>From my earliest days I have had allergies. I can never remember a time when going outside was pleasant. When I didn’t come back inside without a stuffy nose and itchy eyes. People would talk about how they couldn’t wait for spring, for the smell of freshly mowed grass, and I would shudder, thinking of the sneezing, the running eyes, the sinus pain, how I hated spring. My symptoms were aggravated by my mother’s insistence on keeping the windows open, “I’m trying to keep the electric bill down by not running the air conditioner.” “I’m trying to breathe!” We lived in Florida, where there is pollen year round, further proof that my mother didn’t love me. That and the fact she never took me to the doctor to get relief from the allergies, just gave me OTC medicine that shouldn’t have been given to me, per the label cautions.
All this non-treatment of allergies led to other problems, such as lose of my sense of smell and chronic sinusitis. When I became an adult, I decided enough was enough and went to the doctor. After determining long-term use of antihistamines was not viable (I gained weight and became slightly psychotic, not a good thing when your second job is child care provider) I started on allergy shots. They worked and I got them for years.
Unfortunately, I am an allergy factory, while the shots were taking care of the allergies I had, my body was making new ones. I came to the realization that I would be getting allergy shots for the rest of my life. So I stopped, determining to continue with eye drops and nasal sprays to control my symptoms. And they were working.
Until yesterday. Em and I went to the city, we came home. I was fine. The sneezing started, and wouldn’t stop, I used my nasal spray, I sat on my bed with the fan on, I closed my window and waited. I lay on my bed and was able to go to sleep. Then this morning when I woke up and left my room, I started sneezing again, over and over. Then the chills started. Across my shoulders and down my back. Down my legs till I thought I couldn’t stand another second. I was miserable. I was supposed to do volunteer work after church, I couldn’t I had to go home with a stop at the drug store for some antihistamines. And food, I have to eat when this happens. I don’t know why I think ingesting a lot of calories will help and I sincerely doubt it does, but I do it anyway.
The only time I got relief was lying down on my bed, unfortunately Em kept sending me texts asking for the score of the Yankee game. So I had to go in the other room and watch, then the sneezing would start. So they won, but I am still miserable. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
Belleza
just a (transplanted) city girl 