If you notice I am catching up on posting today :) I had some half-finished posts and I figured I should get them done.
I think many people don't realize that I almost always have a need to sneeze. It can vary in intensity, but it is always there to one level or another. Its like a tingling or tickle deep in my nose and it spreads when I actually am going to start sneezing. It can spread really slow or really fast or at almost any speed. I don't like it super fast because then I am not ready for the fit. Its best when it spreads slow enough so I can get ready for it and even get away by myself before the fit starts.
The intensity of the tickle depends on how bad my allergies are at the time. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being sneezing, I often am around a 5 or 6. It can be a bit distracting sometimes but as I mentioned at least it helps me sometimes be able to keep track of when I am about to start sneezing. If its in the winter and I am not around anything I am allergic to at all for a while, it gets as low as a 2. When my allergies are really bad it can sometimes never go below a 9.
From what I have been told, most people sneeze and that feeling of needing to sneeze goes away for a while. For me it doesn't. No matter how much I sneeze, that feeling of needing to sneeze is still there. It is usually lessened for a while after a fit at least. Its like sneezing fits just give me partial relief.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Cold and allergies
I just got over having a cold. People often ask me things like "how can you tell when you have a cold?" or "Maybe its not allergies, maybe its a cold." I guess these are people who don't have allergies! Yea, some symptoms are similar, but they are different, so it is easy to tell. I will say that is IT a pain to have a cold on top of allergies.
These are the things that happen when I get a cold on top of my allergies:
With allergies, I can get worn-out, but when I have a cold its more like having a feeling of physical weakness, different from feeling worn out from doing alot of activity.
My sneezing feels harsher and it feels like something could spray from my mouth. I also notice that my snot is thicker and more yellowish instead of clear or white.
My sinuses hurt differently when I have a cold. Sometimes when my allergies are bad my sinuses will hurt, but with a cold they hurt differently. I can't really explain better than that.
When I have a cold, my throat hurts and I cough. I don't cough from allergies and at the worst my throat will tickle/itch but not hurt.
When I have a cold, my teeth hurt. Yea it sounds weird, but it happens.
When I have a cold, inside my nose burns. With allergies it is tickles or itches or tingles or has a throbbing feeling, but when I have a cold it feels more like a burning.
I am curious if other people with allergies have a similar experience. I don't think many people read my blog, but if you do, and have allergies, can you share what it is like for you having a cold with allergies?
These are the things that happen when I get a cold on top of my allergies:
With allergies, I can get worn-out, but when I have a cold its more like having a feeling of physical weakness, different from feeling worn out from doing alot of activity.
My sneezing feels harsher and it feels like something could spray from my mouth. I also notice that my snot is thicker and more yellowish instead of clear or white.
My sinuses hurt differently when I have a cold. Sometimes when my allergies are bad my sinuses will hurt, but with a cold they hurt differently. I can't really explain better than that.
When I have a cold, my throat hurts and I cough. I don't cough from allergies and at the worst my throat will tickle/itch but not hurt.
When I have a cold, my teeth hurt. Yea it sounds weird, but it happens.
When I have a cold, inside my nose burns. With allergies it is tickles or itches or tingles or has a throbbing feeling, but when I have a cold it feels more like a burning.
I am curious if other people with allergies have a similar experience. I don't think many people read my blog, but if you do, and have allergies, can you share what it is like for you having a cold with allergies?
Why I like chatting online
I was chatting with someone recently online about why I like to chat online and I wanted to post about it.
Most of the time I am very congested and its pretty impossible for me to not sound all stuffed up when I talk (even though I keep trying). I just don't like the way I sound like that, I am embarrassed by it, and it feels like more of an effort to talk. My sneezing also interrupts my conversations. I have to stop what I am saying while I am sneezing and people will stop talking while I am sneezing. I really feel bad about disrupting conversations like that and I hate all the focus from people when I have a fit in the middle of a conversation. It also really sucks when I am trying to answer a question, or I really need to tell someone something, but I can't because I am sneezing so much. It can cause problems.
When I chat online I can avoid most of that. The congestion is not an issue at all and some of the fits I can still type through and the sneezing is less of a disruption for an online conversation. When my allergies are really bad, it gets pretty hard to talk, but it is much easier to chat online. So if it seems like my allergies are always bad when I am online, that's why. When they aren't that bad I tend to be online less.
Most of the time I am very congested and its pretty impossible for me to not sound all stuffed up when I talk (even though I keep trying). I just don't like the way I sound like that, I am embarrassed by it, and it feels like more of an effort to talk. My sneezing also interrupts my conversations. I have to stop what I am saying while I am sneezing and people will stop talking while I am sneezing. I really feel bad about disrupting conversations like that and I hate all the focus from people when I have a fit in the middle of a conversation. It also really sucks when I am trying to answer a question, or I really need to tell someone something, but I can't because I am sneezing so much. It can cause problems.
When I chat online I can avoid most of that. The congestion is not an issue at all and some of the fits I can still type through and the sneezing is less of a disruption for an online conversation. When my allergies are really bad, it gets pretty hard to talk, but it is much easier to chat online. So if it seems like my allergies are always bad when I am online, that's why. When they aren't that bad I tend to be online less.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Day after parties
My allergies make me have to miss out on some social things. Sometimes, like last night, I am able to go to parties and have some fun. One thing I notice though is that my allergies are always bad the day after I go to a party. Maybe I am just not as careful when I am at a party with avoiding things I am allergic to, but then it should affect me right away. If I get through the party feeling ok, I go to bed ok and then I wake up the next day with really bad allergic reactions.
Today my nose feels like there are tiny pointy sticks up in both my nostrils. Makes it tickle really badly and giving me alot of sneezing fits and a very runny nose. I am too stuffed up to blow my nose and I hate that. My nose feels all filled up but I can't do anything about it. That's just one thing I can never understand, that my nose can be so stuffed up yet so runny at the same time!
Today my nose feels like there are tiny pointy sticks up in both my nostrils. Makes it tickle really badly and giving me alot of sneezing fits and a very runny nose. I am too stuffed up to blow my nose and I hate that. My nose feels all filled up but I can't do anything about it. That's just one thing I can never understand, that my nose can be so stuffed up yet so runny at the same time!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
New idea
I think what I will start doing is make more shorter posts about how my allergies have been recently. I find making the long posts about the past pretty challenging. Not exactly sure why.
Last few days have been better and worse with my allergies. They are fluctuating some. Last night they got pretty bad but today they aren't as bad. I am planning on hanging out with friends later and I think it is pretty doable today. Without the constant irritation of so much pollen, now its more about trying to avoid being around all the other things that cause my allergies. Until the winter really gets going, the hardest will be heating systems kicking up all the dust that settled into them over the year.
Last few days have been better and worse with my allergies. They are fluctuating some. Last night they got pretty bad but today they aren't as bad. I am planning on hanging out with friends later and I think it is pretty doable today. Without the constant irritation of so much pollen, now its more about trying to avoid being around all the other things that cause my allergies. Until the winter really gets going, the hardest will be heating systems kicking up all the dust that settled into them over the year.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Short one
I just wanted to check in with a short post. I am having problems again with writing real posts. I have a post partly written but I just am not in the mood much to write it all up.
Its starting to get colder so that means much less pollen, so that will help my allergies a little bit. Because of so many months of my nose and sinuses being totally over-tweaked by pollen it takes a while for them to calm down though. Also, when heating systems start to come on, they tend to kick up some dust and that can bother me too.
Its starting to get colder so that means much less pollen, so that will help my allergies a little bit. Because of so many months of my nose and sinuses being totally over-tweaked by pollen it takes a while for them to calm down though. Also, when heating systems start to come on, they tend to kick up some dust and that can bother me too.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
People can be mean
I had mentioned in an earlier post about people being mean and I think someone asked for me to write more about it. I am going to post here a few of my experiences with people who suck and/or don't really seem to care about other people.
I can split these people into 3 categories. Some who think they are being funny and say stuff in public areas, some who just don't care/understand and are mean because of that, and some who are just deliberately mean.
Sometimes I would hate the public people the most because it can feel the most embarrassing. Many times in high school, but also some in college or in other public places where many people are around, some would yell out stuff. I would start sneezing and after a number of sneezes, people would laugh, and someone would yell "BLESS YOU!" loudly many times. Some people might yell "why are you sneezing so much?", or "OMG! Just stop!", or other things like that. I hate all the attention that draws to me. The worst was sometimes at lunch in HS, I wold have a very long fit and the lunchroom would start to get all quiet because everyone was listening to me and looking at me and laughing. Sometimes I really wanted to cry from embarrassment. I can deal with it better now. I do run off to the bathroom often when I start having a fit in public. I tend to miss parts of many movies.
I have had to deal with many people who just didn't care. I would go to someones house and they had an animal that I was allergic to, or just something in the house would set me off. They say that I will get used to it in a bit, or my allergies would calm down, or that I was making too big a deal. If I didn't have a ride sometimes I would sit there feeling and looking miserable and not be able to get away. I also knew some people who didn't believe I was allergic to something or think that maybe it was all in my head. They hid the animal, or flowers or whatever before I came over. My allergies would get worse and worse and I had no idea why. Then they say "Oh, we didn't think you were really allergic to it"
There were a few people who deliberately set off my allergies because they wanted to upset me or mess something up for me, or I guess they were just plain mean. The main one was someone in HS who just really hated my guts. She blamed me for stuff that wasn't even my fault and kept trying to get back at me. She discovered she could set off my allergies at really bad times for me. I didn't find this all out until much later. Once she did it before I was going to meet up with a guy I was interested in. My allergies got so bad that it screwed it all up. One time she stole the tissue box out of my backpack and in class when I started having a bad sneezing fit I couldn't find them and I had to keep sneezing into my hands and I couldn't deal with the snottiness and dripping and everything and that was really horrible and embarrassing! Another time she got a hold of my tissue box and put dust or pollen or something all around in there. Of course I was using the tissues and not knowing so I kept getting worse and worse all day and I had no clue why. That one was really miserable!
I have had people tell me my allergies were bothering them, my sneezing was a disruption, that I should be able to control them better, or that I was deliberately exaggerating them. They all really suck! I don't get why people have to be like that. Its not as bad as it was in high school, but I think some people just don't get it. I wish they would.
I can split these people into 3 categories. Some who think they are being funny and say stuff in public areas, some who just don't care/understand and are mean because of that, and some who are just deliberately mean.
Sometimes I would hate the public people the most because it can feel the most embarrassing. Many times in high school, but also some in college or in other public places where many people are around, some would yell out stuff. I would start sneezing and after a number of sneezes, people would laugh, and someone would yell "BLESS YOU!" loudly many times. Some people might yell "why are you sneezing so much?", or "OMG! Just stop!", or other things like that. I hate all the attention that draws to me. The worst was sometimes at lunch in HS, I wold have a very long fit and the lunchroom would start to get all quiet because everyone was listening to me and looking at me and laughing. Sometimes I really wanted to cry from embarrassment. I can deal with it better now. I do run off to the bathroom often when I start having a fit in public. I tend to miss parts of many movies.
I have had to deal with many people who just didn't care. I would go to someones house and they had an animal that I was allergic to, or just something in the house would set me off. They say that I will get used to it in a bit, or my allergies would calm down, or that I was making too big a deal. If I didn't have a ride sometimes I would sit there feeling and looking miserable and not be able to get away. I also knew some people who didn't believe I was allergic to something or think that maybe it was all in my head. They hid the animal, or flowers or whatever before I came over. My allergies would get worse and worse and I had no idea why. Then they say "Oh, we didn't think you were really allergic to it"
There were a few people who deliberately set off my allergies because they wanted to upset me or mess something up for me, or I guess they were just plain mean. The main one was someone in HS who just really hated my guts. She blamed me for stuff that wasn't even my fault and kept trying to get back at me. She discovered she could set off my allergies at really bad times for me. I didn't find this all out until much later. Once she did it before I was going to meet up with a guy I was interested in. My allergies got so bad that it screwed it all up. One time she stole the tissue box out of my backpack and in class when I started having a bad sneezing fit I couldn't find them and I had to keep sneezing into my hands and I couldn't deal with the snottiness and dripping and everything and that was really horrible and embarrassing! Another time she got a hold of my tissue box and put dust or pollen or something all around in there. Of course I was using the tissues and not knowing so I kept getting worse and worse all day and I had no clue why. That one was really miserable!
I have had people tell me my allergies were bothering them, my sneezing was a disruption, that I should be able to control them better, or that I was deliberately exaggerating them. They all really suck! I don't get why people have to be like that. Its not as bad as it was in high school, but I think some people just don't get it. I wish they would.
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