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| click for pollen.com |
Today's predominant pollens are grasses, plaintain, and chenopods. I live across a wild field of fescue and orchard grass (hay), and the rest surrounds me in the forest. Won't be long till ragweed is going crazy. (That ragweed link says watermelon is related to ragweed, learning something new.) My eyes started itching yesterday and haven't stopped since, so I'm pretty sure ragweed is already under way here. August/September is usually when I wind up in clinics or ERs getting steroid shots, and last year got so bad I was on prednisone for 17 days finally erupting over everything with a molecule of wheat in it. THIS YEAR- crank the antihistamines, stay in the house, eat like a pauper, keep my immune system as calm as possible. No defcon alerts, no overreacting, no surprises. Let's see if I can get through a summer without having an anaphylactic reaction.
Once my histamine load is up (sum of daily incoming allergens), it takes very little to trigger a meltdown. I found out that reactions can blow up even 48-72 hours after eating a trigger food, and that this is so common here in the Ozarks (super high histamine area) that doctors automatically assume allergic response even if there are no other clear symptoms indicated. They start cranking phenergan and steroids almost as soon as you tell them a flush in your cheeks isn't from a sunburn. An ambulance tech told me he once threw everything in the box at a young woman whose face blew up from a piece of hard candy and barely got her to ER still breathing. They take allergies very seriously during ragweed season around here. If you click this pic you'll get more info, and you'll see why I don't drink chamomile tea.
Side note-Allergic reactions to cannabis (marijuana). Yes, you can be allergic to cannabis, and smoking marijuana can trigger anaphylaxis if you are. I once had a doozy reaction (many years ago) and thought I was going to die because I couldn't breathe and my heart was pounding super hard, but I was so wasted I couldn't talk or move to get help, and I blacked out. Allergic reactions are no joke, although the meme thing is kinda funny. Click for more on stoner awareness parody history.
In light of all this, allergy season is a two month lifestyle change. Chillaxin goes further for me than running a ratrace and winding up spending hours in clinic/ER spiking huge bills for something I can kind of control if I pay attention. Thanks to my sister for introducing me to this guy. I haven't found out yet if we're related, my sister is a big genealogy enthusiast.
