I am in WA for the holidays. I had to fly, and that usually is very bad on my sinuses. I have a cold too, so it made it even worse this time. I am also PMSing, so that makes everything just feel worse. I took stuff to make me sleep but I kept waking up in so much pain - like my sinuses were going to make my head explode. I'm still in so much pain its making me cry. I don't know how well I will be able to sleep tonight, and I will probably need all of tomorrow to recover enough to feel normal-ish. I wish I could just drill holes into my sinuses.
Here is a quick question, as I am trying to distract myself from how bad I feel.
Q: Do you track pollen counts? If so do you find consistency in when the number is high you are suffering more? And at what number do you know you are going to have a tough day?
A: I kind of do. I used to pay more attention to it. Higher numbers does mean I will suffer more. Even really low numbers will affect me though. That combined with the fact that I usually can't change what I am doing on a particular day anyway, made me realize paying close attention to pollen counts doesn't help me much.
Sorry this post is so short. Please contact/message me on skype/e-mail if you want - I might be in the need of company if I am not feeling like I am dying so much that I can't get online.
Showing posts with label sinuses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sinuses. Show all posts
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Monday, December 22, 2014
Flying, new sneezing, and Q+A
(sorry! I thought I posted this on Sat, but I discovered tonight that I forgot!)
Yay, I am posting for the second time this month!
Monday early morning I am flying back to Seattle for a week to be with my family. The sucky part is that flying really messes with me cause of my congestion. I get horrible sinus pain and pressure. It takes about a day to recover from it. It hurts as much as having a migraine, and makes me feel nauseous too. It also makes my ears hurt a lot, and for a day or two I feel off-balance and like my ears are stuffed with cotton.
Yesterday I discovered a new way of sneezing, lol. I felt a sneeze fit coming and I was trying to hold back sneezing til I could get to my tissues, and I suddenly started sneezing these really quiet high-pitched sneezes. I found I could make them happen when I need to sneeze. The good thing is that they are quiet and they are not snotty at all. The bad thing is that they just keep going with no stop to them until I let myself sneeze regularly
And I already have two questions, so here we go:
Q: What would you say your worst allergy symptom is...the congestion, sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes etc..?
A: It would have to be the sneezing. Its just crazy how much sneezing I do, its what draws the most attention to my allergies and is the most disruptive, both to me trying to do stuff, and to other people. It can be really tiring too.
Q: I am sure you have had many terrible allergy days but can you pin point one that was worse than all the rest, and can you tell us about it?
A: I can't think of one that was the worst vs. another very bad allergy day. I'd probably need a bit of prodding and real-time questioning to get that exact, but I can talk a bit about a bad day in general. When I have a very bad allergy day, I wake up with a long sneezing fit and my eyes are all goopy. I am just really out of it all day. Its hard to focus, and I have so many long sneezing fits I am wiped out. My congestion is really bad and I feel the pressure in my nose and all in my sinuses. My ears can also feel clogged, and my nose is constantly runny and snotty. My nose and eyes are all itchy and red, and my eyes r swollen and watery, and I just don't have the energy or ability to do really do anything. Sorry if I am kinda vague, let me know if you have any follow-up questions.
Be sure to comment and ask questions and feel free to message or e-mail me! Enjoy the holidays!
Yay, I am posting for the second time this month!
Monday early morning I am flying back to Seattle for a week to be with my family. The sucky part is that flying really messes with me cause of my congestion. I get horrible sinus pain and pressure. It takes about a day to recover from it. It hurts as much as having a migraine, and makes me feel nauseous too. It also makes my ears hurt a lot, and for a day or two I feel off-balance and like my ears are stuffed with cotton.
Yesterday I discovered a new way of sneezing, lol. I felt a sneeze fit coming and I was trying to hold back sneezing til I could get to my tissues, and I suddenly started sneezing these really quiet high-pitched sneezes. I found I could make them happen when I need to sneeze. The good thing is that they are quiet and they are not snotty at all. The bad thing is that they just keep going with no stop to them until I let myself sneeze regularly
And I already have two questions, so here we go:
Q: What would you say your worst allergy symptom is...the congestion, sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes etc..?
A: It would have to be the sneezing. Its just crazy how much sneezing I do, its what draws the most attention to my allergies and is the most disruptive, both to me trying to do stuff, and to other people. It can be really tiring too.
Q: I am sure you have had many terrible allergy days but can you pin point one that was worse than all the rest, and can you tell us about it?
A: I can't think of one that was the worst vs. another very bad allergy day. I'd probably need a bit of prodding and real-time questioning to get that exact, but I can talk a bit about a bad day in general. When I have a very bad allergy day, I wake up with a long sneezing fit and my eyes are all goopy. I am just really out of it all day. Its hard to focus, and I have so many long sneezing fits I am wiped out. My congestion is really bad and I feel the pressure in my nose and all in my sinuses. My ears can also feel clogged, and my nose is constantly runny and snotty. My nose and eyes are all itchy and red, and my eyes r swollen and watery, and I just don't have the energy or ability to do really do anything. Sorry if I am kinda vague, let me know if you have any follow-up questions.
Be sure to comment and ask questions and feel free to message or e-mail me! Enjoy the holidays!
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Sinus ramblings and Q+A
I keep wanting to post weekly, and it ends up being monthly. Sorry!
One thing I was recently thinking about is my sinuses. Along with lots of nasal congestion, I have sinus congestion. I usually feel it as varying degrees of pressure, much like the nasal congestion. It can become sinus pain when my allergies are bad and it can make me feel dizzy, or cause pain on bending over, etc. when my allergies are bad too. For some reason however I am lucky in that I rarely get sinus infections.
I have tried many things to help it, and most don't work. Doing some kind of steam type thing, like long hot shower or in a steamy bathroom, etc. is about the only thing that helps, and it doesn't last very long after I am out. I have tried a neti pot a number of times, but the water will never come out of my nostril. The most I have ever gotten was a few drops, and the neti pot usually sends me into sneezing fits. Another thing I kept trying over and over again was getting sinus massage. Many people always told me how helpful they are and I had tried many different people who do it, but every time it either made my sinuses worse or sent me into allergy attacks. Its annoying that I have totally different reactions to things than most people.
That's just something I was thinking about so I figured I would share. I have a couple of questions to answer too:
Q:Have your allergies gotten worse with age?
A: Yes, to a point. for about the first 5 years or so of having allergies (about 13 yrs old to 17/18 yrs old) they got progressively worse. After that, they don't seem to have gotten much worse, although I sometimes do discover something else I didn't know I was allergic too. That I think is more about not encountering it before or not knowing I was encountering it before more than developing a new allergy.
Q:If you could get rid of just one allergy what would it be?
A: That's a hard choice between cats and ragweed. They are 2 of my worst allergies. I love cats and would love to be able to have one or 2 again. But at the same time, its often possible to avoid cats. Ragweed however can't be avoided and it cause me a whole lot of suffering. If I was to be practical, I would probably have to say ragweed, although if I could say all pollens that would be a better choice!
Thank you again for the questions. Please keep them coming so I can make more posts! And as usual, feel free to e-mail me or IM me on yahoo if you want to chat.
One thing I was recently thinking about is my sinuses. Along with lots of nasal congestion, I have sinus congestion. I usually feel it as varying degrees of pressure, much like the nasal congestion. It can become sinus pain when my allergies are bad and it can make me feel dizzy, or cause pain on bending over, etc. when my allergies are bad too. For some reason however I am lucky in that I rarely get sinus infections.
I have tried many things to help it, and most don't work. Doing some kind of steam type thing, like long hot shower or in a steamy bathroom, etc. is about the only thing that helps, and it doesn't last very long after I am out. I have tried a neti pot a number of times, but the water will never come out of my nostril. The most I have ever gotten was a few drops, and the neti pot usually sends me into sneezing fits. Another thing I kept trying over and over again was getting sinus massage. Many people always told me how helpful they are and I had tried many different people who do it, but every time it either made my sinuses worse or sent me into allergy attacks. Its annoying that I have totally different reactions to things than most people.
That's just something I was thinking about so I figured I would share. I have a couple of questions to answer too:
Q:Have your allergies gotten worse with age?
A: Yes, to a point. for about the first 5 years or so of having allergies (about 13 yrs old to 17/18 yrs old) they got progressively worse. After that, they don't seem to have gotten much worse, although I sometimes do discover something else I didn't know I was allergic too. That I think is more about not encountering it before or not knowing I was encountering it before more than developing a new allergy.
Q:If you could get rid of just one allergy what would it be?
A: That's a hard choice between cats and ragweed. They are 2 of my worst allergies. I love cats and would love to be able to have one or 2 again. But at the same time, its often possible to avoid cats. Ragweed however can't be avoided and it cause me a whole lot of suffering. If I was to be practical, I would probably have to say ragweed, although if I could say all pollens that would be a better choice!
Thank you again for the questions. Please keep them coming so I can make more posts! And as usual, feel free to e-mail me or IM me on yahoo if you want to chat.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
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.
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.
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