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In my last post, I talked about allergies vs colds. I also wanted to talk about how having allergies affects the body.
If you don't have allergies - lucky you! For the those of us with allergies, life can be VERY miserable. I tell people that allergies are like a cold - THAT NEVER ENDS! At least with a cold, you know it's only going to last for about a week. (Unless you have asthma, and then you can develop pneumonia....but I'll save that for another post.)
I get a runny nose - but unlike a cold - the runny nose can last all spring and into summer. We go through A LOT of tissues at our house. My favorite are Puffs with Lotion (that way we don't end up with a red nose!) I almost panicked when I was at the grocery store and they only had 3 boxes left. So I bought all of them. They're MINE - ALL MINE! (Insert crazy laugh....)
To quote an allergy medicine commercial, "I store tissues like a squirrel stores nuts." Sad, but true.....
At our house, we can easily sneeze over 30 times a day. Sometimes, daughter Kitty will start to sneeze and we will count.......17, 18, 19 times in a row.
Other "fun" things that happen with allergies from WebMD are:
- Watery and itchy eyes
- Sinus infections
- Irritated throat (from breathing through your mouth)
- Snoring (yeah - try to get a good night's sleep while that is going on....)
- Headaches
- Wheezing
- Coughing
It's hard to do well in school and work when all of that is happening. So...what to do?
WebMD lists several things you can do around the house. One thing they don't list is to shower before you go to bed. Asthma Doc tells us to make sure we shower before bed because you can have pollen in your hair and on your skin. If you go to sleep at night with pollen on your body, and roll around on your pillow, all of that pollen gets spread around. And you can wake up feeling even worse (and looking worse with a red nose and swollen eyes.)
WebMD also lists different ways you can treat allergies There are a LOT of options - from antihistamines, eye drops, nose sprays, to prescription leukotriene inhibitors (Singulair) and mast cell inhibitors (nose sprays like Nasalcrom.) And let's not forget allergy shots (immunotherapy).
With all of those options, it's hard to know what is the best treatment plan. That's why we go to an allergy and asthma specialists. I like my primary care doctor, but for this, I need a specialist.
Talk to your doc and see what's right for you. Pardon me while I grab some tissues...