Frightening change to my allergy medication over the past 48 hours. As I've talked about from time to time, I have really bad allergies in the spring -- hayfever when the flowers bloom. It's been a permanent struggle to find relief; most years, especially in my childhood, relief only came after spring gave way to summer. That's why I have come to hate spring so much, at least on an unconscious plane.
As a grown-up I've started to tackle the problem. After years of believing that shoving stuff up my nose sounded so ew gross, several years ago I relented, took my doctor's advice and started using a nasal spray. It was Nasonex -- you know, the one with Antonio Banderas as the bumblebee? And it worked like magic. It was spackle for my nose. No running snot, no itchy eyes, nothing. It was a godsend.
And then I switched health insurance and it didn't cover Nasonex. Nowadays it's available over-the-counter, but I still prefer to find something that's cheaper and covered with my insurance. So I was back in the wilderness again, using an entire box of tissues every day to blow my nose. After trying a few other drugs, one that seemed to work was Flunisolide, an asthma spray that, uh, has been repurposed just for me. I had said it worked ... however, when I was out at the United match Sunday afternoon, I felt the winds of the day go up my nose and get the better of me. I was sniffling and sneezing like nobody's business, and I had to use several napkins from concessions to clear my nostrils.
Frustratingly it continued yesterday at work, at least for a spell; some time in the afternoon I felt this attack of congestion and eye redness, and it was like I was a kid all over again, being bullied by Mother Nature and her hayfever. And I was surprised because I took my last shot at 3 in the morning. It usually works in the afternoon. It should. But it didn't this time. I wonder if I have underestimated the 12-hour thing and that I really do have to take it twice a day for it to be effective. Or, maybe that they've reformulated it so it doesn't work for me now. Or, maybe it's the, uh, "type" of allergy that Flunisolide can't beat back.
I don't know what the culprit is. I do know that I was lucky to fall unconscious last night without waking up with a stuffed nose. (I was supposed to work my night scoring project last night; maybe more on that in a future blog post.) My body was so deprived of sleep that I skipped Dancing With The Stars and woke up at 4 in the morning. That's why I'm typing this now, and thank goodness I have the time to write up my daily blog post. But I'll have to venture into the outdoors soon, and I'm scared that the drug I'm going to shoot up my nose again just won't work. I'm going to pack the two other nasal sprays I have, put them in the car, and shoot them up my nose for lunch. That is to combat any fading effects of the Flunisolide over the day and to see, just in case, if the other two sprays may magically work this time around.
I am surprised that it's May and I'm still suffering from allergies. Then again, all this blooming should have been done with in April but wasn't because of our prolong cold weather. Mother Nature is making up for lost time, and I'm starting to lose some battles.
Wish me luck.
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