L.J.

I don't know how much help this will be but...

My allergy is no where near as bad as what your discribing. It rears its head when i use normal bandaids or if i wear gloves made of latex. From the bandaids, I get hives that last for about a week, and the gloves cause my hands to itch and turn red.

I have no issues with elastic in the underware or any other garment. You can, however, find undies without the elastic in them, as well as other clothes.

For bandaids i use the Nexcare brand. They mainly use latex free items. For the gloves, i have found a pair of lined rubber gloves, however, i am unsure of them as of right now.

From my understanding, different rubbers are used for different things. I have no issues with say, the rubber on a basketball.

Yes, I am having to be pretty careful with the elastic. Any rubber I am leery of...(You are right--there are 3 different "rubbers" that we can react to. Most common--elastic, rubber gloves, goggles & of course, my fav: the cell phone cover!

I have some very heavy duty rubber gloves that are lined too--then, I wear my little white 100% cotton gloves inside of them with the tops of the gloves over long sleeves. In an pinch, this has worked, and it has not caused me problems! I am guessing if you have similar high quality gloves with a lining--that you might be ok!!! (I hope) Thank you for the input--I will be looking for 100% cotton everythings!

I Sooooooo Appreciate you all! So, since we are confessing...want to know why my info and pix is blank????
Yep, I am betting you all guessed it. I have not figured out how to get the info onto my LJ site!

I recently went to the dentist for a regular check up. My Dental Hygienist asked about my diet--because my gums were not as healthy as 6 months ago. When I explained the gluten-free diet--she said that the protein that we tend to eat more of (i.e. meats) actually causes the "germs" in the deeper pockets of the gums to grow faster...the teeth themselves are affected by sugar--but the gums (and the yucky germs) thrive on the proteins that we tend to eat more of! Just a thought to the dental issue...

Her advice: Floss more because the meat gets in the pockets of the gums So I am trying to floss, floss, floss!!!

I too have rashes--have for awhile. It definitely got better when I went gluten-free, peanut free, and although I don't do the "low iodine diet"--I do not add *any* salt (or spices) to food...I only use pepper. At first, I thought things tasted bland--now I like it. When I do eat something that hubby fixed with salt--my rash gets more inflammed.

Another thought--this may or may not apply to anyone but--we can have other allergies that give us crusty, itchy, scaley, bleeding and oozy rashes. I found out my cell phone cover (rubber) was affecting my ears/neck/. I changed shampoo, conditioner, hair dye, and laundry soap a long time ago--but still had the rash on my neck, ears, forehead. It appears that contact allergies "spread" and go "further" than just where the contact of it is.

Now, I am working on getting rid of the rubber in my house (easier said than done)--cell phone case is gone--and in almost two days my ears are better since getting rid of it Shhhhh
But, I still have a rash on my forehead--Guess where I found rubber elastic??? Last night--on my shower cap that is right where the rash on my forehead and scalp is (I also lost hair there too) Sooooooooooooo, I am skipping on the leeches and buying a new hairbrush (new one with no rubber on it) and looking for something to cover my hair at pm for when I wash my face... Today!!!

Thanks RiceGuy for the links--It is true, I cannot eat avocados, pears, bananas, apples, chestnuts, tomato--and several others that seem to be intertwined with each other! Rather confusing for me to grasp--the one thing that I do get is that I was just determined to be allergic to rubber--also intertwined with latex on some level or another So Vitamin C is a problem for me to get. I do have one that was a gift that is 100% Ascorbic Acid (i.e. Vit. C)--with no citrus (also allergic to) nor anything else except "pure Ascorbic Acid". Manmade--but the "natural foods of Vit. C" are "killers" for me! I react to most of the natural fruits that are high in it....(I am trying out Blackberry's--slowly but surely) Anywho, I am hoping that the Vitamin C works for me since my body won't absorb the nutrients I need without some Vit. C!!!

Did not mean to get off topic here--but wanted to add that info....