Photo credit, Michael Sladek
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When Carrie Schmitt, with a life-threatening heat allergy, couldn’t get out of bed, she had to quit her job and move elsewhere in search of a cooler climate. It also led to her becoming an artist, as Emily Oomen explains.
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One hot day in 2003, Carrie was walking with her young son in Ohio. As they explored the area, she started to feel unwell and her legs began to swell.
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As they had almost tripled in size, she called emergency services and was rushed to hospital with anaphylactic shock.
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The doctors treating her were puzzled.
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They initially thought the reaction was due to a bee sting or the pollen, but Carrie was tested for both and was not allergic to either.
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Once recovered, she was released from the hospital, but over the following months she continued to have reactions.
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After numerous tests and consultations, the doctors finally made a diagnosis: cholinergic and solar urticaria – Carrie was allergic to heat and sun.
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Carrie, a sun lover, was devastated. “It was like the death of my old life,” she says.
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What is urticaria?
- Urticaria is an itchy rash that appears on the skin.
- It can be caused by the immune system mistakenly attacking healthy tissue.
- One in seven people with chronic urticaria experiences depression or anxiety as a result of their condition.
- In many cases, no obvious cause can be found.Source : NHS (National health service)
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Carrie’s allergy had become so severe that she could no longer climb the stairs or make quick movements like sweeping the floors.
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If his body felt heat, he was in anaphylactic shock.
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Mayo Clinic allergy specialist Dr Mansi Kanuga says there are a “variety of theories” on the cause of cholinergic and solar urticaria, but that “the specific underlying mechanism is not well understood “.
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According to her, “these disorders are probably the result of increased sensitivity of allergic cells (called mast cells) to environmental conditions or stimuli.”
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Mast cells are part of the immune system and help fight infections. When they detect an allergen, they release histamine.
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Carrie’s specialist believes her allergies may be linked to the birth of her son.
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Carrie lost a lot of weight by breastfeeding him and, unlike her other two babies, her son had a ravenous appetite and she fed him almost constantly. Her body became depleted of nutrients to the point that her hair began to fall out.
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Doctors believe his body felt attacked and mistook the heat for the enemy.
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As Carrie tried to figure out the diagnosis, she grew increasingly frustrated.
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The only safe place for her was her bed, which she couldn’t leave for months.
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She says she was lucky, her husband at the time had a good job and health insurance and could care for the children, but she found it difficult to come to terms with her condition.
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She often thought, “I can’t stay here for 50 years. This can’t be my life.
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One day a voice popped up in my head and said, “Now that your life is over, why don’t you do what you want and paint?”
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Carrie always loved art, but gave up as a teenager, urged by others to pursue a more secure career.
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Photo credit, Carrie Schmitt
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Prior to her heat allergy, she had worked as a medical writer at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where she wrote for medical journals, textbooks and the hospital website.
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But when she painted, “it took me to another world where my physical condition didn’t matter,” she says.
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“I couldn’t wait to wake up in the morning to paint. That’s all I wanted to do. I developed a very beautiful relationship with creativity because it saved me.”
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Carrie was able to sit up in bed, balance her sketchbook in her lap, and surround herself with all the materials she needed.
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She describes herself as an “intuitive painter”, letting painting emerge without a plan, which she says creates something “bigger than I could imagine”.
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Her paintings are colorful and feature many flowers, recalling the history of her family, who was a gardener.
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While starting to paint, Carrie also tried different treatments.
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Cholinergic and solar urticaria are often managed by minimizing exposure to triggers such as hot baths and direct sunlight. Antihistamines can also be helpful in reducing itching and hives.
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But Carrie found that her allergy was not responding well to traditional treatments and began to explore more holistic approaches, including advanced allergy therapy (AAT).
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AAT involves placing pads on the body and exerting light pressure. This method is similar to acupuncture, but without needles.
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Dr Kanuga clarified that, at this time, AAT is not a studied approach for the management of allergies.
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Carrie was therefore skeptical, but said that after the treatments the improvement was “so immediate it shocked me”.
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She was able to get out of bed and walk, she could drive again and go up and down stairs. She had a rash from time to time, but the reactions had subsided.
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Doctors suggested another, more radical treatment that could benefit him, but that would change his life: leave Ohio, where temperatures can reach 38 ° C, for a more temperate climate.
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Carrie decided to take the plunge and moved to Seattle, in the rain, where temperatures typically hover around 21 ° C (70 ° F).
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Thanks to this cooler environment, Carrie began to see her condition gradually improve until she was able to do yoga and paint beyond her bedroom.
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Photo credit, Michael Sladek
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She started looking for a studio, but after running into sky-high Seattle real estate prices, she bought a school bus, painted it pink, called it Rosie, and turned it into space. artistic.
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“It turned out to be one of the best blessings of my life,” says Carrie.
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While Carrie has more freedom in Seattle, she still has to be careful of the increasingly hot summers and wildfires in Washington state. When the summers are too hot, she must find refuge in air-conditioned hotel rooms or cabins on cooler islands.
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She admits that managing her condition is sometimes difficult. She cannot attend her children’s sports games when it is too hot, and she relies on her family to help her with groceries and household chores that require too much movement.
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But there are also some positives. This led her to write her memoir – The Story of Every Flower [L’Histoire de chaque Fleur] – about her artistic work and she teaches art classes online in the hopes of inspiring others to embrace creativity in difficult times.
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“I feel like she can be your ally, your friend or your beloved,” she said. “She is always there.”
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