A quick note

I have been meaning to post, but I was sick and now I am getting pretty busy.  I hope I can make some time in the next few days.  If not, it might be up to 2 weeks til I am able to post.  I do have plenty of questions to answer, and I will make a real post as soon as I can.

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!

Mid Dec. Q+A

I am still so far away from getting to the point where I post once a week.  I think I am lucky to post once/month!

Its wintertime, so my allergies are generally improved, but I still get some bad times/days from random things.  Also, some holiday time things like scents, some trees, etc can give me problems.  Its not usually as bad as other seasons though.  My allergies haven't been too bad lately, but for some reason today they are acting up really badly.

Here are some Qs for me to A:

Q: What do your sneezes sound like? Have you ever considered recording a sneezing fit, for umm.... science?
A: I guess they sound normal?  I am unsure how to describe them.  They are usually a bit on the quiet side, but still loud enough for people to notice.  I have been told my sneezes are 'kinda cute', but they can get intense when I am having a really bad sneezing fit. 

OMG no way would I ever record them!  Its too embarrassing to even just sneeze in front of people.  To have it recorded and around all the time would be bad!

Q: Over the years what tips/tricks have you developed to help deal with your allergies?
A:  I don't really have anything that is an amazing help, other than being able to avoid what I am allergic to, but there are many things that I think help slightly.  Washing clothes often, tying my hair back when I can, avoiding going out at times of day/days when pollen count is high, washing my hair often, I usually use pillow and mattress covers, I usually try to get someone else to do the cleaning, but since Allison is also allergic to dust, we trade off.  I have hepa filters too.

I do other stuff too, but this is what I can think of off the to of my head.  I know I have also tried lots of other things that haven't helped, but I'd really have to try to remember them.  Nothing helps that greatly, but every little bit counts.

Q: Now that winter is starting do you find yourself with less allergy symptoms or does winter bring about new challenges?
A:  Winter is the least worst of the seasons for me, as there isn't any pollen to deal with.  I am still allergic to so many other things, so I still have some allergy problems but not usually as bad as the rest of the year.  I guess the big challenges in the winter is dust tends to get stirred up when all the heating systems come on, so that flares up my allergies at that time.  Also, during the holiday season there are things that I am allergic to: scents, dusty fake trees, possibly mold on real trees, etc. 


I'd love to be able to make another post before the  end of the year, but I can't promise anything.  As usual, feel free to comment and ask questions here and contact me directly too.  The more ideas I get, the easier it is for me to post.

If I do not post again this month, have a great holiday!

Some dreams and one Q to A

I don't have much to write about, but I didn't want to go so long without another post.

I recently had a dream having to do with my allergies.  I was just doing things in the dream like walking to a store, in a store of some kind, at a friends house, etc.  I didn't have any tissues on me for some reason.  Every time I needed to wipe my nose, blow my nose, have a sneezing fit, etc., someone would come up to me with tissues and do it for me, like hold them to my nose while I was sneezing, wipe my nose when it was runny, etc.  It weirded me out, but I couldn't get anyone to stop doing it or to hand me the tissues instead.  I could talk to them about anything, except abut why they were doing that with the tissues.  The whole dream was just a bunch of that.

I had another weird dream recently.  It had nothing to do with allergies, but I just wanted to post it anyway.  In the dream it was like I was progressing through months of being pregnant in just minutes, and then reversing, and it as going back and forth like that a few times.  I'd suddenly start getting bigger and have to unbutton and unzip my clothes and then when I got so big I had to start taking off my clothes, I started to become 'unpregnant', and when I got back down to my normal size and had to rebutton and such, soon after I'd start to get pregnant again.  Very weird (no, I am not wishing for kids right now, lol).

Not much in the way of questions, but here is what I have:

Q: Earlier, you wrote about the sneezing room. Growing up, did you wish for other ways of dealing with your allergies?
A: I feel like this should be a long and interesting response, but sadly I do not have much else to say.  The only other way I wished for to deal with my allergies that I can remember is not to have them.

Sorry if this post was a bit lame, but I wanted to get something up before TG.

As usual, please make comments and feel free to ask me questions or to contact me.  I'd like to know that more than just a few people are reading!

Sorry it has been so long, and some Q+A

OMG, its been so long since I posted, like about 3 months!  I was waiting for some questions to answer.  I got 2, but then I wanted to wait to see if I got a few more, then I kinda forgot abut posting, then felt bad about not posting, so I started avoiding it for a bit.  I even had a dream I wanted to post about but I have totally forgotten it now.

The late summer/early fall has been horrible for my allergies.  It felt worse than last year I think.  I am very allergic to ragweed, and when my allergies are bad, I react stronger to everything else I am allergic to.  They have been getting better over these last few weeks, but I still have days that are really bad.  Also, heating systems are being turned on, and that moves dust around, which I am also pretty allergic to.

Now for the Q+A:

Q: Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend and how does she/he handle this?
A: Yes.  I have a girlfriend.  Its the best relationship I have had.  Its getting close to 3 years we have been together.  I think part of the reason its so good is that she is extremely understanding of my allergies.  She has allergies herself, although nowhere near as bad as mine and only to a few things.  She is always being helpful and considerate.  She will do things for me when I can't, do her best to help me avoid things I am allergic to, and she is very patient when my allergies are being really bad.  I feel so very lucky to have her, and I am so happy that she feels the same about me :)  I hope that answered the question, let me know if you want to know more.


Q: If you're comfortable answering this…is intimacy difficult with you SO because of your allergies? I imagine feeling like you're on the verge of sneezing while making out would be distracting...
A:  This is one of the things she is very patient about.  Sometimes just my allergies being so bad makes me not be in the mood for anything.  Being so congested makes it hard to be kissing for any length of time, cause I have to stop to take a breath.  If I am sneezing a lot, it obviously also makes kissing and making out difficult.  If my nose is being very snotty, I get too worried my nose will be messy too.  When my allergies are acting up, sometime we have to pause for me to deal with a sneezing fit or something, and sometimes I just am unable to be as active as I'd like to be when we are being intimate.  Allison is really my first SO that hasn't gotten upset about it and she is always understanding about it, and really tries to accommodate me.

I am sorry I took so long to make this post.  I really hope people are still reading it.  I guess if I get more people reading, people will give me more idea of what to post and more questions to answer.  So please let people know about my blog and please give me ideas and questions.  As usual, feel free to e-mail or message me on yahoo messenger.  I also use msn messenger/skype, but yahoo is easier for me.

End of July Q+A

I don't have much to add to this post, other than the questions I recently got, so here we go.

Q: Often when I'm walking out in to the sunlight I will start sneezing from the light, it's like when the sunlight hits my eyes it triggers a sneeze immediately. Does looking at sunlight make you sneeze too?  
A:  I think it might, but I sneeze so much anyway that its hard to tell.  There are so many things outside that make me sneeze, that I don't know if the sun is doing it or not.
Q: Does your significant other (if you have one) bless you? I finally asked mine just to not bother and not even comment or say anything. It's more comfortable for me that way because I don't feel so aware.
A: Same as you.  She used to early on, but I asker her not to, for the same reasons.  I don't like so much attention being brought to it, and it would be crazy to hear so many blesses even in one day!

Q: Later on in my sneezing fits, after they start to slow down a bit, I find I have a lot of 'false start' sneezes, where at the very last second the need to sneeze goes away. It's really frustrating because I don't get the relief from that build-up. It's also embarrassing around others because I can sit there with my breath hitching over and over. Do you ever get these?
A: I don't usually get them at the end of fits.  I get them when my congestion is really bad and I need to start a fit.  I get all these build-ups and false starts before the fits start.  I find it embarrassing too, sitting there hitching over and over and someone asking something like 'whats the matter?' 


Wow, these answers were kinda short, sorry about that but I guess the questions didn't need long answers.  I am happy to answer follow-up questions if anyone has any.

As usual, feel free to contact me with questions so I can keep posting, or just to chat.  yahoo messenger and e-mail is usually best.

Sneezing room and an allergy dream

When I was in high school I used to always wish something I called a 'sneezing room' existed.  They are small rooms, sound-proof, with a small bench or chair, a few boxes of tissues and a sink.  This way I could go in there, not be disturbed when I am having an allergy attack or sneezing fit, and noone would see or hear it.

Last week I had a weird dream about my allergies.  My nose was really long, longer than my arm.  My nose was being very drippy, but I couldn't do much about it because my nose was too long.  Everyone was telling me that if I sneezed, it would stop.  I told them I didn't want to sneeze, but they kept doing things to make me start sneezing, then right as I was about to start sneezing they all told me not to sneeze and someone would grab and squeeze closed the end of my nose.  It was very uncomfortable for me, and then when the feeling of needing to sneeze went away, they person would let go of my nose.  Then when it started dripping again, they started to tell me to sneeze again, etc.  That cycle went on a few times before I woke up.

I had another allergy dream recently but I can't remember it.

Please be sure to send me questions to answer, and feel free to contact me to chat on e-mail or yahoo messenger, or possibly skype.