sick buildings
I just finished doing the neti pot again, because allergy season is happening all over again in my office. Oh yes. There is renovation going on in the reception area, which would be bad enough; they are sawing through walls up there and generating a huge amount of dust, which I'm sure drifts around the corner and down to my office eventually. But actually, I think that is secondary to the mold and mildew coming from the office right next door to me. The air conditioning register in there has flooded the office twice in the last three weeks. Both times, the office was left with sodden, swampy carpet. Since the windows in my building don't open, the only way to dry the carpet out was with big fans. It seemed to work all right the first time, but not so much the second time. I can still smell a strong smell of mildew when I walk into that office, although the office manager (man in his fifties) says he can't smell anything. Well, I am allergic to mold and mildew. And I would bet that the concentration of mold and mildew spores drifting out of that office right now is incredibly high, and a good number of those little spores are drifting into the hallway and making their way into my office. I can't really close my office door because people need me constantly throughout the day. So I was feeling pretty allergic this morning anyway (bad air quality, people mowing lawns over the weekend), but within an hour of getting into the office, I had to put a dust mask on. Within fifteen minutes of having the mask on, I felt better. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep it on all the time, because it steamed my glasses up. But it helped. Still, I came home still feeling allergic, so I popped a Benadryl and used the neti pot. I hope I can sleep tonight.
For those not familiar with the allergic feeling I am describing: what happens is that the roof of my mouth, towards the back, gets swollen and tender feeling, with just a touch of itchiness. (If it's a really bad attack, the swollen feeling extends all the way to the middle of the roof of my mouth.) But the itchiness and tenderness is not on the surface of the roof of the mouth, it is inside the roof of the mouth, so you can't get at it. It is maddening, and you feel it every time you swallow. You feel like a sneeze would help, but actually a good sneeze is painful when it occurs, and increases both the tenderness and the itchiness for a little while. If you don't take an antihistamine, the symptoms then progress to clogged nasal passages as well as a runny nose (I get them at the same time, if you can believe it), and post-nasal drip that makes it impossible to lie down without coughing yourself and everyone else awake. But fatigue increases allergic symptoms, so you have to try to lie down and sleep. The whole thing is miserable if allowed to get out of hand. I am hoping the Benadryl will cut the whole thing off at the pass and let me rest tonight, so I don't get worse. Also, hopefully the neti pot will wash enough allergens out of my sinuses that they will calm down, and I won't progress to a sinus infection. I am feeling better right now.
I wish the neti pot weren't so unpleasant. Have I mentioned that the first few seconds feel exactly like getting water forced up your nose in the swimming pool when you were a kid? The unpleasant twinge it gives me right at first sends chills up my spine every time. But I will persevere, because I'm convinced that it really helps. I still can't believe that I didn't get sick at Bonnaroo. It's miraculous.
For those not familiar with the allergic feeling I am describing: what happens is that the roof of my mouth, towards the back, gets swollen and tender feeling, with just a touch of itchiness. (If it's a really bad attack, the swollen feeling extends all the way to the middle of the roof of my mouth.) But the itchiness and tenderness is not on the surface of the roof of the mouth, it is inside the roof of the mouth, so you can't get at it. It is maddening, and you feel it every time you swallow. You feel like a sneeze would help, but actually a good sneeze is painful when it occurs, and increases both the tenderness and the itchiness for a little while. If you don't take an antihistamine, the symptoms then progress to clogged nasal passages as well as a runny nose (I get them at the same time, if you can believe it), and post-nasal drip that makes it impossible to lie down without coughing yourself and everyone else awake. But fatigue increases allergic symptoms, so you have to try to lie down and sleep. The whole thing is miserable if allowed to get out of hand. I am hoping the Benadryl will cut the whole thing off at the pass and let me rest tonight, so I don't get worse. Also, hopefully the neti pot will wash enough allergens out of my sinuses that they will calm down, and I won't progress to a sinus infection. I am feeling better right now.
I wish the neti pot weren't so unpleasant. Have I mentioned that the first few seconds feel exactly like getting water forced up your nose in the swimming pool when you were a kid? The unpleasant twinge it gives me right at first sends chills up my spine every time. But I will persevere, because I'm convinced that it really helps. I still can't believe that I didn't get sick at Bonnaroo. It's miraculous.