poliphilo | Free Association

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I guess I'll be taking antihystemine (sp?) tablets for the rest of my life now.

Perhaps I can knock them off during the winter months.

But then again, seeing I just got this ramping attack of hay fever in mid february, I'm not sure any time can be considered safe.

Would it be specious to link this to global waming and climate change?

Perhaps I'm allergic to rabbits.

Should I add the hay fever pills to the pills in my compartmented pill box?

It would make sense, but then again it would be an admission of defeat.

I'd be branding myself as a hay fever sufferer.

As someone who suffers from chronic rhinitis. I like that word. Makes me think of rhinos. I guess it's all to do with noses.

Rhinoplasty: that's what Michael Jackson had done again and again until the poor, overworked member caved in.

There's something awesome about the realisation that from now on until forever you will always have to do something or other.

Even if the something or other is as minor as taking a pill.

It reminds me of when I first got glasses.

I was 20. I was in some medieval church looking up at the corbels (some things never change) and I suddenly realised I couldn't focus without squinting and I'd have to get my eyes tested.

A life changing experience. Nothing would ever be quite the same again.

I adapted quickly to wearing glasses. I like having them. They're a prop, something to fiddle with, look over the top of, push to the top of my head like I'm Sophia Loren.

An extension of the body.

A prosthesis

It's been suggested I wear contacts.

No way.

Or have laser treatment.

Get lost!

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It is possible that you have become allergic to some kind of tree pollen. It could be over by March. I never had a sniff (pardon the pun) of hayfever until I was 18 and then it stuck me down every June. Over by mid July.

I find Clarityn the best medication. Piriton and Benadryl (I think I've got those names right) send me to sleep, even the "non-drowsy" version.

Could be.

But how do you find out what it is that's causing it?

I'm taking generic ceterzine hydrochloride tablets that we bought at a discount in bulk off the Intenet. I'm not noticing any side effects.

The doctors can run a "scratch tests" on you - I think that's what they are called, and they are really just bunch of scratches on your arm with stuff put on every one of them. Though when I had it I appeared not to be allergic to anything at all. So my "rhino" stays unexplained, for 5 years now I think.. (Where's that nasal spray? Must remember to renew my prescription!)

:( That sounds like something I'd go a long way round to avoid.

I hate needles....

I hate needles too, but it really is no big deal. It's nowhere near having blood tests...

Aaaargh...*runs to hide under the table*....

A friend of mine who is a biochemist and who suffers a lot from hayfever switches the brand of her anti-hayfever medication on a regular basis - every two to three months, I think.

According to her experiences and study, if you take the same brand repeatedly, it reduces in effectiveness.

I can believe that.

But we just bought a bulk supply of these particular pills so I think I'm stuck with them.

>>>>But how do you find out what it is that's causing it?

i had the skin test in about 1966 and then had a course of injections.
In about 1973 I gave up on the injections and started noting what was around - trees, flowers, animals, whenever symptoms began.

Now that's a much better way of doing things.

Sophia Loren is one person I have never thought to compare you with - Cliff Richard when your hair grows longer - Prince Charles now that you've got 2 bald patches (oh, is that supposed to be a secret?).

I remember you once being compared to a donkey by a Wiccan friend - as we worked naked you were quite smug until she explained it was because of how much you ate LOL

"A prophet is not without honour save in his own country and amongst his own people."

*Sob*

Rather than becoming addicted to antihistamines (they are quite drying!), I might suggest that you chat with your physician about a prescription for an antileukotriene drug. I don't know what the brand names are in England, but here we use a drug called Singulair. It was originally developed for asthmatics, but it's been approved for several years now here for treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis. It acts to make the body less sensitive to those allergens and triggers that cause your hay fever and animal dander attacks.

That's a new one on me.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I don't think my pills will ever become part of my extended self the way my glasses are. To me, taking my drugs is more akin to brushing my teeth than wearing something every day. (And I don't really identify with my toothbrush, I must admit...)

My pill box is sitting on the tower of my PC- I can see it every time I look up- so I'm very conscious of the role it plays in my life.

My pills are one my bedside table, and I really don't pay any attention to them except when I go to bed and have to take them...

I am very unwillingly realizing too that what I thought a respiratory bug that started 2 weeks ago is actually bloody allergy. A month earlier than usual. This is so sad.

What did I say? It's all down to climate change!

have you tried a neti pot? washing your sinus. check on line.

Thanks. I'll take a look.

I don't take antihistamines any more because they make me suicidally depressed. When my allergies are really bad, I wear a surgical mask. I look like a dork, but it works.

I'm allergic to cedar, which is a tree; December-February are the worst for it. That particular allergy is so common here, it's called "cedar fever".

I don't think there are any cedars round here- but- on the other hand- we live very close to Alexandra Park which is full of exotic trees...

>>>>> guess I'll be taking antihystemine (sp?) tablets for the rest of my life now.

Not necessarily! It changes. I suffered really badly in my teens, it disappeared in late 20s, made a brief reappearance in 30s, and again in my late 40s.
The snag about medication is that you can't identify the culprit. I've now worked out that my problem is caused more by sap than pollen - so I get someone else to clip the stuff that causes the trouble.
You can also develop allergic rhinitis by skin contact. I have to avoid touching chrysanthemums as well as being near them, ditto bracken at the "wrong" time of the year
And so on -

The thing is I seem to have taken a turn for the worse. I never suffered from hay fever as a kid.

Sap, eh? That might make sense- because the sap is visibly rising all round. I wonder what i may have touched? I don't think I've been anywhere near any chrysanthemums.

It's possible that another trigger has been planted or grown in your area - in which case the "worse" symptoms might settle down when you've got acclimatized.

I like my glasses, too. I will never get contacts, unless, of course, I can get some with reptile eyes and then wear them to work where I can scare everyone to death. I work for a Christian religious organization. Do you think they would object?

I think they might find it a little disconcerting.

Yes, but, think of the fun!

Acupuncture - If you can cope with the needles (they're not like syringe needles which by neccesity are barbed and painful) then that may sort you out. It worked for me and dad, and it's good from a more holistic point of view, it might cure all your ailments!
-- Tom F

Thanks Tom.

That's amazing.

I'm not sure how I feel about acupuncture needles, but I'm afraid I usually look away when there's anything of that kind on TV.

There's always acupressure instead :)

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