Nobody likes a Mr Sniffles

Sorry – was watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days the other day… But seriously, my hayfever calmed right down after we moved into our new place.

And then the weather changed.

ARGH! It’s unseasonably cold and the winds never die down. Maybe that’s partly because we live by the sea now (not golden sandy beaches, more like rugged, unswimmable water – might take pics some time).

I need some heavy duty meds, ’cause I’m sick of constantly trying to stem the runny nose. And it’s not a good look at work – I’m building up a name as the one who’s always sneezing and always has tissues all over her desk. I also hear primrose oil helps; not that I have any idea how that might work.

Any recommendations, fellow snifflers?

Photo / mcfarlandmo

As long as I can remember (at least back to puberty…) I’ve had dark undereye circles. You know, that sort of purple/grey half crescent under the eyes? They never go away. When I am especially tired, I do get full on bags, but that’s rare.
Anyway, apparently they may be due to…….my hayfever!
Who would’ve thought?

Among this extensive list of hayfever symptoms, I found:

• stuffy nose all the time or during specific seasons
• water discharge from the nose all the time
  
• reddened, pebbly lining in the lower eyelids
• frequent throat-clearing
• breathing through the mouth
• snoring
• rabbit-like movements of the nose
• a horizontal crease across the nose as a result of constant rubbing
• bouts of sneezing, especially in the morning
• repeated nosebleeds
• headaches because of pressure from inside the nose
• frequent earaches, fullness in the ear, ear infections or hearing loss
• dizziness or nausea related to ear problems
• chronic cold without much fever
• nasal voice because of blocked nasal passages
• dark circles under the eyes as a result of pressure from blocked nasal passages on the small blood vessels. Also known as “allergic shiners”.

Huh. Pressure on the small blood vessels. Don’t sound too healthy…but when have I ever claimed to be? Remember, I don’t even exercise…

It’s stupid how much wearing glasses vs contacts affects me. I really don’t feel as confident in my glasses. I feel much better looking without them, especially on days when my glasses just won’t seem to stay up my nose, or weigh down heavily on my left ear (I hadn’t felt this in a week or two, thankfully, but today JESUS my frames were heavy on my left side with a vengeance).

In my glasses I tend to look down at the floor more when I walk and have trouble maintaining eye contact, and I don’t want to talk to people as much. And I can’t wear sunglasses in the glaring Auckland January sun!

I plan to open up a new pair of lenses on Monday. It’s meant to be rainy, so there should be less pollen around and damper air should help my hayfever. And I haven’t been waking up with my eyes superglued together, so I think the pollen has laid off a bit.

However the AC at work is still insanely cold! I have to wear a cardi or coverup at work. I still get numb hands, a runny nose and dry eyes. I hope that won’t thwart my plans (maybe that was the cause of my problems! Not the hayfever). We’ll see! I just don’t wanna waste $11 of contacts.

Having sunrise so early in the morning has wrecked my body clock; luckily I don’t need as much sleep as I used to. I tend to jerk awake around 630 now with the sun streaming in, then freak out and wonder if I missed my alarm! Then I try to doze for another hour, but can’t relax enough for fear of falling too deeply asleep, combined with pressure on my bladder from not getting up and making a pit stop.

Optical woes

It’s been two months and I still can’t wear my contacts! If anything my eyes are getting worse. The other day I woke up and they were thick with mucus – I literally spent five minutes trying to gently wash them out. And I still looked like a total stoner afterwards.

Right now my eyes are still sticky, sore and blurred because my new anti reflective lenses, oddly enough, are dirty and streaky. Apparently it’s a common complaint. They get dirty almost immediately and if you don’t have your cleaning cloth with you, you’re stuck with the marks all day.

That’s right I finally got my new glasses! No thanks to our useless mailroom staff. Whatever happened to takign responsibility for your duties? Huh?????!!!!  They don’t look quite the way on my face that I remember, but it’s okay. In some ways they fit better, although the thick arms are a bit offputting as it cuts out my peripheral vision. I think they’re also narrower so my top and bottom most vision is also pretty limited. But a) I don’t want big round glasses and b) I can’t wear those anyway, my prescription’s too strong and lenses would be massive in a large frame (so I’m told).

They are so strong….everything’s so clear. It’s a bit dizzying at times, and  I imagine I’ll have a few headaches while adjusting. I can’t believe people can see like this naturally! Lucky, lucky things. It’s amazing. Sight is amazing. Being able to see sharp little details is fantastic – it’s as if someone’s gone through and cleaned up the world, and upped the clarity and colour saturation on photoshop.

Bad thing is my head is still lopsided. I felt it at the end of the day with my old frames, weighing down heavily on my left ear. It’s even worse with these as the arms are so much thicker and probably a tad heavier. In fact I’m starting to feel it on both ears. I may have to see if I can get them adjusted. The frames are perfectly level, so it’s not that…although come to think of it my old ones were slightly off and they still hurt me.

sad skin

My eczema (that’s what I’ll call it, since I don’t really know what it is) flared up overnight. Everytime it gets to the point of almost healing, comes a hot sticky night of unbearable itching and I wake up an angry red mess again. The main problem spot is under my right arm, so it’s a pretty tricky area to navigate. It’s nearly always chafing, if not under my arm then under my top and doesn’t get much time to breathe. I’ve been trying to hold my arm away from my side to give it air, but that’s actually really hard to keep up – it’s so unnatural!
It probably doesn’t help that I eat like crap and probably have no decent nutrients or vitamins in my system, so I think I might buy a multi vitamin this week – it might help my skin in the healing process.

Anyway, my point was going to be: do you have ANY idea how much medicines cost without prescription? My repeat prescription had expired two weeks ago and I couldn’t wait to make an appointment with the doctor. The pharmacy told me I could only get it if I paid full price It costs $3 with a prescription. Without one, it’s $25.

Thank Christ for government health subsidies.

I ended up getting a plain hydrocortisone cream for $10, and I’m still going around today holding one arm away from the rest of me. Freakin retardo.

Last days of spring!

In two days itll be officially summer, and maybe my spring fever will finalyl leave me .

I was stoked that I managed to wear my contacts almost the whole day – up till abotu 4 in fact, when my eyes started burning and itching like hell.

I woke up in the middle of the night to streaming, sticky eyes, and more bloody eczema spots. Why of why can’t I learn to stop scratching?  You feel the itch, deal to it, it gets worse, you scrtach some more, and teh next morning its a full blown, red, nasty inflamed spot. Or worse, a sore.

Anyway, my new glasses should be here next week, hurray! No more scratched old lenses and glasses that slide down my nose (hopefully). I’ll assume that my new ones will need tweaking as well so they sit nice and high up my face.

Silly season

It’s officially allergy season!

I just can’t fathom why I was okay last year despite constantly wearing my contacts (I had absolutely no probs with them, long days aside. It must be the abrupt change in seasons. One night I was sleeping wrapped in blankets the next night, next to naked throwing off the duvet.

It’s bad, bad bad. Right from getting up in the morning, through till the afternoon (the WORST). Unlike the first time I had weird eye probs back in August (around 2pm every afternoon, without fail) this starts first thing, and apparently it’s due to the most pollens being around from 5-10am. Websites advise wearing close fitting sunglasses or filter masks. Yeah, right. Why not just go around in fullblown SARS gear? Then there’s also the dreaded afternoon grit. Feels like gravel under your eyelids. Even after taking out my lenses and switching to glasses I can still feel it there for awhile.

Why don’t I just go back to glasses permanently for awhile? Well, with contacts I can wear sunnies (apparently I have slight UV damage so it’s important to me and I swear the sun gets brighter every weekend! Sorting out sunnies when you wear glasses is easier said than done). No worries when it rains. No tears when I cut up onions (we love onions at our house). No more constantly pushing my glasses up my flat nose especially at the end of the day when I start to get a little greasy. I just feel better and more confident in my contacts – is that such a crime? Yes, it’s vanity, pure and simple, and I’m not willing to give it up.

I’m so looking forward to the day when I can wake up again and not find my eyes glued shut together and bloodshot like the bat from hell!!!