Q+A for end of Oct

Sorry, no ideas that fit into a Halloween theme. 

Ragweed season is finally slowing down, so my allergies are starting to lighten up a bit.  Still will take a while for them to settle down though.

Sorry its been a while since my last post.  As usual, its hard for me to think of what to write.

Since I don't have much else to say, lets go to the Q+A:

Q: What kind of mean comments? People are so rude.
A: Yup, they can be.  I think I have answered this before in the past, but a few examples:  "Can't you control that?", "You are being disruptive", "That sounds pretty gross", "can't you stop sneezing?", etc.

Q: Could you please upload a few seconds of you so we know what you sound like? Will help to relate better to you and what you are writing. You could do an entry by video (without pics if youd prefer), just what you say, instead of typing out the entry and it would be more personal and interesting.
A:  Nope, I'm not going to do that, sorry.  the benefit of being online is that People can't hear/see me when my allergies are acting up.

Q: You often say that you get mean comments- can you be more specific and tell us specifically people say and have said? Do they say it directly to you and how have you responded?
A: Like I said in the first question, I have talked about it before.  I usually don't respond - because my allergies are too bad, or I'm too embarrassed.

Q: High school sounds like it was tough with some mean people- did teachers ever notice and stand up for you or say something? 
A: Not usually.  Most weren't that understanding.  A really good thing about college was that I could leave the rom anytime I wanted instead of sometimes having to stay in the room as I was sneezing like crazy.

Q: When things are getting heated with your SO, do you ever have to stop because of sneezing or dripping or something? Does it happen often and what exactly happens and how does she deal with it?
A: Yes, my allergies make us have to stop often.  Allison is very understanding about it.  She is very patient and caring.  Definitely the best GF I have ever had :)

Q: Are you able to stifle your sneezes? And if yes, do you do it, e.g. when you're among others?
A:  I seem to be starting to get questions I already answered :)  I usually can't.  I have figured out a way to, but it makes me constantly have to stifle, so its pretty obvious and it won't let up til I let myself have a regular fit.  Because of that, and because it tends to hurt my sinuses, I don't do it.

Q: When your eyes are watery, do you always wipe the tears away or does it happen that you let them run down your face?
A: Depends on how bad my allergies are.  I usually will wipe them away, but if its bad and I'm really worn out, I wont as it becomes too much hassle or I'm too wiped out to keep up.

Q: You wrote that sometimes you get dizzy when your allergies are bad. How bad can this dizziness get? Does it happen that it's difficult for you to walk or ride a bike because of the dizziness?
A: It can be pretty bad when my allergies are bad.  Luckily the dizziness doesn't happen much if my allergies aren't really bad.  When it does happen, I try to keep my head as still as possible.  Turning my head or my body will make it worse at those times, so walking can get a bit difficult, and riding a bike is too hard when my allergies are bad, or a number of reasons.

Q: You wrote that your hearing can be affected when your allergies are bad. Does it happen that you don't understand what others say or have to turn the TV louder because of affected hearing?
A: It feels like my ears are stuffed with cotton so everything sounds muted.  I can usually still make out what people are saying, but sometimes I do have to ask again and I probably make the TV a bit louder.

Q: Which allergy-related websites do you visit or look for?
A:  I used to look for allergy support groups, but everything online is for food-related allergies.  I don't really look around anymore.  I do sometimes look at sites for pollen or mold levels.  Some allergy-site and weather sites.  They all tend to be a bit different so I will try to look at more than one.

Catching up with a short post and Q+A

Ok, I know I have been bad and not posted in a very long time.  I had been really busy and I kept putting it off.  I finally got a bit of motivation to make a post.

Now that pollen is gone, my allergies aren't as bad.  I do have to deal a bit with dust and stuff moving around for heating systems coming back on on the dryness that it can create, but its not as bad as dealing with pollen.

I am not sure what other update to give right now, so i will go into 2 questions I got:

Q:Have you ever considered moving to a different climate? For example I'm in Seattle and I know of someone who moved from here to Medford, OR for relief from sinus issues. Would a drier, desert-like climate help? Would there be less triggers? Or would the air conditioning bother your allergies? 
A: I have looked into that and I have been told that it doesn't really work, and if it does it would only be for a short time, as new triggers would start to bother me.  I have moved from the northwest to the northeast and i didn't see any difference.  A/C I don't think bothers my allergies in and of itself, but they are prone to mold and I am pretty allergic to mold.  I once stayed somewhere and my allergies we going really bad and it took us a while to realize it was a very old A/C unit that hadn't been kept up that well that was causing much of my problems.

Q:One of the things I find most awkward about sneezing repeatedly is how people feel the need to say 'bless you'. I wish that courtesy did not even exist, I wish sneezing was like coughing. When people bless me I feel like I can't even say thank you in between sneezes and it's even more awkward when they keep saying it after every few sneezes, and even more awkward when they finally give up and I'm still sneezing! It just makes me more embarrassed than I already am. Do you like people to acknowledge your sneezes with a 'bless you'? 
A:  I hate the bless you thing so much!  It just draws more attention to all my sneezing, and I end up feeling bad because most people just eventually give up blessing me in the middle of my fits.  Whats worse is when they switch from blessing to things like 'wow are you ever gonna stop'  or 'I blessed you enough, you can stop now' or 'I can't bless you that much', and other weird or annoying things.

I know I have posted about this before, but answering the last question reminds me of all the crazy things people say to me.  Some makes me feel really embarrassed, some upset me, some make me feel mad.  Some people are actually pretty nice and helpful but sometimes they are the total opposite, either on accident or on purpose. Some of the worst stuff I have heard it people telling me: I am doing it just to get attention; my allergies ruin my looks; and even a few times people have gotten upset that they were trying to have a conversation with me when my allergies were really bad and I wasn't answering them.

Ok, I didn't want to leave off on a depressing note!  So, I'll say my allergies are being a bit better because of the season, and in a few days I will have a few days off :)

As usual, please read and share and ask me more questions and feel free to contact me to chat if you want to!  Happy TG!

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!