Latex allergies suck.

[lightningandsnow]

So, apparently, I've been at high-risk for developing a latex allergy because of a surgery I had when I was two years old.

And now I think I'm actually developing one. Sucks.

I get itching/a rash if I wear latex gloves. This happened a while ago, and I thought it may just have been a heat rash, but I stopped wearing latex gloves after that. I've been pretty careful to avoid latex lately, which is a pain.

Anyways, I got a new cellphone last night, one with a USB cord. I hooked up the cord to my phone/laptop (and remember thinking, "oh crap, it smells like rubber"), and, not long after I touched it, my fingers started tingling. My eyes got itchy too. I took a benadryl right away to avert any further possible reaction, but still, it kind of scared me.

Guess I really have to avoid latex now.

[LynneSin]

1. Well I guess you're not going to have much luck taking up a BDSM fetish

isn't there alot of latex involved with that

[dropkickpa]

3. There are ways around that!

:evilgrin:

[dropkickpa]

2. Yep, it sucks

Both me and Dropkid are allergic, but, because I developed it before she was born, she's always had limited chances for exposure to it, and, after her allergy manifested at age 3, she has been thoroughly trained to avoid it. Band-aids, hairbands, gloves, erasers, etc all trigger her to declare "I'm allergic to latex, get it away!". I get the burning/tingling thing when I touch it and the eyes and face start to itch very shortly afterwards.

The hardest thing other than avoiding environmetal exposures in daily life, really, is getting the medical community to comply, dumb as that sounds. I have actually had a nurse approach me wearing latex gloves when I was there for allergy shots. We are trying to schedule a laser procedure for Dropkid and it's like torture getting it scheduled because we need the laser to be brought to the latex free OR, and they won't do that until they can schedule a full day of patients. Ugh.

[quakerboy]

19. it sounds like you have had

a few years to deal with it. Is it true that it tends to worsen with each exposure?

[dropkickpa]

21. In my case

The reactions got progressively worse. The big danger with latex allergy is, even if you've only had minor reactions in the past, there's no way to tell when you can have an anaphalactic reaction, so being careful is really important. There are definitely inconveniences, but I've managed to be able to keep working in my field (vet tech in biomedical research, though I've moved up the ladder and am now in a supervisory position with much less hands on work).

[RadiationTherapy]

4. Be aware of this with condoms; very uncomfortable to forget about.

There are lambskin ones but, even as only an occasional veg, they are grosssssss.

[dropkickpa]

5. Oh gah, yeah!

DO NOT FORGET WITH THIS ONE!! The result is VERY unpleasant. There are latex free condoms out there that give the same disease protection as latex, they're more expensive, but worth it for the protection (Avanti by Durex and Supra by Trojan are the two I'm mose familiar with).

I'm also allergic to lanolin and found that lambskin causes a bit of a reaction, too.

[TZ]

6. Well Aspie girl is kind of into women more than men...

So hopefully she won't have to worry about that...;-)

[ghostsofgiants]

8. I thought she was into ladies and guys.

In any event, she may need to use dental dams at some point, so she's have to keep it in mind then as well.

[TZ]

9. Okay I think we have her covered, so to speak...

:D

[ghostsofgiants]

7. They use polyurethane if I'm not mistaken.

I noticed the Supras last time I bought condoms, I don't think they were that much more expensive, but I could be wrong.

[dropkickpa]

23. The price has come down since they were introduced,

and companies are working on more alternatives to latex, which will also lower the price once more are on the market.

[quakerboy]

17. Some of the Japanese brands

of latex condoms are worth considering. My wife has a latex allergy, and the latex free condoms tend to be 'spensive. did some research, and you can find foreign brands that seem to be manufactured with different grade of latex that has "less impurities" which are what cause most latex allergies.

Whatever, we switched to a Japanese brand, and no more red irritation/puss/etc. 2 years and counting. Plus, much better wearing and no breakage, in many many many trials.

[dropkickpa]

22. Then it's not latex allergy

But a sensitivity to the chemicals used in the manufacturing process, which is also pretty unpleasant and often mistaken for latex allergy (and more common than true latex allergy). Believe me, if she were allergic to latex and is using latex, you'd see a reaction.

[spinbaby]

10. They certainly do

I discovered I had a latex allergy recently after a breast biopsy. Most of my skin came off with the bandage.

[lightningandsnow]

11. Ouch!

[BarenakedLady]

12. It only annoys me at the dentist

Their latex gloves make my nose itch something fierce.

[livetohike]

13. My dentist made a note in my file due to latex allergies - my

gums and lips broke out in tiny blisters :-(. They have other gloves to use. You just have to mention it to them.

[LeftyMom]

14. Tell me about it.

Not only am I allergic to latex, I can't use hormonal birth control due to a family history of blood clotting issues.

Picking a reliable birth control method was fun, let me tell you. :eyes:

[BlueIris]

15. I feel that. It SUUUUUCKS. nt

[LeftyMom]

16. And I can't use an IUD because I have a malformed uterus.

That leaves me with:

FAM
Polyurethane condoms
Sterilization

Not a very long list, is it? :grr:

[quakerboy]

18. a cautionary tale

Make sure that people know about this.

My wife had what we thought was a mild latex allergy. She had issues with latex gloves, so we switched off of those and made sure the other type were available.

My family didn't know. We had a family beach trip. We had a private room at the hotel, but part of the group, so they got the keys before we arrived. This was shortly after becoming engaged. My family was happy. They thought they were clever. They bought many hundreds of balloons and spent many combined hours huffing themselves into dizzyness to blow them all up. To fill the room, wall to wall to about 5 feet high.

It was almost a very short engagement.

The really terrible parts... Her mom helped mine blow up the balloons. They had talked about doing it at our home. Thank jebus that I didn't give ANYONE but the 2 of us keys, or we might have had to move.

[mwooldri]

20. Yep my son has it.

Had extensive surgery at 12 hours old and has full-blown latex allergy. Means no koosh balls, even got to be careful about tennis balls and pencil erasers (there's a reason why we in the UK call them "rubbers"). The school equipped the class with the "normal kind" containing natural rubber and my son came home with a blotchy face (he held up his pencil to his face, rubber touching his face). Hence the pencils required changing. He got his own special eraser too.

Birthday parties we're careful at - we let our hosts know in advance don't get the "usual balloons" near my son, and when we're hosting the parties we're off to the Dollar Store and getting the mylar (foil) balloons for everyone. Kids think balloons are neat and the foil ones are neater still so they think we're just uber-cool but in reality we're just looking after our son.

The biggest problem is at medical places. Yes he has it on file. Yes the number of people getting latex allergies are increasing, but still latex rubber exam gloves are still cheaper than the alternative and some establishments will STILL buy them. Places are switching over to latex-free eventually though.

Mark.

[dropkickpa]

24. Balloons were our biggest hurdle when she was younger

I finally just started to buy and bring a mylar balloon for her to take to any party she was invited to. Medical offices, dentists, etc are the hardest to get around, I now carry several different sized pairs of nitrile gloves with me to any appointment we have, especially if it's a new doctor or specialist. Our regular doctors office is really good about it, but not every place is. And I tell any doctor or nurse giving me the ol' "But I can't feel things as well with nitrile" the stink eye and inform them that if I am able to do very delicate procedures on mice wearing nitrile, they can work on a human with nitrile.

Our dentist has actually moved to being latex free in his office, which is awesome, he started using alternatives when he took us on as patients 5 years ago, and he actually prefers them now, and he says he's seen an uptick in his patient numbers as word has spread, so the extra cost hasn't hurt his bottom line.