Steroids and sneezes

So, I'm not really sure what's going on with my body... but something weird is happening.

I first noticed it in January when Jerry and I were in Chicago for a later Christmas. I woke up one morning and the area below my left eye (where the dark circles appear) was puffy and swollen. It was strange and annoying but I didn't think anything of it. It went away around lunchtime. The next morning the exact same area under my right eye was swollen. Hm... odd. Probably just a mild reaction to the detergent used in the sheets or something. It went away by lunch.

The puffy eyes slowly started to get worse. It only happened in one eye at a time and usually occurred about once a week or once every two weeks.

Then I started noticing little red bumps and spots on my hands. Every so often, I found these little splotches but thought they were from having dry skin in the winter. They always went away after a few hours.

On Monday night, as I was driving home, my left eye started to itch. When I got home and looked in the mirror it was completely red in the inner corner and the bottom lid and top lid near the outer corner of the eye were swelling up. It had happened before so I wasn't really worried... just frustrated. I put a warm compress on it hoping the swelling would go down. No such luck. I went to bed and before I fell asleep I noticed that my eye was almost swollen shut!
By the time Jerry got home from his fishing club meeting I could hardly open my eye. I thought it would go away overnight...

But it didn't. So I went to the walk-in clinic at MeritCare. An hour later, the doctor took a look at my eyes and said, "You should see a specialist" and referred me to an ophthalmologist at MeritCare Southpointe. Later that morning I was sitting in another room, this one filled with equipment to stare deep into my eyes (read like a romance novel).

This doctor, who was very nice and educational, had me put my chin on the chin rest and look up. He looked through his little microscope thing with the blinding light and said, "Yep! You have GPC." Then he put some strange dye in my eyes and looked at each one again. "You have a bad case of GPC. You're definitely having an allergic reaction to something in your eyes."

GPC stands for Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis. Apparently, when you look at the inner lids under a microscope they look like a cobblestone street. All the papillae are swollen and inflamed. Apparently, it's sort of like adult pink eye, minus the itch and discharge (ew!).

"You need to figure out what you're allergic to. Are you using any new soaps or lotions or makeup?"

"No. I don't think so. Is there something that commonly causes this?"

"Well, 9 times out of 10 it's caused by contact lenses."

"But I don't wear contacts."

"Right. So you'll have to really think about what could be causing this. It's possible you'll never figure it out. And, unfortunately, the drops I'm going to prescribe will only have a 50/50 chance of working."

"Hm...."

So I get these steroid drops to put in my eyes 3 times a day for 10 days. End of story? Of course not.

The next morning I woke up with a rash all over my hands. From my wrists to the base of my fingers. It doesn't itch but it's really gross-looking and annoying. I had seen it before this winter but never to this extent and I always thought it was just because my skin was dry and irritated from the dry winter air. I took pictures and e-mailed them to my mom from work. She called back and said, "I think you need to go back to the hospital."



So I did. Met with a different doctor (who was very crabby and rude) who told me I was having an allergic reaction on my skin (dermatitis) and I would have to figure out what I was allergic to. He thinks it's strange that it's only on my hands and asks if I've started using a new lotion.

"Nope."

"Soaps?"

"No."

"Hm... okay. We'll you'll probably never figure it out."

"Awesome."

He prescribes me a steroid cream to put on my hands twice a day. And now I'm trying to figure out what I'm allergic to. I threw away all my eye makeup. I threw away my mittens. I threw away my lotions. I bought new hypoallergenic soaps and makeup. I've been staring at my hands to see what happens after I do things like wash them or eat things.

And I have no answers so far. I've also been abnormally sneezey lately but I'm not sure if that's an allergy thing or the start of a cold.

As I'm typing this I'm starting to notice a few red splotches on my hands. What did I do today? I put the cream on this morning and still I'm having a reaction. What's going on?? I was feeling really sick yesterday around noon. Does that have anything to do with this? What's going on??