After a month and a half of experimenting, I have come to a very important conclusion:
It sucks to be allergic to dust, but not as much as it sucks to not know what's wrong with you.
After two years of being sick, it's very nice to finally have a diagnosis. But dust is a very stupid thing to be allergic to. Essentially it means you're allergic to your own dead skin debris. (Okay, I know it's not the debris, but the mites ON the debris, but it amounts to the same thing in practice.) Like, how do you avoid coming into contact with that? I supposed if I moved every other day to a habitat in which no other person had ever lived, that might help. Because, you know, that's possible.
Yesterday I made Drew dust the house, because there was this thick layer of grey grime on everything that I was afraid to wipe off myself lest I have a reaction to it. Drew kindly did all the dusting without complaint, but since I didn't actually *leave* the house while he did it, the inside of my head still feels like it doesn't fit in my skull anymore today.
Fortunately, now that I know what it is, I can actually take measures to help it. I now wash my sheets and pillowcases every five days or so. That's helped immensely. Then there's the zyrtec, which works okay, I guess. Add to that the sinus rinses and the nasal sprays (three so far) and the benadryl (am I allowed to take that on top of the zyrtec? I'm not sure, but it really, really helps on days like today when I'm dying from my own body's reaction to the creatures that live on it's deceased self, so whatever)...
I feel like a walking pharmacy. And I *hate* taking drugs. But this isn't very likely to get better in...ever...so I'm just going to have to learn to live with it. (And get mite-proof bedding. And reupolster my furniture in vinyl. And buy an air filter. And install hardwood floors when we eventually buy a house. The list goes on. And on. And on.)
I also feel like such a whiner, because I know lots of people who have MUCH worse allergies than me, let alone all the many and varied other health problems that are even worse than those. I shouldn't whine about this. Really. This isn't nearly as bad as it could be. I should just suck it up and deal with it.
And I am dealing with it...but some days all I want to do is complain.
/whining rant
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chasethestars
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- raisinfish
- Janci Patterson
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Allergies are on the list of "Things I will be changing when I create my own world."
Very, very annoying. So the lesson is, go take your kids to wallow in the dirt and sleep with the cats, and they won't get allergies. Probably. :)
Allergies suck. Most of the time you deal, occasionally you whine. That seems to be life.
Zyrtec plus Benadryl: yes. My dr. in Seattle recommended it, actually, for the bad days.
Also, if you have to dust or be around while someone's dusting, you might get one of those dust masks that cover your mouth and nose. Not pretty, but it worked really well when we baled straw when I was in high school. I wasn't ever allowed to bale hay or straw because of my allergies, but the mask on that one day helped a lot. Still had a reaction, but a whole lot lower-level than it would have been otherwise.
I vouch for the hardwood. Much easier to clean. (Especially if you have the handle assembly for the aforementioned Swiffer cloths.)
And I can also sympathize somewhat about the allergies. Eleven days ago I woke up with hives. No idea why. I haven't changed laundry detergents, shampoos, body wash, lotions, etc., or taken any new medication or eaten anything new, but I have hives. I've been taking Allegra, which helps, but I still have them (just to a lesser, more manageable degree). Until I figure out what is causing them, they're not going to go away. This is very frustrating, and I don't want to take Allegra for very long because I'm breastfeeding and some of the medication has to be seeping into the milk (though the doctor said the medication is "compatible" with breastfeeding. Still, the less the better). So yeah, I can somewhat sympathize, though I only have to deal with this sometimes. The last time I got hives it was when I was engaged (almost 7 years ago) and my skin reacted to my then fiance's (now husband's) clothes, which were washed in ALL detergent, so I avoid that. What's really weird is everything I use (lotion, body wash, laundry detergent) is all hypoallergenic for those with sensitive skin--dermatologist approved, with no dyes or fragrances (which is usually what causes the reaction). So I don't know what it could be!!