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Last night I remembered one of the factors which probably contributed to my becoming a typically nocturnal person. My allergies aren't as bad at night. I think maybe plants release more pollen into the air while the sun is out, so by around 10 a bunch of it has settled out, perhaps? That and evening showers are pretty common, which would tend to take stuff out of the air. In any case, they aren't as bad.
I don't think I've really talked about this here yet. I have pretty severe seasonal allergies. I forget if it's grass pollen or tree pollen. They hit every year, and there's usually a few days when I'm a pretty complete wreck. Those started yesterday. I get full-body sneezes in strings of 6-12. My nose is constantly stuffed/runny in a way which is not only annoying in terms of massive consumption of tissues and rubbing the skin of my nose raw, but also strains muscles up my back in the effort to blow my nose. I lose a lot of sensation in taste/smell, which makes me less inclined to eat. After a bit of this, most of the muscles in my body are even tighter knots of tension than they usually are.
Worst, though, is that my nose gets sufficiently stuffed that it impairs my breathing. This is not just annoying, but makes it very difficult for me to fall asleep, and tends to lead to my sleeping less effectively. So on top of my other symptoms, I start floating around in a haze of sleep deprivation. Dehydration, puffy skin, touch-sensitivity, sensitivity to temperature extremes, difficulty thinking as clearly as usual, further reduced appetite; all that fun stuff.
I'm certain the occasional body-wracking, noisy, forceful enough to blow things around sneezes make me less fun to be around than usual. And the constant sniffling; the loud, frequent, two-tone nose-blowing; and the little piles of tissues that build up in the nearby trashcan or in my pockets can't possibly be inviting either.
No, drugs don't work. I'm sure I've tried every over-the-counter remedy known to man at some point in the last c. 20 years of allergy suffering. At best, they do nothing. At worst, they make me more drowsy than I already am but have no positive effect (not even helping me sleep, just making me want to more). We've played with various prescription drugs a few times. We found one that worked wonders for me around the end of Jr. High School/beginning of High School. It was taken off the market a couple years later--turns out it causes an increased risk of heart disease. No, I don't want to try to get some of it on the black market--I have significant family history of heart disease; that's not a risk I'm prepared to take knowingly.
So I go nocturnal, 'cause I can breathe a bit easier at night so being awake is less unpleasant. Except I can't necessarily actually fall asleep, so my sleep schedule becomes even less predictable than usual, drifting around as I manage to lie down and fall asleep (rather than lying down and having so much breathing difficulty that I need to get back up because I feel like I'm choking).
Ok, enough whining. If I'm particularly cranky or tense in the next couple of weeks, please bear with me. On the plus side, maybe I can channel the screwed up sleeping into the beginning of an experiment in polyphasic sleep...
I don't think I've really talked about this here yet. I have pretty severe seasonal allergies. I forget if it's grass pollen or tree pollen. They hit every year, and there's usually a few days when I'm a pretty complete wreck. Those started yesterday. I get full-body sneezes in strings of 6-12. My nose is constantly stuffed/runny in a way which is not only annoying in terms of massive consumption of tissues and rubbing the skin of my nose raw, but also strains muscles up my back in the effort to blow my nose. I lose a lot of sensation in taste/smell, which makes me less inclined to eat. After a bit of this, most of the muscles in my body are even tighter knots of tension than they usually are.
Worst, though, is that my nose gets sufficiently stuffed that it impairs my breathing. This is not just annoying, but makes it very difficult for me to fall asleep, and tends to lead to my sleeping less effectively. So on top of my other symptoms, I start floating around in a haze of sleep deprivation. Dehydration, puffy skin, touch-sensitivity, sensitivity to temperature extremes, difficulty thinking as clearly as usual, further reduced appetite; all that fun stuff.
I'm certain the occasional body-wracking, noisy, forceful enough to blow things around sneezes make me less fun to be around than usual. And the constant sniffling; the loud, frequent, two-tone nose-blowing; and the little piles of tissues that build up in the nearby trashcan or in my pockets can't possibly be inviting either.
No, drugs don't work. I'm sure I've tried every over-the-counter remedy known to man at some point in the last c. 20 years of allergy suffering. At best, they do nothing. At worst, they make me more drowsy than I already am but have no positive effect (not even helping me sleep, just making me want to more). We've played with various prescription drugs a few times. We found one that worked wonders for me around the end of Jr. High School/beginning of High School. It was taken off the market a couple years later--turns out it causes an increased risk of heart disease. No, I don't want to try to get some of it on the black market--I have significant family history of heart disease; that's not a risk I'm prepared to take knowingly.
So I go nocturnal, 'cause I can breathe a bit easier at night so being awake is less unpleasant. Except I can't necessarily actually fall asleep, so my sleep schedule becomes even less predictable than usual, drifting around as I manage to lie down and fall asleep (rather than lying down and having so much breathing difficulty that I need to get back up because I feel like I'm choking).
Ok, enough whining. If I'm particularly cranky or tense in the next couple of weeks, please bear with me. On the plus side, maybe I can channel the screwed up sleeping into the beginning of an experiment in polyphasic sleep...
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I don't find any one thing that useful, but I've found the combination of (god help me) generic claritin (OTC), singulair (prescrip for allergies & asthma), stinging nettle (herb that can be used as needed, every couple of hours even, specifically for nasal allergies) can be really useful. When things are really bad, certain chinese herbal formulas get added to the list and that'll usually nip 'em in the bud.
Other things useful: when my throat is itching like crazy (on really bad days it's not just the nose & sneezing liek mad and using mountains of tissues, but everything else itches, eyes, ears, throat, skin, etc), I just brush my teeth even if it's not the regular time. That seems to wash the pollen out of the throat and the menthol in the toothpaste stops the itching, like with mosquito bites. And on that principle, I need to try a neti pot. "sinus douching" is supposed to be really useful, and if it works anywhere near as well as the toothbrushing, it'll be great. I finally got myself over the gross out factor adn mean to try it sometime soon.
Also, when it's pollen screwing me up, I find leaving the windows closed all the time and letting all air come in through the AC filters to be reaaaaaally useful.
*shrug* Just saying. No one thing worked for me either, and mine can get pretty godawful.
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I haven't tried stinging nettle. Thanks. I'll try to track some down and give them a try...where should I look for them?
I've tried the head-over-boiling-water and taking hot showers and standing in the steam sorts of things with little to no noticeable benefit. I don't know that I've specifically tried washing my mouth for itching inside the mouth, though...I should give that a try.
Huh. Neti pot looks interesting. I tried to run my shower into my nose last night with little effect, but...that definitely looks like it's worth a shot. If you try it, let me know how it goes?
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Honestly, the itching drives me insane worse than anything. I swear sometimes I want to claw my own eyes/throat/nose out.
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<.<
*stalks*
~Sor/Kat