Monday, May 28, 2012

Quick and Easy Steps to #ClearBeauty on a Budget

I sat there on the side walk in tears.  I wanted to tear my skin off with my nails and every tear just increased the stinging.  I have never before felt such intense stinging.  I couldn't run anymore because the sweat from jogging only added to my pain.  Walking back home the last mile was my only choice.

It was at that point I knew something was terribly, terribly wrong.  Over the weeks prior I had noticed an intense acne like rash on my face.  I'd had acne issues as a kid, but absolutely nothing like the flaming inferno I was feeling on my skin.

My first step was to head to the dermatologist.  I found one that came referred by several people, so I thought it would be safe to assume they'd be great. I couldn't have been more wrong!  The doctor looked at my skin from the other side of the room and quickly said "It's acne" and went about writing a prescription for meds.  I was infuriated and explained that I've never heard of people with acne being in such pain that they literally want to tear their skin off!   "I'm the doctor and it's acne."

I stormed out of the office in tears.  Then in more tears because that brought the stinging on.

I immediately went to another dermatologist.  At least this one looked at my skin.  But the same diagnosis came up.  I knew with every fiber of me that it was incorrect.  Why on earth would this start at age 30?  It just didn't make sense.

I had always suspected I had lots of allergies but have never been to a allergist, so I made an appointment to get tested.  I was miserable waiting to get in to see them as my skin stayed inflamed.

The day my appointment came I was nervous, but praying that the testing would begin to answer what was going on with me.  It absolutely did.  The doctor looked at me almost immediately after starting the skin testing and said oh boy, this is gonna be a definitive one.   He looked at me and said, "You eat a lot of oats?"

I said, "um, yeah...  lots, even oatmeal body wash".

"Yeah, don't do that..."

And the mystery was being solved.  I have horrible food allergies as well as environmental and pet allergies.  I break out in hives (that tend to look like acne), have eczema to go along with all the other million "normal" allergy reactions.  He put me on a daily Allegra pill and my skin has been light years better ever since.  I work to avoid as many of the things I am allergic to daily, but the Allegra helps me combat the unexpected ones that pop up or ones that I can't control (like the cat and dog we cherish so much).   My acute onset of symptoms were from the healthy eating kick I had started (and oats are in everything these days) so my body had just reached a sensitivity point that caused it to go crazy.

If you suspect you have any allergies of any kind, I highly recommend seeing an allergist.

Allegra is the most important part of my beauty regime!  I always notice when I go a day without it because I feel like my energy is draining out of me.  I'm so thankful to have those days of inferno skin and acne like skin gone!

I recently had the chance to head down to my local CVS (you can follow along with the Google+ story here) to purchase $25 of products to help me feel fabulous for Spring as a part of the #ClearBeauty campaign. 

I grabbed my Allegra (an absolute must!), a foot scrubber for making my feet feel fab, my favorite Moroccan Hair oil (love paying 1/3 what everyone else pays at the salons!  Shhh), a new lip gloss (oh a must for every girl), and a new vibrant red nail polish so I can be ready for flip flops and sandals! 

During the month of may, you can get a 30 count of Allegra for $17.99 (great deal, especially if you add in a coupon!) with your CVS card!  You can also go here for the Allergy Makeover Game for your chance to win a $50 CVS giftcard!
Want to know more about Allegra?  You can head here, on Twitter here, on Facebook here.

What tips do you have to go from Drab to Fab?  I'd love to hear them!

Note:  I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric but all opinions are completely my own.  I have been using Allegra for years and wouldn't go a day without it if I had a choice!

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