Half a Step Over

Sneeze, Sniffle, Stay Inside

Ah, the first round of allergy season. The time of the sneeze, the sniffle, the sinus headache, the runny eyes. You know it . . . staying inside to try to feel better. Waving to the nice spring flowers that you really do love from inside the glass door. If you spend much time outside, or go to handle the flowers, that’s it—an allergy attack.

Yes, I have allergies, particularly the pesky pollens and molds. And I mean mainly the molds, such as those that breed in piles of leaves or grass. Oh, and there’s the dust allergy, which of course occurs indoors too. I’ve been known to dust between visits from a cleaning service because I see the dust piling up, but afterwards I fully expect to have breathing problems. But then again, sometimes I just think breathing is overrated.

Should I mention the incident a week before one daughter’s bat mitzvah? I dared to have the carpets in my room cleaned. Woke up the next day almost totally unable to open my eyes. My husband couldn’t break a meeting appointment so a friend drove me to the allergist, who had agreed to see me whenever I could get a ride. One look at me and the assistants were running for the doctor. I almost left when I barely saw him coming at my eyes with a needle. Turned out it was the easiest way to get medication in so things would calm down. Suffice it to say, we figured out that not only had the carpet dust settled on the bed during the cleaning, but the pollen had come in early in the morning because we had the windows open. It was not a good week. Fortunately, I recovered in time. Since then, if I have the carpets cleaned I make sure everything in the room is covered so I avoid the dust; and, if it’s in my room, I sleep elsewhere. We won’t be repeating that one.

Plus, I was president of an organization for which I was in the same building at least four times a week—and that was without the religious service attendance. Turned out the building, as should be expected, had allergen molds in it. It was a long term of service, and I tried to cut time in the building back as the years went on. I’m thinking I was the only president to have that kind of issue.

You know those shots that are supposed to help you get over your allergies? Not so much. I went to be retested after the requisite 7 years of needles—usually 7 to 10 shots a week—and it was a wonderful result. I had developed new allergies. After a while I stopped the shots and just went to taking pills every day. I made a deal with the doctor, since I really hate to always take pills, that during the winter, when things calmed down a bit, I could cut the pills back to every other day. That seems to work. It turns out that most people never recover completely from allergies and go for shots all their lives. I wasn’t into that idea. I do have a friend, though, who is considered a model of what can be good; she goes for maintenance shots every 4 to 6 weeks and is considered “cured.”

Unfortunately, the doctor and I had a disagreement over something totally unrelated to the allergies, I felt he behaved like a 5-year-old, and I fired him (as in, I asked for copies of my records, including the last set of tests, paid for them, and never went back). But my pills had moved to the generic category so now I buy them over-the-counter in a big-box discount store and everything is pretty much the same. I can go to my primary care provider if something goes wrong, but on the whole things just hum along on an even keel so I can’t complain a lot for the moment.

Coping on the Drug Allergy 

And then there’s the big allergy: penicillin. This is a humdinger—and could be a killer. I don’t think I was 10 years old when my parents found out I had this one—I was given a dose for tonsillitis and we won’t discuss the reaction. My mother will tell you that I rarely do anything easily on the medical side—starting with my birth when I began choking on the cord and things turned into an emergency c-section. Do you know how many doctors there are out there who say I should just try a little bit to see if I’m still allergic? I usually don’t see those doctors again. Fortunately, there are now alternatives to penicillin, but when I was younger, it was hard. No, I don’t wear a medical bracelet, although I probably should. Maybe I’m just living dangerously but I know a lot of people who don’t use them; they’re not a great fashion statement. I have successfully avoided taking penicillin since that one time, which also put me flat on my back for a month. On the plus side, that’s the summer I read all of the Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Bobbsey Twins, and Honey Bunch books (anyone else remember Honey Bunch? I really loved her). I pretty much read everything they put in front of me. When you are lying on a lawn chair in the garage or the back yard for the entire day (anyplace that was out of the sun), you tend to read pretty much anything you can get your hands on. Neighbors lent us books in bunches either tied together with string or in bags. Funny how I remember that.

All in all, I haven’t had a terrible life with allergies, but they do make things interesting. And I have found ways to live with them, which is all that matters.