Curse you, oak pollen!

[Antisocial_Worker]

Let me set the scene... For those of you who are lucky enough not to live in Western North Carolina, it has been raining roughly every three hours, on the hour, since the winter. We're about ten inches of rain above where we usually are for this point in the year, and what happens on the rare occasions that it stops raining is that all the green stuff outside explodes in growth. The air is thick with pollen.

I am allergic to oak pollen, which means that for a week in the spring and a week in the fall, I feel like utter shit. And guess what is growing just outside the front door of the house I moved into in September... That's right! A gigantic oak tree. This means, that between the explosive growth and the fact that a huge oak tree is right outside my front door, I'm suffering from the worst hay fever of my life this week. My eyes are swollen, my throat is swollen and sore. My head doesn't feel like it's the right size and is only loosely attached. I'm a little dizzy. I feel like shit. I even got sent home from work yesterday when I came in, and the general consensus between my boss, the autistic kid I look after, and his mother was that I looked like death warmed over and probably could not be trusted not to drive over random pedestrians in the street en route to the park or something.

I took some Zyrtec for the first time last night and it took the edge off things, but I'm not expecting real improvement until I get another dose or two in me. I notice in the meantime, that I feel a little better in places with filtered air, such as movie theaters. I'm just hoping I can hold out until the oak tree outside has finished its springtime growth spurt. This is truly awful.

[dalesys]

File a police report:

"Ozzifer, my node id beink gang-raped by a tree."

[Antisocial_Worker]

File a police report:

"Ozzifer, my node id beink gang-raped by a tree."

Except it's my whole head, but yeah... otherwise that's accurate. I also forgot to mention in that first post the steady stream of unspeakable things I'm coughing up, and the even more unspeakable things I'm swallowing, which leaves me feeling nauseous. All in all, I'm no longer fit for polite company right now.

[Seraph]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLY-8_PfxAw

This about right? :P

[Antisocial_Worker]

This about right? :P

Yes, that's about the size of it.

[Sarlon]

from Eastern Tennessee...the pollen is SO bad around here..

(cue..."how bad is it?")

The pollen is so bad around here, its coated the water in my parents pool....visibly coated the water (not the edges the surface). My brother...poor dear got gang banged by pollen by going outside to cook dinner on the grill for 5 minutes....

[KiaKat]

A few tricks from a fellow sufferer:

• Change the air filter in your car. Not the engine filter, the internal filter. Wipe down every surface and vacuum the upholstery.
  
• If you have a central A/C unit, get a HEPA filter. If you don't, then keep your windows closed, and do the same thing to your house that you did to your car.
  
• Have indoor clothes and outdoor clothes. The moment you get home, get in the shower and wash your hair. You'd be amazed how much pollen gets caught in hair.
  
• Shower right before bed. Don't enter your bedroom unless you've washed all the gunk off. In fact, keep your bedroom door and all the windows closed up.
  
• If you have pets, keep them inside. If they must go outside, hose them down or at least brush them before letting them come in the house.
  
• If you have window A/C units, wash out the filters every day.
  
• Anything that gets exposed to pollen on a regular basis gets either vacuumed or washed on a daily basis. It seems like a waste, but you'll feel 100% better.
  
• Avoid other allergens, even if they're mild. When your immune system is in full revolt, anything will set you off.

[Antisocial_Worker]

A few tricks from a fellow sufferer:

• Change the air filter in your car. Not the engine filter, the internal filter. Wipe down every surface and vacuum the upholstery.
  
• If you have a central A/C unit, get a HEPA filter. If you don't, then keep your windows closed, and do the same thing to your house that you did to your car.
  
• Have indoor clothes and outdoor clothes. The moment you get home, get in the shower and wash your hair. You'd be amazed how much pollen gets caught in hair.
  
• Shower right before bed. Don't enter your bedroom unless you've washed all the gunk off. In fact, keep your bedroom door and all the windows closed up.
  
• If you have pets, keep them inside. If they must go outside, hose them down or at least brush them before letting them come in the house.
  
• If you have window A/C units, wash out the filters every day.
  
• Anything that gets exposed to pollen on a regular basis gets either vacuumed or washed on a daily basis. It seems like a waste, but you'll feel 100% better.
  
• Avoid other allergens, even if they're mild. When your immune system is in full revolt, anything will set you off.

Thanks for the tips.

At the moment, it seems my body is finding equilibrium with the dreaded oak pollen. The sore throat and swelling are on their way out, and I'm left with the task of coughing up all the lung lacquer that my body generated to trap all that deadly, deadly pollen.

What's fun though is knowing that I can look forward to another week of this sometime in the fall.

[Antisocial_Worker]

Let the record show that while I lost five pounds with the Stomach Virus Diet a few weeks ago, and have lost, thus far, nine pounds with the Hay Fever Diet, I don't recommend either one of them.