I hope this won't be considered off-topic, as I have no IgA, but
nearly-normal other levels. I think I share some of the problems of
leading a normal life, but I've taken a different approach, in that I
decided the most normal life for me would be the one with the least
opportunities for getting sick.
After I
was diagnosed at age 26, it still took me a couple of years to shake
all the "you're just a hypochondriac" baggage, but I cultivated
healthier eating and exercise habits, and I did many things to limit
my required interactions with other people. I left a sociable but
stuffy job for solitary fresh air work (woodworking and writing). I
made the difficult decision not to have kids (even my normally immune
friends had compared day care to Typhoid Mary). I'm very careful
about eating away from home--no church picnics, for instance: no church for that
matter. On that subject, anyone else here get whippings for coughing
in church?
I wash my hands more often than Lady MacBeth, and I always carry
instant antiseptic hand cleaner everywhere and use it right after
handshakes, unavoidable bathroom doorhandles (I prefer paper towels
over blowers followed by the hand cleaner).
Sonia mentioned travel, and I admire her courage. I took all the
usual precautions plus on a recent trip to Mexico. Bottled water, dust
mask on public transportation, peeled veggies, crackers/bread, and
canned fish diet. I outlasted my wife, but we both came
down sick eventually despite our precautions. To my amazement, she
caught the cold first, and presumably nursed it along to me. I got
the other, more common complaint most likely from a cup of coffee. We
bought a heater-coil and instant and made our own with bottled water
thereafter. It was really difficult to pass by all the food, but I
knew it spelled disaster for me to eat native. The TV and radio ads
promoting healthy hygiene were heartening, though. Singing, sudsy
vegetables brighten anyone's day.
One final note. I was diagnosed IgA deficiency in 1980 and ran headlong into AIDS
fears and prejudices many times. Heck, I was afraid myself, since my wife
had just returned from a Peace Corps stint in Africa and I had a lot
of contact with gay men, and not much information about AIDS
transmission was known then. Even after I knew for certain IgA
deficiency was not a precursor/form of AIDS, my stepmother wouldn't even
get out of the car at my house.
I'm interested in communicating with anyone who's living with an
immune deficiency disease.
John Trimble
nicole at seas.smu.edu
