Something people don't get, and some Q+A

Whenever the pollen count starts to go low, I always get people saying to me 'Oh you must be fine now that the pollen count is down'  or 'why are your allergies still so bad?  The pollen count went down'  It gets kind of annoying after a while.  There are a number of reasons why my allergies don't go down the day the pollen count does.

1.  I react very strongly to many kinds of pollen.  So even if the count is low and most people don't react, I still do.

2.  The more I am exposed to something I am allergic to, the more over-sensitive all my allergies get.  Like right now since this ragweed season has been going on for a while, everything is setting me off really intensely. (since I started making this post a few weeks ago, now things have been low enough for long enough that things are starting to lessen for me)

3.  As I talked about before in this blog, things bother me for longer than they usually should.  So even after I am away from what is setting off my allergies, its still going to affect me for a longer time.  Some people are fine after a few minutes of being away or maybe a few hours.  for me its anywhere from hours to days unless I am exposed for just a moment.

4.  I am allergic to many other things.  People seem to think its only possible to be allergic to pollen!  I have so many other allergies that at least one thing is going to be bothering me most of the time.



I have gotten two questions for the Q+A.

Q: What are some of the everyday tasks that are hard to do when your allergies are really bad?
A: Eating, drinking, sleeping, shopping, reading, and really any other activity that needs focus or extended effort.  My allergies do interfere all the time, but the above can become almost impossible when my allergies are really bad.  Eating and drinking is hard to do when I am all stuffed up so can't breathe out of my nose because I can't chew for long without needing to breathe.  Sneezing lots also makes it difficult because having a sneezing fit when you have a mouthful of food or liquid is not good!  I have to take little nibbles and little sips, and I tend to lose my appetite anyway when my allergies are bad.  Sleeping is hard cause all the sneezing makes it hard to fall asleep, and my nose and sinuses bother me when I'm all stuffed up and my head is lying down.  Also, a very runny nose is annoying when trying to sleep.  Reading gets hard because all my symptoms bother my ability to stay focused.  A constant drippy/runny nose is hard when leaning over reading.  Also, when my allergies are bad, my eyes are all watery and itchy and stuff so it makes it hard to actually read the words at times.  Getting intimate is hard because of the congestion/breathing and needing to sneeze when kissing, etc issues.  Shopping is hard more because of the potential of getting exposed to things I am allergic to without realizing it.  All those scented things, detergent and laundry isles, flowers and such.  Some stores I just can't go into.  For some reason all Macy's and JC Penny's I have been to really sets off my allergies and I have no idea why.  It makes no difference what part of the store I go into, or where the store is.  Shopping with Allison is a help because she usually has a great sense of smell and can sometimes be able to let me know if something is starting to be around that i will react badly too before it gets too bad.

Q: What is the worst thing people have said to you about your allergies?
A:  I don't think these are the worst, but 2 things have been on my mind lately.  The first is some variation of: "You would be gorgeous if it wasn't for your allergies".  I have been hearing that on and off for a number of years.  Often times its not right to my face (occasionally someone has said it to me, either being clueless or thinking they were being complimentary, something like 'without your allergies you can be really hot'), but I overhear it, or someone tells me they heard someone say it.  It can be upsetting because I do think that my allergies ruin how I look.  Its been on my mind because recently a guy gave me his card and said something like 'Contact me if you can get your allergies under control.  Then I think I can make you a model'.  The other one that bothers me is people telling me to blow my nose.  I get told these things so many times: "you sound like you need to blow your nose", "You should blow your nose", "If you blow your nose, it will make your allergies better", "you wouldn't sneeze so much if you blow your nose"  Then most people just don't get the idea that I can't blow my nose.  When I try to explain, I get "you must be doing it wrong", "you need to try more", or "you just don't want to blow your nose"  Its like blowing my nose would be some magical thing and I just refuse to do it.  Believe me, if I could blow my nose I would do it!

Thanks for listening to me rant again.  Please feel free to post comments, or contact me if you want to chat.  Please ask more questions so I have some Q+As to write!

Ragweed is trying to kill me :(

OMG the last few weeks have been the worst ever!  Ragweed just seemed to explode here!  I was already doing pretty badly and with my nose having become all over-sensitive to everything, its making it the worst its ever been.

I have been useless for even doing the most basic stuff and I have been having to call in sick so many days and I can barely get any work done from home.  I haven't been able to do anything enjoyable, and I am not sleeping well at all.  I am a total mess

Allison isn't doing that great either with ragweed.

Ugh, it took me forever just to write this up.  Sorry the post is so short.  As always, ask me anything you want and I'll try to reply in a new post.  I'd be happy for chat company too, if I am able to reply.

I can do it! (kinda)

I have never really been able to hold back my sneezes before.  Yesterday I figured out how to!  I can only do it for about 10 secs though, but it might be enough to help me get away from certain situations. 

Its not totally unnoticeable however.  I discovered that if I start to hitch before starting to sneeze if I close my mouth it stops for a sec, then the hitching starts again.  I can do it again a few times before the sneeze overwhelms it.  I can usually do it for 3 times, and I was able to do it 4 times once.

Feeling miserable today

My allergies are bothering me alot today and I'm feeling kinda down.  Its annoying how my allergies make so many things more difficult, even just things like eating and drinking and sleeping.  Making things I need to do take longer is really annoying too.

I was also lamenting today that I don't really have anyone to chat with/commiserate with who also has bad allergies.  Not to say I don't love that people read and comment and stuff, but having someone to commiserate with would be nice sometimes.

long awaited update for June

Sorry its been so long.  I just haven't been in the posting mood.  I wanted to update 2 things.

I tried the nasal filters and they were much less impressive than I had hoped.  They don't stay in the right place, I can feel them in there and they get gunked up with snot pretty quickly.  They only helped mildly anyway. I used them for about 5 days then I gave up on them.

I have been in the drug trial and will be for at least a few more weeks.  It is somewhat helpful.  Its not totally getting rid of my symptoms but its helping in some areas.  I am getting some side effects.  Nothing horrible but they can be annoying. 

I also had a wacky dream a few days ago.  It only slightly had to do with my allergies though.  I visited a friend I hadn't seen since I was a kid.  When I got there I needed to change, and when I had all my clothes off except my panties for some reason I walked with my friend though the house having a conversation.  I then realized I was mostly naked but every time I meant to go back to get clothes on, I would run into someone and start having a conversation and then partway through realize I was naked and then try to go get clothes, but then run into someone else: her family, her parents, other friends, random people, etc.  I would talk to the person, then after a bit I would get a strange look from then and then I would realize I was mostly naked.  At one point I was told I had to hold some flowers, and they started me sneezing and my nose running and I didn't have a sleeve so I kept switching between looking for tissues and getting my clothes but never doing either.  For some reason I wasn't able to put the flowers down.  After a bit of that, the dream ended.

Any ideas on what the dream might mean?  Any more questions for me so I can do a new Q+A?

Dream and nasal filters

Two posts in two days!  Crazy huh?  Anyway I had a dream last night and it got me looking for stuff online today and I wanted to see if anyone had any opinions on this too.

Last night I dreamed I was part of a superhero team.  I had to wear a face mask when we went to do superhero stuff so allergens couldn't bother my nose and interfere with out missions.  The cover story was that I was an alien and I exhale a toxin so the mask was to protect others.  This way villains wouldn't try to take it off me.  I could only ever have the mask off in one part of our base that had an airlock and was designed to be allergen-free.

The dream got me thinking about face masks.  The problem is that unless I wear one 24/7 (like I guess I did in the dream) its not going to keep my allergies away and putting a mask over an already allergic nose is not helpful and is actually annoying.  The only time I really ever use a mask is when I am doing the research assistant stuff so that I don't get anything on the experiments since I need both my hands for my work.  I have to keep going off and clean out the mask or replace it if I can't clean it out anymore.

I decided to look over allergy masks again and I found this thing called a nasal filter.  They seem really interesting but I don't know if they would work for me.  There seems to be 2 major types:

http://www.breathecleanerair.org/

and

http://www.supermasknasalfilters.com/

I would think the first type would work better, but on the 2nd type they talk about how the first type inserts fall out often, how they are more irritating, and easier to see.  I think the irritation part could be a real hassle for me and I like that the 2nd type is harder to see.

Does anyone have any experience with any kind of nasal filter or know enough about them to answer some questions that I have about them?

Maybe a new drug, and one Q+A

My allergist recently told be about a study starting soon on a new allergy drug.  He thought that I might be a good choice for it.  I looked into it and it seems interesting but I am not sure if I should do it or not.

It supposedly might be extremely helpful to people who don't have good effects from most other allergy drugs (like myself).  I would have to go in weekly for monitoring, but that's not too much of a hassle.  The big thing I am worried about is that I might have to stop taking most of my allergy meds while I am in this study.  They don't help too much, but it still makes a difference.  Maybe I can just start and then drop if I have to, but I'd hate to do that.

Anyone have any opinions on if I should do it or not?

I also got one question I will answer:

Q:There's a theory (some scientific evidence, but not conclusive) that being infected with intestinal parasites can prevent allergies from developing, and perhaps cure them as well. Have you ever heard of this? Ever considered trying it?
A: I had heard something like that but I have no idea about any of the details.  I don't think it would something I want to do...having a parasite infection would freak me out!

Be sure to ask more questions!