I have NEVER had to deal with allergies in all of my 48 years. Oh sure, I might sneeze a few times, maybe get stuffed up a bit right at the beginning of pollen season, but never in all of my years have I felt the mind numbing congestion, wool-sweater-shoved-down-my-throat, allergies that I have fought with the deepest desperation this past week.
So my apologies in advance for the quietness here on the blog and on our social media sites. It’s been hell trying to just hold my head up and not cough and spritz every two seconds, let alone try and prepare something intelligent to amuse you with.
I grew up in Pennsylvania, surrounded by a variety of trees and woodlands, wild flowers, and a myriad of beautiful daffodils, roses, hyacinths, dandelions, ragweed, honeysuckle – you get the idea. If I was going to develop an allergy to something – THEN would have been the opportune time for it to rear its ugly head, right?
Wrong.
[bctt tweet=”People can develop allergies later in life, out of the blue, for no reason at all.” username=”KimAtLiah”]
Doctors have no idea why patients develop allergies later in life. Genetics may not be as important a role as before thought. Unfortunately, people who develop allergies for the first time later in life are also at risk for developing asthma later in life and may have a more severe asthma disease. (source)
I did not think it was allergies at first. Stuffy nose, congestion – I’m getting a cold, no biggie right? Then I take my son in for his annual checkup and he tells the doctor about his extremely sore throat (check), stuffy nose (check), coughing uncontrollably (check) and she does a strep test on him. He came back positive. Oh joy! Singing and swinging from the rafters he was because it gave him a 48 hours no school pass until he’d been on his antibiotics for that long. Doctor tells me that if my symptoms are the same as his (which they are) to get myself tested as soon as possible as well.
So I pop into the local CVS MinuteClinic (these little clinics are a life saver I tell you – especially when your own primary care physician cannot see you for a week!) and wait for my turn to be seen. 4 people ahead of me, wait was about an hour – not bad – and then it was my turn. Thorough examination, listens to my concerns, strep test, viral infection testing – I’m clean. No strep, no viral infection … just a really, really bad case of allergies.
She hands me my paperwork and a booklet with over $25 in allergy medication coupons. I open it up and my head begins to swim. There’s Claritin, Zyrtec, Benadryl, Allegra – how do I know what I need and what’s going to work for me?
So I turn to those I can trust – my peeps on Facebook who have dealt with this crap. What allergy medication do you recommend? I ask them. I get different responses from every single person.
See, here’s the thing about allergies.
[bctt tweet=”No two people react the same way to allergies or allergy medications.” username=”KimAtLiah”]
Great. I settled on Zyrtec, because hubby’s doctor had prescribed that for him as well so figured we would both take it and see how it works. Um yeah, not what I needed. I’ve taken it for six days straight with not much relief at all. The only reason I’m able to hold my head upright and ‘deal’ at all today is because of the blessed, glorious rain that has fallen off and on today.
To all those that I thought were being a wimp before when they complained about seasonal allergies from pollen – my deepest, heartfelt apologies. There were several days when I would have gleefully welcomed death by firing squad than to deal with these symptoms one more moment. You have my undying admiration for dealing with this b.s. each and every year.
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I have allergies in the spring and fall to the pollen and dust.It affects me to a point where I can’t stop sneezing and have to take allergy pills to stop it.
I did that the other day @facebook-640166489:disqus!! I think I sneezed like 20 times in a row!!! The dog hid under the pillows because she didn’t know what the heck was wrong with me lol!
I knew how bad allergies were because my kids have them, and you know we always feel our kids pain. Though now I really know, last year was my first go round with allergies and I was 47, this year isn’t looking much better.
Ugh, I feel for you @disqus_zPFFhHFShe:disqus!!! I’m right there with you. Thankfully we’ve had some rain that has helped tremendously – but I could tell this morning when I woke up that it was going to be a warm day and the pollen would be flying because I was all congested again. Ugh. Getting old sucks lol!
I developed allergies, to a point where I had an asthma attack. I rolled into my doctor’s office grasping for air and asking if I was dying. Thankfully Zyrtec works for me. Spring and fall are killers for me. Headache, coughing, sneezing and going through boxes of tissues like a crazy woman. Now I’m getting bags under my eyes. Having allergies is no joke.
See @sugarkisses:disqus – that’s what I’m afraid of … developing asthma along with the allergies. I already have a difficult enough time with all this extra weight on me from the winter (need to get my sneakers laced up SERIOUSLY!) breathing. By the time I walk the about 250 steps from my front door to the pharmacy across the street the other day – I was gasping for oxygen and had to sit down in the waiting area at the pharmacy for a few minutes till I could catch my breath again! I do not need to deal with asthma on top of allergies lol!
I take the Zyrtec twice a day this time of year. It has also cost me a fortune. I’ve removed all the carpet in my house and installed hardwood floors. I can never open the door or windows to let in fresh air, it would kill me. I’m now looking at an air filtration system for the bedroom.
Oh dang hon. Yeah, that’s bad when it reaches that point. I would absolutely die if I got to the point where I couldn’t open my windows. It’s one of life’s little pleasures that I live for every spring and fall! I’m sorry you cannot enjoy that. I used to love carpeting – can’t stand it now. I’d rather have hardwood floors everywhere too. Much easier to keep clean and if the kids spill something – swish swish and its cleaned up – no stains, no muss!
Ugh the dreaded Spring allergies. I have already had a little taste of this fine annoyance.
My husband thought I was crazy when I woke up this morning .. I yelled “Hot damn!” at the top of my lungs and did a little dance around the living room with the dog. The “wool sweater” was gone from my throat and I could actually breathe through my nose without having my mouth hanging open like a fish to get oxygen!!!! First time in over 10 days that I’ve been able to do that!!!
Enjoy the day “wool free’ lol ! I feel your pain.
Allergies are the worst this year. I take an allergy pill every morning & it just does not work.
Oh gosh don’t tell me that lol!! My poor baby boy is suffering now too (well 12 year old baby boy lol) and we’ve been coughing and sneezing in stereo the past two days! I’ve been giving him some children’s allergy meds but not helping him much either. I’m going to try the sudafed when I get some cash. Hopefully that will offer some relief from the congestion at least!