Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Nunavut (Dec 04/00) - Heather Greenwood appears every inch the healthy young adult.
But the 26-year-old Yellowknife teacher has to keep a wary eye out for a host of lurking dangers in the form of natural things that provke an allergic reaction from Greenwood.
 Heather Greenwood |
Yellowknifelife: What are you allergic to?
Heather Greenwood: Grass, leaves, dust, feathers, mosquito bites, mould, seafood of all kinds, many medications -- I become allergic to medications the more contact I have with them. The funniest thing I'm allergic to is allergy medicine (laughing). It took a long time to figure out what I was reacting to.
Yellowknifelife: How long have you had allergies?
Greenwood: I've always had them.
Yellowknifelife: What types of reactions do you have?
Greenwood: It depends on how much contact I have, what time of year it is. I always get a really itchy rash, sometimes I get huge welts, my eyes can swell shut, I have a hard time breathing. My hands can swell up to the size of mitts. That happened the last time I had shellfish.
Yellowknifelife: Are you taking any sort of treatment?
Greenwood: No. I become allergic to too much too easily. Like I said, I became allergic to one of my allergy medicines. I do have an epi-pen (an easily administered shot of adrenaline) in case of a bad reaction.
Yellowknifelife: What happens if you get bitten by a mosquito?
Greenwood: The first couple aren't bad. Then the welts start getting bigger. After four or five bites they start getting bigger than a toonie. The more I get, the worse the reaction: my eyes will start to swell, my throat swells.
Yellowknifelife: What happens when the bugs are out? Do you just stay inside?
Greenwood: No. I don't let the allergies stop me. I carry mosquito repellent with me wherever I go and I just watch it.
I'd rather live my life than not live it. I think a positive attitude helps too. I've got a cousin who's really allergic to stuff. It brings her down and I saw that when it started bringing her down, her reactions got worse.
So I try to stay upbeat about it.
Yellowknifelife: Has a doctor given you any explanation about why you have these reactions?
Greenwood: Some people just naturally build up a resistance to it.
I don't know if I want this told, but when my mother was pregnant with me, before she knew she was pregnant, she was at a party and somebody put something in her drink and she got violently ill.
Yellowknifelife: Well, I don't know. Do you want that told?
Greenwood: It was what I was told. It could be a reason.
I know women who drink and do drugs when they are pregnant, their children suffer in a lot of ways. In my mother's case it was inadvertent. But it can cause a reaction. Allergies could be one of the effects.
Yellowknifelife: You mentioned you try not to let allergies get in the way but you have to be careful. How have they changed your day-to-day life?
Greenwood: I just have to be careful. For example, I went to a candle party last night and before I could have any of the snacks I had to check if any of them had seafood. That kind of thing. You just have to be more careful, more observant of things.
I'm allergic to grass and a lot of things outdoors, but I go anyway.
Yellowknifelife: What's the worst reaction you've had?
Greenwood: It was when I first discovered I was allergic to shell fish. It was a terrible reaction.
Of course, it happened at school, so my kids were flipping out at me, and I'm trying to reassure them, though I knew it was a big problem.
I couldn't see at the end of it. It was a good thing we had somebody on staff that knew what they were doing.
Yellowknifelife: That happened out of the blue?
Greenwood: Out of the blue -- I was allergic to seafood. At first I thought it was just a mild reaction. I didn't realize it because I'm allergic to many other things -- I figured it was something else. I don't always know what I'm reacting to.
Yellowknifelife: You seem to react pretty well to your bad reactions.
Greenwood: You have to. You can't live your life in a plastic bubble.
Yellowknifelife: What advice would you give other people, particularly younger people, coping with the same sort of difficulty?
Greenwood: Keep a positive attitude. That's really important. Don't let it bring you down.
Adapt as best you can. Limit your exposure. Don't do what I did and get a cat if you're allergic to cats. When you move to a new town you need some company. I couldn't have a dog, so I got myself a cat. It's funny, though, that's the one allergy that hasn't gotten worse.
Yellowknifelife: Is there no hope of being cured, of having shots or taking pills?
Greenwood: It depends on the level of your allergies. For me, no. I become allergic to medications too easily. Penicillin and other antibiotics, I'm deadly allergic to. Pills for me are not an option, but for some people they would be.
Yellowknifelife: Is the North an easier place for you to live or more difficult?
Greenwood: It depends on the season. I find it very dusty up here and I'm allergic to the dust. But there isn't too much grass. In most respects, my allergies aren't too bad up here.
Yellowknifelife: Any other tips you can give to both people who suffer from allergies and those who might have to help them cope?
Greenwood: If you do have something like an epi-pen, it's important that you tell people about it. Really, they're supposed to have your permission to use it. If they don't know about it when you're having a severe reaction, they're not going to know to use it.
Some people don't know that if you've given somebody an epi-pen shot, you still have to take them to the hospital. Even though it might help reduce the reaction, the effect of the adrenaline it will give you will only last about 15 or 20 minutes.
You can still go back to the terrible reaction after that. It gives you a window.