Heavy HGTV star Galey Alix shares details of her emergency room visit
After a harrowing weekend that included a trip to the emergency room, Galey Alix, star of HGTV‘s “Home in a Heartbeat,” is opening up about her ongoing battle with severe anxiety.
On May 19, 2024, the Florida-based designer posted an Instagram Story featuring a photo of her sitting in a waiting room with her eyes closed and wrote over the photo, “In honor of mental health awareness month…let’s talk about why I’m sitting at the ER.”
Alix, who will be seen next in HGTV’s upcoming “100 Day Hotel Challenge,” revealed in her subsequent Stories that she landed in the ER after high anxiety, brought on by several “stressful” phone calls, triggered a potentially dangerous episode of hives that were not responding to at-home treatments.
Galey Alix Says She Deals With Anxiety ‘Constantly’
In her series of Instagram Stories on May 19, 30-year-old Alix wrote, “I feel things REALLY deeply. Ever since I was little, I’ve always felt like I absorb everything around me (even if it’s happening to someone else…I absorb what they are feeling).”
“I had a number of really difficult/stressful phone calls (4 actually) on Friday,” she continued, showing a photo of a rash on her skin. “I woke up the next day covered in hives. My body physically INTERNALIZED the anxiety I was having from these calls.”
Alix went on to say that she took Benadryl and a steroid cream, but after two days the hives were “covering most of the lower half of my body & it could spread to my throat so I need a steroid shot ASAP.”
In a third Instagram story featuring a photo of one of her pups, Alix wrote, “I battle this issue constantly. Do I set up boundaries and not allow myself to get so close to things because they can emotional wreck me? Or do I lean into the fact that ‘feeling things deeply’ is a super power and allows me to pour my heart into everything and everyone around me on a massive level…but it also means I can get really hurt. And hived.”
After being seen in the ER, Alix posted a photo in her Instagram stories of a week’s worth of Prednisone steroid pills. She shared that she’d also received a steroid shot and, along with the steroid pills, the doctor had prescribed 36 hours of total rest and relaxation, including putting her phone on airplane mode, avoiding emails, snuggling with her dogs, watching one of her favorite shows (“Grey’s Anatomy”), and indulging in favorite snacks like Tostito’s Lime chips and red Jujyfruits.
According to Mayo Clinic, hives are typically caused by external triggers like “foods, medications, pollen, pet dander, latex and insect stings,” but studies show stress can also be a trigger. In most cases, per Mayo, hives “appear quickly and go away within 24 hours,” especially with the types of at-home treatment Alix said she tried, like taking an antihistamine and using a hydrocortisone cream. In severe cases, according to Mayo Clinic, an emergency injection of epinephrine, a type of adrenaline, is needed.
Inspired by Her Own Challenges, Galey Alix Has Become a Vocal Advocate for Prioritizing Mental Health
HGTVGaley Alix of HGTV’s “Home in a Heartbeat with Galey Alix”
Alix has been open about her own challenges with her mental health, including seeking treatment for disordered eating. When she admitted to her fiancée in 2020 that she’d been quietly struggling with anorexia and bulimia, she told People, he broke off their engagement, upset that she kept it a secret.
“I was trying to be the perfect fiancée, the perfect homemaker, the perfect designer, and it was too much,” she told the “Today Show.” “It kind of culminated in a really, really, really severe eating disorder.”
“It was going to kill me if I didn’t do something about it,” she added.
When Alix met her current beau, “Bachelorette” alum Dale Moss, she decided to be open with him from the get-go, she told “Today.”
“I literally opened up our dinner (by) explaining (that) I went through this difficult breakup, my fiancé left me, I had an eating disorder,” she said. “And his response wasn’t to get up and walk away. Instead, he opened up. It’s created the healthiest, happiest bond that I’ve ever had with another person.”
On one of her May 19 Instagram Stories, Alix encouraged others struggling with mental health challenges to be vigilant about taking care of themselves.
She wrote, “Your personal Mental Health is a moving target & the best advice I can give is to continually look inward & acknowledge areas you can improve on. I constantly do this & it helps me to be more conscious of how I move in the world & how things impact me mentally…so I’m better prepared to handle it next time. 💗”