Thursday, January 15, 2015

A New Year and a New Q+A

Hi everyone.  I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. 

As I mentioned in my quick note, I was planning on making a post, but I was sick with a bad cold all last week, so that really sucked.  This week I have been busy with the start of the semester.  Of course once I post that I probably won't have time to post, I find some time to post!

I did have a dream involving my allergies a few weeks ago, but I can't remember it now.  Something about my allergies being bad but people were all wanting to look closely at my nose.

I do have many questions now to answer.  Its only about 5 or 6 people, but one person had many questions.

Q: Have you ever considered moving to live somewhere where the winters are longer/the pollen season is shorter, or to somewhere with less allergenic plant life? Living by the sea is also supposed to be better for people with hayfever, I believe. I realize that moving isn't something that's easily done, but if it was a possibility for you, do you think it would be worth trying?
A:  I have thought about it and looked into it years ago, but it doesn't help.  It might help for a short time, but the allergies come back.  Also, moving from the northwest to the northeast didn't make any difference for me.

Q: How does your family do in terms of your allergies? Are they accommodating or do they inadvertently do things that set them off sometimes?
A:  They are good about it.  back when I first got allergies, they were better about it than I was.  Back then I never avoided anything because I hoped I would get over them or fight through them.  They are also pretty good now at ignoring my sneezing fits and other allergy stuff, which is good.

Q: At this time are you still seeing an allergist? If so how are they trying to treat or help you and is it working?
A: Yes.  Been seeing allergists since I got allergies.  They are always amazed at how bad my allergies are.  I am on a number of different things, but they don't help much.  We occasionally switch things to see if something will help more.

Q: So, how many sneezing fits did you have on the plane?
A:  I didn't keep count, but certainly more than one.  They are very annoying on the plane too.   All the pressure in my sinuses and ears makes the sneezes a bit painful at times.  It also makes it feel like I can't sneeze but will sneeze at the same time.

Q: You mentioned in some earlier posts that you can't blow your nose, and it got me to thinking (and this is merely a suggestion): I work at a preschool, and since babies/toddlers often can't blow their nose, we use a bulb syringe or some other suction device to literally suck the snot out. I was wondering, would suction work for you? 
A: There are versions of those thing adults can use and I have tried them.  I find them a bit of a hassle to use, and they don't seem to work that well.  I am not sure if its just me, or them in general.   

Q: You said that generally you cannot blow your nose because it's so congested. When there are days on which you can blow your nose, how often do you blow it? And are you sniffling then?
A: Days when I can blow my nose are pretty rare, but the days I can, my allergies aren't bad enough for me to need to blow constantly.  Maybe a few times a day, as I do find it kind of annoying to my nose even then.  If it didn't annoy my nose, I'd probably do it a lot more often.  I do try to sniffle a lot on those days, but I'd need to sniffle really hard to have much of an effect, and I don't want to be that loud so I will sniffle softly for a while, it won't do much, so I'll give up.

Q: When your allergies are bad, how much tissues do you spend a day for wiping your nose? You wrote that sometimes you carry a whole box with you, how many tissues are contained in such a box?
A:  I never kept track, but I can easily go through a big box on those days.  A bit over 200 in the big boxes that I get.

Q: You wrote that you sang in a choir before your allergies got worse. Do or did you play a musical instrument? Is it / would it be possible for you to play a musical instrument in a useful way concerning all your allergy hassles, especially the constant szeening and nose wiping?
A: I never had much of an interest in musical instruments.  I haven't tried any other.  If I did try, I'd think something that I didn't have to blow into would be easier for me to play.

Q: You wrote that sometimes you don't drive because of your allergies. What about riding a bicycle? Are there days on which biking is impossible for you too?
A:  Its the same kind of thing, although in some ways biking is better cause its easier to start and stop and its at much lower speeds.  It can be worse though in that I am more directly exposed to pollen and stuff on a bike.

Q: Do you do some sports, i.e. jogging or running? If yes, how easy or difficult is this concerning your allergies?
A: The ones I like the best are soccer, volleyball, and swimming.  I had to give up competing in them because my allergies got too bad, especially with soccer.  I still play volleyball for fun when I can, and I swim a bit, but at pools the chlorine bothers me, and when I am underwater I feel the pressure in my head.

Sorry if the answers are kinda short.  I guess with so many I might have made my answers quick.  Let me know if you want expansion or clarification on anything.
I do have a request: If you make replies to my blog posts, can you log-in (if you have an account)?  Almost everything is from 'anonymous', so I have no idea how many people are communicating.

As usual, please make comments and feel free to contact me and say hi.  I always need ideas!

3 comments:

  1. Hi Kate, thanks for your answers to all these questions, once again it was very interesting to read. Pity that you can't remember your dream, but dreams are often difficult to remember, I forget many of them too.

    Anyway, I wish you a nice weekend and much success for your work in the new semester. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for keeping up this blog! Very interesting.
    What do you do or say when you are meeting people for the first time or over the phone and your allergies act up?
    What do you do for work and have your allergies affected you there, or how people respond to you?
    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hiya Kate! Sorry to hear that you were ill recently. Colds are the worst :-P
    Do you seem to get them frequently? I know that for some allergy sufferers, they find they seem to be more susceptible to colds too.

    I know you've talked the past a bit about school and how sometimes you have to miss class because of your allergies. But when you do stay in the classroom and have to suffer through an attack, how do the professors and other students react? Are they generally understanding? Do they just ignore it or make comments? I know you've also said you try to escape to the restroom when it gets bad, but that can't be every time you have a bit of sneezing fit??

    ReplyDelete