Allergies have ruined my life

popecatapetal

I've wanted to work with animals for as long as I can remember. I didn't get the points for veterinary, but I got into science instead. I'm in final year zoology at the moment, studying about animals. I was planning on going to Sparsholt college in Hampshire, England, to get a zookeeping diploma when I graduated, and I was really really excited about it.

Then, about six months ago, I got a bad chest infection. My asthma got much worse, and for some reason, so did my hayfever and my other allergies. I used to sneeze a little if I petted a cat, now I can't breathe for wheezing and if a cat hair gets in my eye, I'm blind for hours cos my eye swells up so much...

This basically means that being around animals is impossible for me at the moment. I've asked in the doctor about long term treatments for allergies, cos I'm already developing a tolerance to piriton and zirtek and all those antihistamines. They said there's a steroid injection that can help for a few weeks, but they don't give it out long term, cos it's not good to keep taking steroids.

I've been sort of looking at other careers in the last few weeks, but for some reason it didn't really hit me til today when I was at the zoo doing course work. I had what felt like a panic attack, I had to leave the zoo and I couldn't stop crying on the bus home. I had no back up plan. This was what I was aiming for. This was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

I have no drive to do well in my course at the moment. It feels like I have nothing left to aim for...

I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for here, exactly. Just some reassurance, I suppose... Someone to tell me that it's still worth trying, still worth making the effort. Still worth living...

LegacyUser

hey there...

definatly finish your course! you never know where you might end up in a few years!there are plenty of other great careers you can do tha still involve animals (albeit not in direct contact with them!) you could do research into vetinary surgical or pharmacological techniques for example...

im in 3rd yr science myself and have absolutely no idea where i'l be in a few years...but such is the beauty of life...whats meant to be will be, que sera, sera etc...

keep it up and do your best...you never know, an allergy cure may be developed very soon!

Zzippy

Sorry to hear about your difficulties OP. I too wanted to study vet but didn't get the points, ended up doing zoology too and loved it. I know you had set your heart set on working with animals, but maybe you could reconsider possible careers - there are other paths that still involve using your zoology degree. I work in fisheries myself, lots of my classmates are in this field too. A good few more ended up in lab work. Wildlife rangers are mostly zoology graduates, they don't really handle animals much but do get to study them in the wild.
Any chance of doing a postgrad in your dept? You could talk to the lecturers about possible projects for next year, that could help you to diversify into a different field...
Keep the chin up, its early in the year and you have loads of time to consider alternatives. Best of luck!

mdebets

I don't know much about zoology so my ideas might be totally off.
But are you allergic to all animals?
You could try if you are not allergic to animals without hair or to sea animals.

You could also try if wearing a mask and or glasses around animals and see if that is any help.

Did you talk to your lecturers or student advisors about this and what other options would be open to you with your degree. You're surely not the first one to come accross this problem.

Grawns

Just wondering have you tried beconase as I found it excellent at controlling my allergies, asthma, hayfever etc., much better than zirtek which I took pretty constantly for a few years. Hope you find a solution.

Gyalist

This was the first item on my RSS feed from the Guardian this morning:

A father of four died after eating a single mouthful of curry as he sat down to watch The X Factor.

Angus Myers said: "That's got nuts in", before collapsing in front of his wife and 11-year-old son on Saturday night.

The 32-year-old mechanic suffered a suspected allergic reaction to a takeaway chicken tikka masala. His wife, Marie, a student nurse, tried to revive him but he was pronounced dead in hospital.

Marie Myers, 29, said her husband of six years had asked staff at the Indian takeaway restaurant whether the curry contained nuts and was told that it did not.

She described how they sat down in the living room of their Carville, County Durham home to watch The X-Factor results when tragedy struck.

LINK

That news item really hit home for me as my son also suffers from a severe nut allergy. He carries an EpiPen at all times.

Have you been seen by an allergy specialist? Most GPs aren't trained to treat allergies properly, in fact, there are relatively few doctors in Ireland who specialise in the treatment of allergies. The symptoms that you described as a panic attack are also quite similar to that of an anaphylactic reaction. If I were you I'd get it checked out as a matter of urgency, especially as you've said that you have a history of asthma.

If you need a recommendation for an allergy specialist feel free to PM me.


Disclaimer: Nothing that I've written above should be construed as medical advice.