Allergies and the Acorn Tree

oak "flowers"

 

After going to the allergist twice, I am now the proud owner of an antihistamine, two allergy pills, a squirt nasal antihistamine, four inhalers, and an epi-pen. One of the inhalers is also for swallowing six times each day. But, it is July now, so this is old news about the early spring allergies. I have reactions to heat and to my own sweat! However, this has been the best spring of my life. Only once did I feel the "sand in the eyes" feeling.

 

I sweat lots. When it dries on my skin, it feels like nettles all over me. Hives appear and torment me. I can easily claw myself bloody. Today, I have been in the yard ten times for a total of four minutes each time. Lopping has been my chore today. I never dry off before I go out again. I use a wet washcloth to get the sweat off me, cool me, and refresh me. 

 

One day back in the spring, I was riding the electric cart in the grocery store. A woman of about 30 leaned over me and asked, "Sweetie, do you mind if I get these things off your back and out of your hair?"  Alarmed, I asked what was on me. I thought "bugs."  She picked several oak flowers from my hair and shoulders. I laughed and commented that I had to walk under two oak trees to get into the car and that I wore the flowers all the time in the spring. She said, "Oh, that's okay" as though I had been caught naked. "I don't have an oak tree but I have an acorn tree that has these same flowers on them."

 

 

Of course, I was stunned that a grown woman with two elementary-aged children did not know the name "oak" and was under the impression there was a tree called "acorn tree." It was as though she were less than two and just learning to name things. How does this happen?  

 

 

This spring was the most pleasant spring, allergy wise, that I have spent in my life. I had a low-grade fever for three months solid and then on and off this last winter, all caused by allergies.

 

I was in a store with a pharmacy. As soon as I entered the door, I started coughing. By the time I got to the department I wanted, I was coughing and losing my breath completely, getting really dizzy and weak. I headed for the pharmacy and motioned the pharmacist frantically. I asked her if I had an inhaler prescription I could pick up, that I could barely breathe. She rushed to the computer and rushed back with the box with the inhaler. I could not remove it from the box because my hands were shaking. She asked if I needed help; I could only nod and give it to her. She opened the box, ripped open the strong plastic containing the inhaler, primed it and handed it back. After using it, I was ready to pay for it even though I felt too weak to do anything.

 

As it turns out, she just gave it to me because I got that rescue inhaler prescription at Urgent Care with no refills for the rescue inhaler. "I can stand here until you pass out and call an ambulance, or I can just give it to you." When I told the allergist, he nodded and said, "She did the right thing." Thankfully, she was compassionate and not rule-bound.

 

This regimen of inhalers is making me feel better so far. At least every allergen does not do me in as was the case before. This is a new world for me. Maybe I have posted about this before.

 

Your turn

Do you use an inhaler or four for breathing problems? Or, maybe it is a child. Do you have an inhaler for swallowing instead of inhaling?