bye bye hives, hello hot flashes

in an odd twist of fate (take note, winecat!) i have to wean myself off of effexor because the allergist thinks that's the root of my skin issues.

it's not ringworm, which, as i said before, would be easy to treat, but would have made this weekends' baby shower a bit awkward, as i would have felt compelled to saran wrap myself.

after a looooong conversation with said allergist, as well as a "cold" test and a "scratch" test, he made me list all the pills i pop on a daily/weekly basis:

effexor, daily
fosamax, weekly
multi-vitamin, daily
lycopene, daily
cinnamon, 2 caps 2xday
turmeric, 2xday
ginger, 2 caps 2xday
astaxanthin, daily
chromium picolinate, 2 caps 2xday
chewable calcium + d, 2 tabs 2xday

everything except the effexor has been added post treatment, and the effexor is the only thing i was on during chemo and ever since.

so the doc's theory is that something about the effexor is making me more prone to hives from the cold, and that without the effexor in my system, my skin will settle down.

or maybe it's just that without the effexor i'll have so many damn hot flashes i'll never get hives.