Skin Allergy - wild journey

Greetings everyone. I am glad I found this forum to share my story, get some advice and connect with folks.

Would like to start by saying I am a 42 year old male who has has slight seasonal allergies. Nothing major, some spring days caused congestion or runny noses, but nothing out of the ordinary. Same with fall.

Let’s rewind to the spring/summer of 2019, while cutting the grass first time in the spring , I took my shirt off and out of no where , my chest and shoulders broke out into hives , yikes !!! I didn’t panic , took a Benadryl at the time and they went away instantly. To keep the story short, this happened every so often but not every time I cut the grass, which also was when I took my shirt off. Same thing happened at the beach or anywhere else. This was very strange to me as I grew up outdoors and boating and never have had this issue. I thought it was temporary , maybe stress, maybe detergent , etc. I never got the hives on my arms, legs , face , only on the upper chest and shoulders.

as we shifted into fall, occasionally I would start getting hives on my neck and on my forehead , more on this later. Again I would take a Benadryl and they would go away. This continued throughout fall and winter, getting frustrating as going out became embarrassing unless I had an antihistamine.

finally early 2020, I went to an allergist for testing. They obviously asked what change in my life recently. I stated nothing, my fiancé at the time, wife now , had a German Shepherd but we have lived together since 2016, and I didn’t experience any issues prior to spring / summer 2019. Other than that we moved into a condo in late 2018 but we repainted , re did the bathrooms, removed the carpet and even got the air vents/ducts cleaned. So we March forward with allergy testing … minor grass/tree allergies, dust/dander, and mold. No dog allergies. The allergist suggests shots and Zyrtec to control the symptoms. I start the process indefinitely.

Moving forward to today. I am at the point of immunotherapy where I am taking a shot monthly. But one thing has remained the same, still getting hives , especially on the neck and chest area almost daily when not taking a Zyrtec. Even the allergist at this point is questioning what can be causing this. We run all sorts of blood work, thyroid tests, Lyme dresses, etc and everything comes back fine. At this point the frustration is growing, I have never had these issues, what the heck is going on.

and then comes the break in the case… the washing machine starts making noise , something is going on. I pull out my tools , start taking things apart and then nearly vomited !!! Below are the pictures and video of the mold that had been growing in the washing machine. The washing machine has two of five rubber tabs that stabilized the tank broken causing the water to splash over the top into the holding tank. For how long , who knows , but judging by the amount of mold it was happening for a while. The machine was in the condo (built in 2016) , it worked and I never through twice about it. Every time my clothes were washed , mold spores and mold most likely penetrated them.

this happened about 3 weeks ago, we obviously replaced the washing machine. I have washed all my clothes in vinegar / baking soda mixes multiple times. Within the first few days the amount of hives were reduced, occasionally nothing.

My allergist and dermatologist told me it would take some time for my body and skin to heal from this due the amount of time this exposure has taken place. Most like 4-6 weeks if not longer.

I have also stopped taking the Zyrtec daily , which in itself has caused some crazy itchy skin at times. But I am doing everything I can not to return to dependency. So far it’s been 8 days, itchy scalp and chest, occasional rash especially when working out(small hives) that quickly disappear.

just wanted to share my tale. I will keep everyone posted. I bought all new t shirts and polos to wear the next couple weeks as suggested by my doctors to see skin reaction. I guess mold doesn’t always come completely out of clothes.

wish me luck.

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