Around this time of year, I can safely say I’m sick of winter. The holidays have been over for months. I’m tired of dressing in layers, just to get the mail. I am very ready for warmer weather, longer days, and the ability to walk around my living room naked if I felt so inclined.
You’d think that means I welcome the start of spring. To some extent, I do. However, the arrival of spring comes with a major catch and it’s a pretty damn big one. Because it involves allergies.
For my entire life, I’ve suffered from bad allergies. Not all of it is seasonal. I’m allergic to some fairly standard stuff like dust and certain kinds of pet dander. When I was a kid, it got pretty bad. I had to take prescription medications for years. That helped, but only to a point. On particularly bad days, I would still feel it. Unfortunately, most of those days tend to occur in the spring.
Even as my allergies have gotten better with time, they’re still a nuisance. Most of the time, they’re manageable. I no longer have to rely on prescriptions to deal with the symptoms. Whenever they flair up, I can endure with medicine you’d find in the pharmacy section of any grocery store. They don’t need to be too potent. They just have to ease sinus headaches and de-clog my nose so I can sleep.
But with spring, it’s not always enough. When the trees start blooming, along with the grass, the air becomes thick with pollen. In the area where I live, it’s not uncommon to see layers of the stuff on cars in the morning. For most people, it’s just something you can wash off with a hose or wait until it rains. For me, it’s often a sign that I’m going to have a rough day.
My eyes will itch.
My head will heart.
My nose will get stuffy and congested.
If it gets really bad, I’ll feel a bad itch on the roof of my mouth. That means I need to take something or every other symptom will intensify. That means taking meds that make me drowsy or nasal sprays that have a nasty rebound effect. I don’t like having to do it. I try to tough it out as best I can, mostly to just get it over with. But that’s not always possible. Sometimes, I need something to help me function. Again, most of those times happen during spring.
This morning, I saw a light layer of pollen on my car. At this very moment, as I type this, my head is starting to hurt. And I’ve had enough sinus-induced headaches to know the signs. It means for the next few weeks, I need to keep allergy medications within reach. It also means quality sleep will be at a premium. I am not looking forward to any of that. But it’s not something I can avoid.
I know I’m not the only one who suffers from allergies. There are probably people who have it way worse than me. To those people, I feel for you. We’re both in for a rough time as spring sets in. We’ll get through it, as we always do. It’s just going to be unpleasant and uncomfortable at times.
But once we get through it and summer approaches, it’ll be so worth it.
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