Wednesday, April 23, 2008

They're Baa-aack!

B.A.D in the Canadian Rockies. Look closely, my nose is a water source!

If there's one thing I really love to complain about it's my allergies. I didn't have any until I turned 30. Before then I'd say my nose felt congested most of the time and I'd been diagnosed with "enlarged turbinates" by the ENT doc I worked for. Then, gradually each year it's gotten worse. Pretty much January, February and March are my only allergy free months.

This past weekend at a party an older woman who has some health issues commented to me about how she had no sympathy for people who called in sick to work with a cold or allergies. Granted, this woman has been through some serious health issues involving chemo and who knows what else. Now, on my "Bad Allergy Days" (which I might as well just turn into its own acronym: B.A.D)I can't breathe through my nose so my mouth is hanging open all the time. It's difficult to enjoy a meal that way plus your mouth gets dried out. My face feels swollen and I've had people ask me about the "black eye" due to the dark circles that appear. Snot pours out of my nose uncontrollably. In the middle of counseling a client about hearing loss I'll have to jump up with my hand under my nose to keep it from falling on my desk before I can get a paper towel. Yes, a paper towel is right. I run out of tissues at an alarming rate and must resort to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer inducing paper towels. My head gets foggy feeling and honestly, I shouldn't be at work, it's that bad. I feel my pulse beating in my sinuses and I occasionally pull a muscle in my back from so many violent sneezes in one day. Imagine an entire day of that "oh my god, I'm gonna sneeze" feeling like you've got some black pepper dust in your nose. I feel like I'm tweaked into flight mode all day long wanting to get away from my face. (okay, most people feel that way around me). I have been to multiple doctors both conventional and "alternative". Preliminary allergy testing has not revealed anything so far, but now that the season is back, I guess I should continue my investigation into how to make it stop. Honestly though, I don't have much hope.

Today is a B.A.D despite taking my allergy medicine regularly for the past several months. Right now I'm just letting the snot run out of my nose because no one is here to see it and wiping it hurts too much. I forgot how sad it makes me, how tired, how angry, how desperate for a fifth of whiskey. So, to the woman who had no compassion for someone suffering from allergies I say, it really can be that bad, it really can make you wish you were comatose from April until January. Hopefully tomorrow will be a N.A.D (Non-Allergy Day)

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