Allergies: Fun AND Deadly

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]So here I am, freshly hired with a marketing firm that goes door to door offering various services to clients. And as I was tramping across a freshly mown lawn, it occurred to me that this may not be such a great job for me, regardless of my drive to do well and earn money.

This thought was thrown into sharp relief when I woke up this morning choking and suffocating under a deluge of allergic reactions.

1: My throat's closed up.
2: My chest's compressed
3: My sinuses are under amazing pressure.

And what's to blame? My deathly allergies to anything that grows out of the ground. Grass, weeds, pollen, tree pollen, poplar, elm, etc. And wouldn't you know it, the territories I've been assigned to cover are rife with all of the above. ...stupid homeowners and their desire to have trees and plants everywhere...

So I have to go into the office in a couple hours and explain that I'm unfit for this job because of health reasons, which seem to insert themselves in every situation I have. Only thing I can ask for is a referral to a desk job that doesn't involve someone around me using a leafblower. Man I'm pathetic.

Now, tell me how allergies have ruined your life, and the lives of people around you. What's your poison? Bee stings? Peanuts? Small children?[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Andrew]

[quote name='Neuvoxraiha'][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Now, tell me how allergies have ruined your life, and the lives of people around you. What's your poison? Bee stings? Peanuts? Small children?[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[size=1]Children! Definately the Children! >_< God I hates 'em, I 'ATES 'EM! Well, maybe just people in general I don't like. ¬_¬

Like I already told you, I don't know anything about allergies since, as far as I'm aware, I haven't got any. Although I've known many people who do and had to watch them go through it, so you definately have my sympathy.

Boss-man will understand, otherwise you just carry on the job and then sue his *** for all he's worth![/size]

[Delta]

[COLOR=#36425e][FONT="Palatino Linotype"]We should trade jobs, Neuvoxraiha, if you don't mind dust. I don't like desk jobs because they entail reading feasibility reports that are almost always covered with a veneer of dust. Dust that gets stirred up with every turn of the page, dust that by the guidance of some invisible hand finds its way into my ears, nose and eyes. I sneeze like crazy, my nose gets all runny, my ears itch and my eyes, irritated when I come into contact with my allergen. My body reacts so violently that I'd be down for half a day after cleaning my room (which isn't 100% bad; I've a thing for fresh bed sheets). I'd rather catch a cold, really; at least I don't get the urge to rub my eyes and fish for protein buildup under my eyelids every five minutes.

I am also slightly allergic to crustaceans, shrimp especially. My lips would swell to the size of Ms. Jolie's and itch. It's like having amalgamated mosquito bites for lips. Gah.

[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Panda]

I am allergic to Penicillin. It's considered an adult onset allergy since I use to be fine taking it when I was little. You know, the pink "bubble gum" flavored medicine. Well, when I was 14 I ended up having to take some and after downing two little pills I got really sick. 103 temp, open blisters in my throat, purple rash... it was an all around bad situation. I ended up in the emergency room and missed 2 months of school.

I think the worse part was when the Pastor for our church showed up to talk to me about Heaven. :animedepr Yeah, when you feel like you are on your death bed having a Pastor come talk to you about the afterlife really makes you feel like you are dying.

[Claire]

[FONT="Arial"]Apparently I'm allergic to everything.

Okay, not everything. But as I get sick a lot, my mom took me to an allergist who tested me on tons of things; different kinds of trees, animals, dust, pollen. Everything showed up as having an effect on me.

Aside from having small symptoms every now and then (sore throat, stuffy nose, coughing) it never really bothers me that much. I've got two cats and a dog and I only ever get itchy eyes from touching them.[/FONT]

[Petie]

[quote name='Clurr'][FONT=Arial]Apparently I'm allergic to everything.[/FONT][/quote]
[FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]I second that.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]I am, and have been for as long as I can remember, allergic to everything air-borne for almost then entire year. Basically, this means just about everything you listed in your post, Neuvoxraiha.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]My allergies range from mild, where they're just an annoyance to severe where I was out of school for a good week once. I've been through six or seven different medications, all of which seem to stop working after the first year. I also went for shots (three to six in each arm, once a week) for five years which, I've been told, helped compared to what they were when I was little.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]My best story involves my one game baseball career. When I was younger, I wanted to play baseball. I made it through two practices and half of an at-bat when I realized I couldn't see the ball. Needless to say, I haven't played since.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Oh, cushy desk job...I'm all over it. Ah the irony.

I think I failed to mention that I was also tested for all of the above. Positive tests? ...EVERYTHING! Especially the pollen and trees and stuff though. Dust and mites too. When then did the mini scratch tests and injections I had welts on top of welts. Gross!

Anyway I'm back from talking to the boss man, and he was ultra sympathetic, which is interesting because I didn't expect any of that, but whatever. So now I'm scraping the bottom of the jobs barrel. Macy's! Verizon Wireless! Victoria's Secret! Borders! Bring 'em all on!

In the meantime, I am going to try to choke down waffles and tea.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Until last year in Tasmania, I never knew I was allergic to anything, then at a fateful dinner thrown by a friend of my aunt which I was invited to I was given shellfish for the first time. The result after one tiny little fork of it was that my lips and throat swelled up badly and I got fever, had to spent the next four hours drinking water continuously and struggling to swallow. As a result, I'm not to keen on seafood any more

Get mild enough hay-fever too in the summer, but all my family seems to suffer from it. Just usually manifests as a lot of sneezing.[/SIZE]

[Delta]

[COLOR=#35425e][FONT="Palatino Linotype"]I've been thinking of taking anti-histamines for my dust allergy, seeing how well it worked for my sis when she managed to get caterpillar hairs stuck on every square inch of her body. However, it did knock her out for a good few hours. Was it the dosage or are anti-histamines supposed to work that way?[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Raiha]

[quote name='Sirius'][COLOR=#35425e][FONT="Palatino Linotype"]Was it the dosage or are anti-histamines supposed to work that way?[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I took Benadryl once. Biggest mistake of my life. I had a class in an hour and I sort of sat there with my friend pinching me every five seconds so I wouldn't just slump over in a daze of death and drool.

They knock you right out. I promise.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Aberinkula]

[COLOR="DarkSlateGray"]Little children are the worst allergy possible.

All joking aside, I have pretty bad allergies. No food allergies though, thank god. Most of my allergies have been downsized because I took those allergy shots a few years back. I used to be allergic to mold, ragweed, and dust. But they don't bother me that much anymore. I used to take an inhaler for my nose and for my asthma. Luckily I grew out of that as I got older. But asthma attacks are not fun. Not fun at all.

However, my nose still drives me nuts, what's worse is that I live next to a hay field, it just got cut btw. The worst harbinger for my allgeries is that damned field! A few days back I was really bad. Nose running, eyes red and itchy, nose plugged. Ugh, nothing I hate more than allergies. I do take medicine for them though. Pills only work about 20% of the time. My congestion is really bad almost to the point where I can't breath at all. So I take nasal spray. Plus allergies give me headaches constantly. Last year I had a headache almost everyday at school during the spring.

Here's another mistake, never take a decongestant pill and a pill for runny nose... at the same time! I felt like a bear in hibernation. [/COLOR]

[Claire]

[quote name='Neuvoxraiha'][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I took Benadryl once. Biggest mistake of my life. I had a class in an hour and I sort of sat there with my friend pinching me every five seconds so I wouldn't just slump over in a daze of death and drool.

They knock you right out. I promise.[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[FONT="Arial"]Ohman, tell me about it. I'm prone to getting tons of mosquito bites, so whenever I can't stand the itching anymore I have to take a benadryl.

The good part is that I stop itching. The bad part is that I stop EVERYTHING. I wouldn't even have the energy to stand up. Bleh.[/FONT]

[SaiyanPrincessX]

[SIZE="1"]My mom is allergic to bee's and my brother is allergic to Penicillin. As for me, nothing that I know of so far. Of course people change..or maybe I just haven't discovered it yet. XD[/SIZE]

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[FONT="Georgia"]I have allergies, I had an allergy test, we still don't know what exactly it is that I am allergic too. I got the most ridiculous hives ever, and my throat closed up in like grade 3. I had to carry an epipen for awhile after the hives episode, but I never did use it and it finally expired. I think it'd be a waste to get another, so I persuaded my mom to leave it alone. Now I can only hope whatever it was that gave me the intial reaction never comes back into contact with me ;D

I've got the basic ones though, the whole "grass, pollen, wheat, outdoors in general" but they're not extreme, I just get a runny nose during allergy season.[/FONT]

[SunfallE]

[COLOR="goldenrod"][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Well they haven't ruined my life, but sometimes they are annoying. One of the first things I found out I was allergic to didn't give me any grief. And that was milk. If anything it made me happy since my mom couldn't make me drink all my milk anymore since I hated the stuff and still do. But the allergy isn't too severe and even though it's in so many foods it's rare for it to bother me.

The other is smog and air pollutants. That one I really hate since we get inversions in the winter, when that happens I have non-stop headaches and usually end up getting several sinus infections. I'm always glad when it warms up and those inversions are over with.

The one that really gets me is mosquito bites and bee stings. I'm not deathly allergic to them but they are beyond annoying. Mosquito bites just swell up until they are nearly the size of several quarters and hurt like hell. I have to take prescription allergy medicine to get it to go away. And the bee stings... the last time one got me on the foot, it swelled up like a balloon and I couldn't wear my shoe and had to take antibiotics for weeks to finally get it cleared up. XP

So needless to say we have lots of traps to catch bees and a nice bug zapper in our yard to help cut down on the mosquitoes. As well as stuff to put on to help keep them away in the first place. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[Darren]

Aside from fall allergies, (I don't know exactly what I'm allergic to. I just know that I only get seasonal allergies during autumn) I'm only allergic to one dreadful substance...

PENICILLIN

Okay, so it's not so dreadful because apparently it helps other people. That's fine and dandy for them, but if I ever need saving, I'm out of luck. Apparently I had it when i was younger and I swell up like a balloon, my throat constricts until I can't breathe, and then I assume I would die.:animestun
Luckily, doctors are there for a reason. Also very lucky: I was too young to remember it, haha. Imagine how scarred I would be to have a near-death experience that young in life.
And I've come to terms with the fact that I'm allergic to it. Besides, it's a mold. (When I think about my germaphobia, I realize that I'm much more happier at the fact that mold won't be put into my body against my will)

Oh, and I found out that I have an immunity to something that most people [I]are[/I] allergic to: Poison Ivy/Oak... I'm like the only person in my family who can't get it. It's great!

[Horendithas]

[COLOR="Indigo"]If it's greenery, I'm probably allergic to it. I've had problems with all sorts of plants for as long as I can remember, as well as having trouble with asthma. It was pretty bad when I was a kid, but over the years it's gotten better with improvements in medicine as well as my parents moving from a very green state to Utah which is a desert state. Those allergies are why I stayed here instead of moving back east when they moved back. For the most part I do alright, but for those times when I don't, I'm just glad we have stuff like inhalers. I never go anywhere without mine.

It's also the reason why I'll never date or marry anyone who smokes. I've found out the hard way that too much exposure will trigger a mild asthma attack. And if the source isn't removed and I keep getting exposed, the attacks get progressively worse. [/COLOR]

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]I'm only allergic to pollen like most people, that is as far as I know. After all, I've never been stung by a bee or anything. I hate 'allergy season'. I end up filling my desk with tissues throughout class, then carrying them all to the trash at the end. Only in recent years dd I think to put the trashcan next to my desk...[/COLOR]

[Rachmaninoff]

If I'm allergic to something, I've yet to run across it. So I'm assuming that what ever allergies I do have, they are mild enough to never give me grief. My only experience with them at all is seeing what Crystia has had to deal with since I met her in High School. None of my friends or family have much in the way of allergies, just her. Though seeing what a pain it is for her at times. I can see why people hate them.

[lea]

I don't remember there being any fun in allergies. Maybe I have the wrong ones.

[Lethargy]

[quote name='lea']I don't remember there being any fun in allergies. Maybe I have the wrong ones.[/quote]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=DarkGreen]Apparently so. Whenever I eat shellfish, I gain the ability to speak telepathically to marine life. Like Aquaman.

Jokes aside, the only thing I'm allergic to is (are?) weeds. Stuffed-up nose and watery eyes, March through October.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Delta]

[COLOR=#35425e][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][quote name='2007DigitalBoy'][COLOR="DarkOrange"]I end up filling my desk with tissues throughout class, then carrying them all to the trash at the end. Only in recent years dd I think to put the trashcan next to my desk...[/COLOR][/QUOTE]You could just, you know, stick a wad of tissue up your nose to plug them fluids in. Works for me.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Raiha]

[quote name='Sirius'][COLOR=#35425e][FONT="Palatino Linotype"]You could just, you know, stick a wad of tissue up your nose to plug them fluids in. Works for me.[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]But then you'll look like a walrus in rut! ....for those who don't know what 'rut' is, I refer you to dictionary.com. Or worse still, they'll weld permanently to your nose and you'll spend the rest of your life looking like a Japanese porn star. Which may or may not be so bad.

So yes, I'm in Southern California, so I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone who thinks they have worse air pollution where they live. Mostly because on a good day I can dimly see the outline of the mountains not fifteen miles from my current location. Oh a bad day I'm not sure where I am. It's like I live in a toxic fog of hellish horror... ...and yes, those things kill me too, I just don't have asthma attacks.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Aaryanna]

[COLOR="goldenrod"][FONT="Comic Sans MS"][quote name='Neuvoxraiha'][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]So yes, I'm in Southern California, so I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone who thinks they have worse air pollution where they live. Mostly because on a good day I can dimly see the outline of the mountains not fifteen miles from my current location. Oh a bad day I'm not sure where I am. It's like I live in a toxic fog of hellish horror... ...and yes, those things kill me too, I just don't have asthma attacks.[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]Well no one has said they have worse pollution. XP But for what we do have here in Utah, it is annoying, those inversion days we get in the winter are nasty and like you said, you can't even see the outline of the mountains or anything else for that matter.

And that sort of stuff really gets my allergies, I don't have any problems with pollen and trees or any of that green stuff. And so far I've never had food make me sick, though I am hypoglycemic so I avoid refined sugar since it messes me up.

For the most part the worse thing I get is sinus headaches. And occasionally I get really, congested as well. But most of the time the medicine I take keeps things from bothering me too much.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Lethargy]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=DarkGreen]Does this happen to anyone else here:

I get very congested and stuffed-up during the allergy season, especially when I lie down. I generally sleep on my side, and in doing so, all the fluids in my sinuses and nasal cavities migrates toward the side that I'm sleeping on.

Therefore, when I sleep on my right side, I can't breathe out of my right nostril, and vice versa. Nothing is more frustrating than only being able to breathe at 50% capacity.[/COLOR][/SIZE]