Short Post

I didn't want to go too long without a post, so here is a bit of a short one.  I had some dreams a few nights ago, and 2 small parts had to do with allergies.  At one point I was sitting around with 3 people and my nose was stuffy and eyes watering, and one of the others said I have been sniffling too much.  He then comes up to me and says he can help and I try to stop him at first but then he starts squeezing the sides of my nose over and over and lots of snot starts coming out of my nose to the floor in front of me and I just let it happen for some reason.  At some point later, or maybe another dream,  me and Allison are siting in a museum or a university building or something, and we start to kiss but I have to start sneezing so I turn away and grab the 1st thing I can find - her sweater - and have a huge sneezing fit into it and then I try to hide it.

That's all I remember from the dreams.  I have a short Q+A too.

Q: Hi Kate. Can you/do you swim? I don't know if it would be difficult or even dangerous with the sneezing.
A: I do swim.  I really enjoy it.  I am limited with it though.  Being underwater makes my sinuses hurt, so I don't go underwater that much.  I can't spend too long in a pool because the chlorine makes me a bit sneezy, really burns my eyes and eventually makes my skin itchy. 
Q: What kinds of activities do you find impossible or at least very difficult to do because of allergies? 
A: Many.  As my allergies developed and got worse I had to stop having my cats, I had to stop playing soccer, I got limited in my swimming 9see above Q), all the congestion messed up my singing.  Outdoor events can be very difficult at times.  I sometimes can't go to events at people's houses if they have pets, or I may need to leave if something in the house bothers my allergies too much.  I can't go horseback riding (I made a post about how I found out I was allergic to horses).  I can't drive when my allergies are bad.  When they are bad, even things like sleeping and eating can be difficult.  There are other things too, but these are what I can think of right now.  Actually when my allergies are really bad, almost everything is difficult.

Q: If you're unable to respond to people or just start sneezing, do the people that you are with (family/friends) ever explain what is going on with your allergies or say something about them to others that are not familiar with you? What I am asking is how the people you hang out with explain the situation to others. 
A: I hate when that happens.  They wont usually say anything unless someone asks.  They will talk instead or something.  If I am getting bad one person might help me go off to the bathroom because they know I hate sneezing that much in front of people.

That's all I have for today.  Feel free to reply, to ask more questions, or to chat with me!

Been a While, and July Q+A

I have been so bad at keeping up with my blog.  For some reason, its just so hard to be motivated to write at times.  If it wasn't for the questions to answer, I don't know if I'd be able to make many posts at all.

Q: Can you go into more detail about how your allergies affect your relationship and how they factor into being a part of it. Like does she care for you when you're feeling really bad and how? Or like what kind of comments/things are said? When you can't go out of the house will she to do errands and social events?
A: Yes she does.  Just things like holding me when I am having a fit or suffering is good.  She will do chores and other things for me if I need the help.  She will also do as much as she can to keep allergens down/avoid them.  She is such a great person and so helpful to me. 

Q: You're very self-conscious about people seeing you snotty, you say- did something happen to make you that worried about it? Have people ever said anything about the snot?
A: Nothing in particular.  I few times when I was younger, some people laughed when I had snot hanging from my nose and didn't notice it, but nothing that was a huge deal.  I just know that it grosses some people out and its yet something else that can draw too much attention to me and my allergies.

Q: You wrote: "I hate being so congested and so snotty at the same time." If you had the choice to get rid either of the congestion or of the snottiness, what would you choose, and why?
A: My congestion gets really bad and can be very uncomfortable, but I'd have to say the snottiness because it is something more noticeable to people, and it can take a good amount of effort to deal with at times.

Q: I know that your sneezing and runny nose force a lot of action from you, in shape of holding a tissue to your nose or wipe it. Are there other allergy symptoms too which force much action from you?
A: Well, when my eyes and nose are itchy, its more that I have to keep myself from taking action by trying hard not to rub them constantly.  When my allergies are really bad, my sinus congestion and ear congestion makes me get dizzy easy so I have to be careful about turning my head too quick, or looking/bending down etc or I feel dizzy/sinuses hurt.

Q: Does it happen that you abort an online chat or writing a blog post because your allergies get too bad?
A: Oh yea, many times.  It might be too hard to keep following/participating in a chat, or I might feel too wiped out to chat or make a blog post.  It also saps my motivation, and since I already have a hard time making blog posts, that makes it even harder.

I hope everyone likes the answers.  As usual, feel free to send me more questions, or to contact me to say hi or chat (and forgive me if it takes me some time to reply to e-mails and such!).

People reading my blog, and some Q+A

First, I wanted to say sorry I have not been online much in the last few weeks.  I was a bit busy with stuff, but the main reason is that my allergies have been horrible.  I haven't been able to sleep well, and I haven't been able to do much.  Also, I can't believe how snotty my nose has been getting, its out of control :(.  I hate being so congested and so snotty at the same time.

I wanted to post about something I found a bit weird.  Now, I know there are some people who 'like' sneezing, and I do not have an issue with that.  What is weird to me is that sometimes people say 'oh, you have to watch out for those people, they might harass you and be mean to you', etc.  I have to say, in my online experience, they have been some of the nicest people I have had conversations with.  I have no issue with what preferences people have, we are all weird in some way.  As long as you don't force something onto someone else/as long as they have a choice, I have no issues with anything people 'like'. 

I have to say that I have been treated pretty badly online at times by 'normal' people (actually its always been a guy).  Some guys have been very rude and insulting to me:  just meeting me online and making horrible assumptions or trying to order me to do stuff/tell them things, etc, and acting downright mean.  I block all those people right away.  I have never had a problem like that with someone who 'likes' sneezing, so I just wanted to get it out there that people in general shouldn't be pre-judged.

All that being said, I have always hopped that this blog would help me run into people who have allergies as bad as mine so that I have someone to chat to that really understands.  I ran into someone once, but she didn't have much interest in chatting, she just wanted me to join her in some kind of plan she had.

I do have a few questions to answer:

Q: Have you ever been at a restaurant and when the person comes to take your order are unable to tell them what you want because of sneezing?
A: I don't think that has ever happened.  If my allergies are that bad, I am probably not going to be out.  I have had times where I have had to finish a sneezing fit before I could give an order.

Q: Have you ever been told you're disrupting a class with allergies?
A: so many times. It was a bigger problem in high school.  In college I could sit near and exit and just leave most times I needed to.  I have actually had to take some tests in a different room than the rest of the class.  Besides being called disruptive, many times some students have laughed at me because of my sneezing fits, which just made t more embarrassing for me.  Sometimes the whole class would be focused on my sneezing fit...ugh!

Q: Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night from sneezing and do your allergies ever wake Allison up too?
A: It happens often when my allergies are bad.  I have woken her up too.  When my allergies are bad, that's why I tend to try to sleep in another room so I do not disturb her too much.

Q: You've said that some people are rude or not sympathetic at all- on the other hand, are people ever too pitying? What's that like?
A:   In some ways it might be worse, cause I can't be mad at them because they are trying to be nice.  The worst is when they try to be helpful but make things worse.  The main issue is that its much more attention than I want, and that's embarrassing.

As usual, please keep the questions coming, and feel free to IM or e-mail to say hi and chat.  I could use the company when I am like this.

Dream bit and Q+A for May

Hi everyone.  My allergies have been really bad lately.  I have had to miss some days here and there and I am generally pretty icky and not sleeping well.

I remember part of a dream a few days ago where my allergies were acting up, and another woman in the group was complaining about her allergies, but she didn't seem to have any allergies.  the more my allergies bothered me, the more she was complaining about hers.

I have a few questions to answer:

Q: How do your allergies impact your overall physical condition (beside the things having to do with allergies directly like congested nose)? You wrote that the sneezing helps to keep your abs in good shape. Are there other things about your physical condition which are affected – in a positive or negative way - by your allergies?
A: I don't know if there is much not related t my allergies -red nose, swollen eyes, etc.  The things I can think of besides giving my abs a bit of a workout is being tired, being off balance sometimes, and skin rashes.  Skin rashes are allergy-related but people tend not to realize it.  In the warmer months they mistake it for sunburn.

Q: I know that you have to wipe your nose a lot, esp when your allergies are bad. How do you deal with this when you have to do something for which you need both your hands?
A: I put things down often, lol.  I need to have a hand free pretty often, so I make sure that can happen when I need.

Q: Are your sneezes very snotty? Do you have to wipe your nose especially when you're sneezing? When you feel a sneeze coming, do you take a tissue before you actually sneeze to be „prepared“ for it?
A: Not always, but they certainly can be.  I always use tissues when I am sneezing.  I do tend to be snotty and I also am extra careful not to let people see my snot!  I might be a bit obsessive about it, but I don't want people thinking I am gross so I am always careful in public.

Q: You told me that when your allergies aren't too bad, it can happen that you don't sneeze for about an hour. When your allergies are bad (e.g. during ragweed season), how long would you estimate the longest „non-sneezing“ time then?
A: At the most, maybe 15mins, but usually less

Q: Most of the allergy symptoms you explained are clearly recognizeable for others directly (sneezing) or almost directly (runny nose because you wipe it, congestion because your voice is stuffy). Which of the symptoms that are not recognizeable for others so easily would you consider being the most „unexpected“ ones, i.e. the symptoms which someone who doesn't have allergies himself would never guess to be caused by allergies? And which of these „not so well recognizeable“ symptoms are the most annoying for you?
A: This is pretty similar in my answer to the first question.  Tiredness is probably the big one.  When my allergies are bad it really wipes me out and its something that people don't really get.  Another one is balance/dizziness.  When my allergies are really bad my ears get all clogged up and it can sometimes make me feel dizzy and off balance.  And even though much of it is noticeable, people don't realize how much my senses get impacted when my allergies are really bad - I can't smell or taste, its hard for people to understand what I am saying, seeing is sometimes difficult with swollen and very watery eyes, and clogged ears makes sound muffled.


Thanks for the questions, and keep them coming.  As always I am happy to chat.  Just drop a line to say hi.  Allergies are really kicking my butt so I might be around online more, if its not so bad that I can't even do that!

Allergy update and Q+A

Ok everyone, I am back to posting.  As a summary:  This spring my allergies didn't start to get worse until about a week into March, usually I feel them start to get worse in late Feb.  They have gotten pretty bad now as there has been lots of tree pollen around since then.

Now I have some questions to catch up on.

Q: You're talking about two kinds of congestion: nasal and sinus congestion. Which of them annoys you more, and why? And are they dependent on each other in a way that when one of them is bad, the other one is bad too?
A: They both annoy me in different ways.  I'd say the nasal congestion mainly because it is worse more often.  The sinus congestion can be worse though cause when it is bad it can be painful.  They are kind of dependent in that if my nasal congestion is bad, chances are my sinus congestion will get bad too.  I can have nasal congestion without much sinus congestion, but I never have a lot of sinus congestion without a lot of nasal congestion.

Q: How exactly can you tell from your symptoms which allergen(s) you're exposed to? Does it feel different to be exposed to dust / animal dander / pollen / etc.?
A: I often can't, but there are a few hints.  When its dust, my nose and throat tends to feel more scratchy than with other things.  Pollen I can mainly tell by the pollen count.  I am not sure, but I think pollen might make me more snotty than other things too.  For animal dander the need to sneeze between sneezes is more intense, but that can also happen when my allergies are really bad in general.  When its from scents, the sneezes take a little longer to come, and the congestion feels a bit more throbby.  For all the other stuff its too hard to tell.

Q: In an older post you wrote that you almost always have a need to sneeze, in shape of a tingling or tickle in your nose. I imagine that being very annoying, as your nose seemingly hardly gets some real relief – either you're actually sneezing, or you feel like needing to sneeze. How do you feel about that? Is it possible to get used to that?
A: It feels pretty annoying, lol.  I never seem to get totally used to it.  How much it bothers me can come and go, like sometimes I will notice it more than other times.  Sometimes I can pretty much ignore it and sometimes its so distracting that I can't focus.  I am not really sure what influences that though, other than how bad my allergies are.

Q: You've been asked about your worst allergy day ever. I'd like to ask for the opposite: Do you remember a day during the last years when the level of your allergies was extremely low? If yes, how did you feel that day, which symptoms did bother you to which degree?
A: It happens usually in the winter.  Of course t me a very low allergy day is probably still pretty intense for many people.  On my best days, my eyes don't bother me at all, there isn't any itchiness or tingling or anything.  There is sneezing, but less than usual and shorter fits. No sinus congestion, my nasal congestion is there but low enough that I can sniffle/breathe through my nose a bit, and my nose is a little runny.

Q: What does a typical day look like for you, allergy-wise? Like how often do attacks occur- can you explain a typical day for you and when you are affected? How does your partner help or comfort you during those times, as well? 
A: On a typical day, I get sneezing fits at least a few times an hour, sometimes more.  I'm too congested to blow my nose so I am always wiping my nose with a tissue, and my allergies distract me to certain amounts, and my eyes might be bothering me being itchy wand watery and stuff.  I am usually pretty self-conscious about it and worry that people might see me snotty and think I look gross being allergic or that all my sneezing is disruptive, etc. 

Allison is great with helping me out.  She looks out for things I am allergic to, she is good at comforting me and helping me out.  She knows pretty well what I need, she has given me some ideas that help a little bit with dealing with my allergies in certain situations, and she helps me out with getting things done.  She is also very patient in many ways with me and my allergies.  She is very allergic to ragweed herself, so during ragweed season she is a bit pre-occupied with dealing with here allergies, so then she is a bit less helpful, but that's understandable.

Q: You mentioned a year ago being stuck outside can be really bad for you and make it hard to communicate. Can you tell us about a time/times when this has happened? What was it like for you and what did you do?  
A: One of the worst times was a number of years ago I was hanging out with a few friends and my allergies started getting really bad and I had to stop and sit down and they got even worse and my friends were trying to help out and trying to figure out what might be bothering me so much, but my allergies were so bad I wasn't able to tell them that it was probably the tree we were right next to.  I also was unable to really get up and walk away and between the constant sneezing and total congestion I couldn't talk.  I felt very helpless and frustrated that I couldn't even let them know I had to get away and get inside.

Q: Kate, when you got your job did you have to tell them upfront about accommodations you would need due to your allergies? How was this discussed between staff and worked out?
A: Depending on how you look at it, I don't really have a 'job'  I do grad work and teaching assisting and research assisting.  I am bad at talking about accommodations.  I usually try my best to suffer through things, and then only ask for help when I am really stuck.  I have to say in general I have been pretty lucky that my professors and supervisors have all been pretty helpful and willing to modify my workload.  I only have had problems with a few other grad students, one who didn't like me, and another just trying to get ahead of everyone else.

Q: You mentioned that past relationships haven't been very understanding....can you go into more detail about that?
A: Oh that can be a very long conversation!  If you want more detail we can chat online sometime about it, but some relationships certainly have not been that understanding.  A few just didn't care much one way or another, I have had some relationships where they thought I was making things out to be worse than they were/looking for attention, and some got really annoyed/fed up with my allergies interfering so much in the relationship.  One was really bad but that one was unhealthy in general anyway.  She really didn't care at all about how bad my allergies made me suffer and she was totally uninterested in being helpful, and she would guilt or force me into doing things/going places where she knew my allergies would be problematic, and then get annoyed at me for my allergies being bad.


As usual, let me know if you have more questions, and feel free to drop a line on e-mail or yahoo (or Skype or MSN messenger) to say hi and chat.

Sorry for being gone so long!

I am so sorry I have been out of contact for so long.  Things started happening with school, my personal life, and my family that got all crazy and I had no time for anything else.  Its all resolved now, so other than lots of schoolwork, I don't have too much to keep me away from getting back to this blog and to being online to chat with people.  I might not be on often for the next few weeks, but I will be around.

Sorry again for the disappearance.  I will make a short post and answer some questions later today, or tomorrow.  I will also be online randomly today and tomorrow if you want to catch up and chat.

Been Busy, Dream Bit, and Short Q+A

Things have been really busy with school and associated things.  I am hoping in a few weeks things will settle down a bit.  I like to get as much work don as I can when I am not feeling too bad.

I wanted to explain something that some people don't seem to get.  Some people seem to not understand that I am allergic to other things besides pollen.  I sometimes get asked 'Why do you still have allergies when there is no pollen?'  That's because I am allergic to so much more! - dust, animals, smoke, feathers, molds, and many other things.  The good thing is that many of those things I can avoid and/or get away from, so that I can recover from being exposed to it.  I still have allergies this time of year, but they don't usually knock me out of commission like they often do at other times of year.

Two nights ago I had a dream where I had allergies.  The only thing I can remember from it is that anytime I tried to talk I sneezed instead.

I have a few questions to answer, so here we go:

Q: When you do teach, does the sneezing make it difficult? And how do your students react? Can you go into more details about your response to the last question you answered about during class?
A: It certainly can.  That's why I am lucky that I can do other things most of the time, like paperwork, making tests, grading tests, setting up labs, holding office hours, etc.  I do have to do some teaching, and of course allergy attacks then can be embarrassing, but because of all the above, it doesn't happen too often.  The students either giggle a bit or act bored or start looking at their phones or something til I am done.  I am not sure what you mean by the last part of this question.  Can you ask me a more specific question?

Q: I think it's great that you and Allison found each other and she helps you feel comfortable with her! Did you have some sort of discussion about how to work things out with your allergies, things to do or not do, expectations regarding them and intimacy, etc? 
A: Yes, but it wasn't just one talk.  We worked it out as time went on.  It helps that she is a very understanding person, and that she also has allergies.  She is very allergic to cats and ragweed, and somewhat allergic to dust, so she can understand the avoiding thing and the idea of being able to do some things and not others.  She was very accommodating and very willing to work with what I needed, in general and in being intimate.  Its really great because she is the first person I have dated that has really been like this.  Some others made an attempt, but gave up and some others didn't even care. 


That's it for now.  As always, please leave comments and feel free to contact me.