multipurposegoddess: (Default)
multipurposegoddess ([personal profile] multipurposegoddess) wrote2008-09-26 09:09 am
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*Cough* *hack* *cough*

My seasonal environmental allergic response kicked in right on the equinox. Hooray for predictability? It took me three days of complaining to remember that there are OTC drugs made for combating this shit. DH went out and got me Mucinex D and Nasalcrom, which I think I have decided I just need to stay on year-round, trying to figure out the calendar of when to start and stop is too hard - every time I stop turns out to be too early and it takes a week of being off it to find that out and then another week of using it again before it's effective, so experimentation leads to a lot of suffering with sinuses full of fluids and stopped up ears and the oh so charming cough that sounds like a sea-lion and hurts my chest. So, continuous use.

Meanwhile, I seem to have no choicet but to put off all but the most necessary stuff. I get so tired from the smallest thing, anything that can be put off will, I'm afraid.

[identity profile] fiorituranotte.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Passes a hot cup of tea through the internet

This sounds so much like me that I could have written it. It amazes me that this happens every year, and yet every year I am surprised and confused about why I suddenly feel like crap.

[identity profile] tskaredoff.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Mmm, tea Thank you, m'lady.

Exactly! I spend days thinking, "why do I feel bad?" before it finally hits me - "the same reason you do very year, Pinky"
fufaraw: mist drift upslope (gold lit trees)

[personal profile] fufaraw 2008-09-28 05:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Sounds familiar. Except that I soldier on never even realizing I *do* feel bad, until it gets reallyreally bad, and then I go "bzuh?" I reserve the benedryl/suphedrine combo for when my sinuses are trying to etch their way to the surface of my skull, but I forget about the rotten way I feel whole-bodywise when the seasonal stuff kicks in. You think we'd learn.

Edited 2008-09-28 17:41 (UTC)

[identity profile] tskaredoff.livejournal.com 2008-09-28 06:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh. I can't tell I'm sick until my sinuses let me know. Until then I just wonder why I'm draggy and achy - must be something I did yesterday...

I try to avoid Benadryl because I don't like the side-effects - I get very jittery and buzzy - and I can't see the effects fast enough to really be sure it does any good.

It's funny, I had a doctor tell me that my Springtime allergy would be worrisome between Valentine's Day and Memorial Day 15 years ago, and I can remember that and even prepare for it, but just experiencing the same thing every fall does not make it into the long-term memory.
fufaraw: mist drift upslope (Default)

[personal profile] fufaraw 2008-09-28 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, my long-term memory is sorta deficient that way, too.

I've been so lucky with the Benadryl. Years ago I nearly lost my job because I had to be at work for a hideously important week, and I had the cold from hell. So I took sequential doses some OTC med with a heavy load of suphedrine in it. My eyes did that strabismus thing, my scalp crawled and tingled, and I went paranoid psychotic on my boss' boss' secretary. *Not* a happy time.

Later, when questioned about bad drug reactions I mentioned the suphedrine thing, and the doc doing the questioning said, "Well, duh. That's a recognized side effect." Odd, I don't remember reading that on the side panel. So I steered clear of Sudafed for, like, ever. But Benadryl is the drug that combats my allergic symptoms with the *least* unpleasant side effects, except that it dries me out so badly my eyes squeak. So I take a tiny baby dose of B-dryl and chase it with a tiny baby dose of S-fed, and it breaks the allergic reaction. If I chase it with a couple of Tylenol it breaks up any headache, and I'm usually good for the day. Occasionally I need a second dose, but it's rare. I don't like 12-hour stuff, because what do you do when it doesn't work? You gotta wait and suffer, is what.

I'm a drug minimalist. Often that translates to, "Dummy, you shoulda took it earlier!"

[identity profile] tskaredoff.livejournal.com 2008-09-29 04:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Dayumn, that is a nasty reaction! Yikes!

I tend to be a drug minimalist myself, which is why I like the Nasalcrom - nothing actually gets into your bloodstream so there's nsm of the random psycho side-effects. My big problem with it is that when it's working I feel so totally normal that I am always tempted to stop using it because I feel so good I must not need it anymore. I am usually wrong when I think that, of course.