End of April Q+A

This spring has really been miserable for me so far.  My allergies have been getting really bad.  Tried a new med, but its not making anything better.  I have 2 questions to answer.


Q: How do you deal with nose irritation from all the moisture of a runny nose? I imagine after a while your nose must become very raw and painful. Do you use things like Vaseline or those fancy aloe tissues?
A: My nose gets really red, like right now.  There isn't too much I can do about it, so it does get pretty irritated.  I have tried creams and such but it all gets wiped off too quickly to do anything.  I can only use plain tissues.  I have found I am allergic to something in the lotion tissues and extra-soft tissues.

 

Q: You've said before that on a bad allergy day you can easily use an entire box of tissues. What do you do when you're out? Do you carry multiple pocket packs in your purse? Keep a spare box in the car?
A: I try to never run out.  I keep tissues everywhere, like in different rooms, in my pockets and bag, and car, etc.  For the times I do run out, I have used napkins, paper towels, etc. and if I get really desperate I have used paper, a towel, a shirt.  My nose can get snotty really easily and I hate for anyone to see my nose so snotty.

I am really totally out of ideas on what to write about, so please keep questions coming.  Feel free to talk to me directly too if you want.  yahoo messenger or e-mailing my hotmail is best.

Never buy cheap Q-tips!

I am sorry I haven't posted in a while, so I will even have 2 posts today!  This one is the explanation of why I haven't posted in a while

Since I am usually unable to blow my nose, I try to clean out the front of my nostrils a bit so I am not constantly dripping all over the place.  If I stick a tissue up there it makes me sneeze like crazy so I use a q-tip just in the front area of my nostrils to gently get as much as I can.  Now this last time we got q-tips we were trying to be cheap so we bought dollar-store q-tips instead of the real ones.  When I used one, the cotton tip slipped off and I couldn't get it out of my nostril.  Allison also tried but it got more stuck, and of course it was irritating my nose like crazy and got kinda messy.  We ended up having to go to the hospital to get it taken out, and when they were taking it out they told me some small blood vessels were broken and they wanted to fix them (and that explained all the nosebleeds I had been getting recently).

The problem was they wanted to do some tests, and then that ended up creating days of problems.  With all the problems doing the tests and the weird results that show up for me, they all wanted everyone to come and see me, doctors, residents, med students, etc.  I always hate that, and there was always new people coming in, asking me all the same stuff as the others, looking in my nose, seeing me all allergic, etc.  Most of them weren't very nice either.  They also didn't believe me when I told them things and then after all kinds of tests and stuff, they tell me what I told them before like it was their discovery!  And of course people wanted to do surgeries, and one doctor swore up and down I had a huge infection.  After a few days, he finally realized I didn't have one.

From all that, at least they fixed the blood vessels.  I haven't had any more nosebleeds at least.  I also found out I have more things I am allergic to than I thought:  wood pulp, saw dust, some things used in making some fabrics and rugs, and all kinds of food.  The food thing is weird.  I have known for a long time I am allergic to dairy because it gives me asthma attacks.  They also told me I am allergic to most fruits, nuts, wheat, some veggies and I think a few kinds of beans.  That is weird to me because I have never noticed any allergic reactions to any foods other than dairy.  One research doctor that saw me asked me to be in 2 studies, one testing out a drug, but I declined that because I usually don't have good reactions, and I don't want to be the first to test one.  The other has to do with testing nasal secretions that I might do, since it pays a bit of $.


Ok, well that is my crazy adventure from last week...ugh!  My nose is still sore (and maybe swollen a bit) from all the exams!  I am going to make a regular post soon today to make up for the missing time and because I might be busy trying to catch up on things this week.

What my allergy attacks are like

I have been asked a number of times over the years what happens as a bad allergy attack comes on.  I never really was able to give a good answer in the moment like that because I am not being too self-reflecting when an allergy attack comes on, and I never thought much about it except in the moment someone asks me that question and I have nothing ready to say.  I figured here I can think about it and write it all out.

Often times I am experiencing allergies to one extent or another anyway but what I'm writing about is when I end up being around something that gives me bad allergy attacks, and my allergies haven't already bothering me that much. 

First I start to get this tingle/tickle deep in my nose, then I start to get a tickle in the back of my throat and my nose starts getting stuffy.  the tingling in my nose starts to spread and the stuffiness gets worse.  My nose and my eyes start to feel not itchy exactly but like they are going to be itchy.  The tingling/tickling and the stuffiness in my nose keeps getting worse and eventually I have my first sneezing fit.  Once I have my first sneezing fit, its like the floodgates open.  My nose starts to get runny, my sinuses start to get stuffy, my nose starts to get itchy, my eyes start to water and I have more sneezing fits.  If it keeps going, it all gets more and more and my eyes will also get itchy and red and my ears might start to clog up.

Ok, I think that's a pretty good explanation of what happens.  Let me know if that makes sense.

Weird Tangent:  I have recently read the The Hunger Games books, and although they were really cool, I just want to mention one thing that struck me as slightly weird.  In the 2nd book, at one point Katniss mentioned how she was crying and her nose was running and someone ripped some moss hanging off a tree to give her to blow her nose.  I read that and thought 'ewww!'  Can moss actually be used like that???

As usual, any questions for me to answer or if you want to chat, just message me.

Q+A with my ENT

I have been seeing doctors for a long time.  I used to have a regular doc, an ENT, and allergist, a pulmonologist, and a gyn.  I never saw the regular doc much.  The allergist and ENT I would see often.  I also used to see the pulmonologist often for asthma, until we discovered my dairy allergy.  After I stopped dairy my asthma got much better and now as long as I avoid dairy my asthma isn't a problem.  Now I just get kinda wheezy when my allergies are bad.  The gyn I used to see more but nothing helped my cycle without messing me up in other ways so now I only see a gyn rarely for exams.

Now here in NY I am only seeing an ENT and an allergist.  I tend not to ask many questions when I have appointments.  I usually just want them to be over and I am a bit too shy and embarrassed to ask much.  Also, most visits they have students or other docs in to look at me, poke and prod, etc since I seem to be such an interesting case they want to share and that also makes me not be in the mood to ask questions.  This week however at my ENT visit this week, there was no other docs or students and I felt really at ease for some reason so i asked him questions and so I wanted to share a bit of how that went in a Q+A type format.

Q: Why is it that sometimes my allergies affect my nose more and other times my sinuses and how come unless my allergies are bad, my eyes aren't as bothered and same with my ears? 

A: Your nose and sinuses are affected more because for you, once an allergen gets in there it has a hard time getting out, partly because of your excessive congestion and sneezes that aren't very forceful.  Sometimes your sinuses are more sensitive/irritated and sometimes your nose is, and that is what leads to you feeling your allergies more in your nose or your sinuses at any given time.  For your eyes, its easier for the allergens to leave, so its often not as much of a problem.  Eyes and ears tend to get more affected when allergies are worse because nose, sinuses, ears, eyes, etc are all pretty much connected so when the mucus membranes in one area get very irritated, it tends to spread.  One reason why your eyes can tear up so much is that when your allergies are bad the tube leading from your eyes to your nose swells shut and the tears have no where to go.

Q: Why do my allergies last longer than other peoples'? 

A: A few reasons.  One is that your body creates an allergic response with histamines and other chemicals than other patients I have seen, to even a small amount of allergen, and that's also why your reactions are so intense.  Another reason is again the extreme congestion and non-forceful sneezes keeping the allergens in place longer.  Also, the simple physical irritation of the mucus membranes makes them more sensitive to repeated allergens and your gets irritated very easily.

Q: How come I don't cough much and my throat doesn't bother me that much? 

A: Usually, a runny nose tends to run forward out the nose in kids and out the back of the nose in adults.  That's why you see more snotty noses in kids, and in adults its more of a post nasal drip, which also irritates the throat more and causes coughing.  Besides the insides of your nasal passages being smaller in diameter than they should be, they are also closer in shape to a child's structure so most of the mucus comes out the front and not the back.

Q: How can my nose sometimes make so much snot?

A: The main way all mucus membranes respond to an allergen is by swelling, leaking fluid, and irritation (and yea I (Kate) understand that...I have had allergic reaction on other mucus membranes too, which is a hassle!).  A major reason you nose seems to make so much snot is just the fact that most of it comes out the front of your nose instead of going down the back.  When I look in your nose, it is hard to make out much because everything inside is so swollen and when mucus membranes are swollen up against each other it tends to cause more mucus production.  Your nose does build up some mucus, which is why when you bend forward it comes out faster.  The front areas of your nostrils are often filled up with mucus, which is why we need to clean out that area before we can look into your nose.  Your mucus membranes are often creating mucus at a very fast rate. 

I also asked him why the front areas of my nostrils were always filled up with mucus and he told me since I am not able to blow my nose and I don't squeeze or pinch my nose (cause that would send me into sneezing fits), the mucus that builds up there tends to stay there more than it otherwise would.

Those were my main questions.  I think I might have asked one or 2 more.  If I remember then I will post them.