a stent until it healed. One week after that she had retained fluid and got sepsis. They put in a drain. She seemed to get better after treatments for those, but 1-2 months later she developed a cough, fevers, and nausea. Three Dr. visits later, and still not well, so we went to the ER. She was admitted, and an abscess on her right half kidney showed up on a CT scan. Another drain was put in. A week of intravenous antibiotics while Infectious Disease Dr. looked for a treatment plan. It looked like they were going to send her home with a picc line, but after the cultures matured they found two pill-form antibiotics that worked. Unfortunately, she got tendonitis from the side effects of one of them. Sheās s l o w l y getting better from that now, and sheās finally feeling normal. After 5 hospital stays in 1 year, we are thankful sheās recovering now!
Now you know what Iāve been doing since retiring in July!