Me and My Snot
Monday, January 4, 2010 at 7:00AM 
Do any of you have allergies? I have allergies. The kind of allergies that try to kill me. If you look at my childhood photos, most of them include me holding Kleenex and sporting a red nose. I am pretty sure I marked every spot in my parents' house with my runny snot. Gross, but true. My nose has been trying to kill me since I was a wee tot.
When I was eight, my Dad took me to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist for allergy testing. The printout of my allergy results was about eight pages long. As the allergist put it, "Anything that has fur, pollen, or atoms attached... your daughter's going to snot all over it." He put me on a nasal steroid and pills that made me sleep all day, so.... that wasn't going to work. I just had to learn to live with my traitor olfactory appendage, and my family had to learn to deal with the snot.
Thankfully, by the time I grew to be an adult, allergy medicine grew up, too. Zyrtec-D and Flonase saved my life! You may think that's overdramatic, but when you get to kiss your boyfriend without snot on your face, it's rather exciting. It was a whole new world.
Regardless, sometimes my allergies still find ways to get me in the form of sinus infections. If I travel anywhere with grass or trees, I get one. Usually the infection is minor, but sometimes it's a doozy. I feel like I have the flu, but it's really just my sinuses playing Chemistry Set behind my eyes.
Guess what? Warm TX weather + Six hours of recirculated air on a delayed airplane + Freezing Chicago weather + IL forest reserve = The Worst Sinus Infection of My Life. I have been sick for over a week now, and I probably have another 3-4 days to go. At its apex, I couldn't use four of my five senses, and the left side of my face and teeth were swollen and itchy. Freak show. Seriously, I felt like the only thing to be thankful for was that I wasn't throwing up. Thankfully, I have an ENT who called in lots of good prescription meds so I can kill this infernal infection.
Until my sinus infection decides to stop playing havoc with my face, I am happy to make use of the wonders of modern medicine, especially the Tylenol PM, which will hopefully help me sleep more than two hours tonight. (sigh)
Allergies
Reader Comments (4)
I hope you feel better soon!
Ugh, hope you feel better soon! I'm a fellow allergy-sufferer. Have you ever considered allergy shots? I'm on my fourth year of them and they've literally changed my life!
Ugh - I hope you feel better. I just found out that I could be allergic to dairy. All my life I've felt like crap and never known why!? Frustrating!
Hello there! I enjoyed reading your WeddingBee blog and stumbled upon this one, and thought, "Why, she looks familiar!" Anyways, I'm sure you've heard of this many times, but have you tried using a Neti Pot? I have terrible allergies as well, to pollen, mold, dust, cat and bunny fur, etc etc. When my allergies get back I use a Neti Pot and it helps clear a lot of the gunk out. You can't use it if you're totally stuffed up, but if you're nose is running and you can breath through your nose even a bit, it can be incredibly helpful!
Just an idea :)