There is a Silver Lining After All: Allergies are Good

When I was about 6 years old, I was diagnosed with severe allergies.  I was allergic to cats, dogs, feathers, wool, mold, grass, pollens and dust.  As an adult I picked up allergies to wasps and horses and more pollens.  When people would ask me what I am allergic to, I pretty much summed it up as anything that ever lived.  I was on allergy shots from the time I was 6 years old to 19 years old and then again for 4 more years as an adult.  I have been on numerous antihistamines and Benedryl (or the generic version) is my friend. 

Within the last 4 months I have been breaking out in severe hives and have been seeing an allergist for them.  It turns out that now my hives are also induced by stress.   So now I am regularly on Allegra and Zyrtec (the generic is super cheap at Sam's Club)  for my hives.  I must mention that I am very happy that Allegra is going over the counter in March (woohoo!) because the prescription version (even generic) is more expensive than I can afford out of pocket.  Anyway, I digress.

As it turns out as I was reading health news yesterday, I discovered that studies have shown that people with allergies are less likely to get cancerous brain tumors (woohoo!).  And, they are doing further studies to find out if people with allergies are less prone to cancer overall.  Don't believe me, read the article here.  Needless to say, I am thrilled.  I guess my over responsive immune system might be good for something overall (yay).  Aren't you jealous now?