Allergies, Ugh!

The first allergy season I ever experienced was the first summer I lived in Pullman. I was pregnant with Joseph and Grant at the time and I was miserable. I was constantly sneezing, felt like I had a never ending cold, and my eyes were so puffy and red I could hardly see through them. I went to the OB doctor one day when I was 6 months pregnant and he told me that I was already starting to dilate. He heard me cough and wheeze during the appointment and listened to my lungs. He said the allergies were triggering me to have some asthma and prescribed an inhaler because he was afraid the coughing was aggravating my uterus and causing it to contract. I never had a chance to take it though. He was worried enough about my dilating at 6 months with twins to send me to the hospital where they monitored me all afternoon and evening. The contractions didn't stop, I dilated a little more, and the next thing I knew I was being life birded to Spokane. Luckily they got the contractions to stop in Spokane and it was another 7 weeks before I gave birth to Joseph and Grant. They were 5 1/2 weeks early, but healthy and strong. The interesting thing is that once I was in the hospital my allergies disappeared. I attributed it to that blessed filtered hospital air. No more nasty pollen from the outside world to infect my respiratory tract. It was heavenly.

The next few years in Pullman I wasn't afforded the luxury of filtered hospital air and suffered horrible allergies. I was so happy while pregnant with Hans that the doc told me I could take Claritin. It wasn't perfect, but it helped a lot. The next year I got to take a nasal spray medication that worked fabulously. Neither of the medications helped with the asthma part of it, but it was never really bad. I only had to use my inhaler 2-3 times each allergy season. After my "nasal spray" year, we moved away from Pullman and spent one summer in Albania and three in Spokane. My allergies were so mild in these two locations that I never needed medication.

Now we live in Pullman again, and this is my worst allergy season ever. Pure torture. I don't know if it's because we live in the middle of the wheat fields, or because we have pastures surrounding us full of big nasty weeds, but this is far worse than anything I experienced while living "in town" in Pullman. My nose feels like a leaky faucet. My eyes, ears, and throat itch like crazy. My asthma has gone wacko. I have to use my inhaler several times a day in order to breathe wihtout wheezing and coughing. The doctor told me I had to wait three more weeks before I can take allergy meds, but after listening to my desperate plea that I couldn't function as a wife, mother, or human, he agreed to let me take Claritin now. I've been on it for two days now and it does help with the sinus and itchy part of the allergies. Unfortunately the asthma part still really stinks. But there is hope.

Joe is taking me to Hawaii today. His company is sending him there on business and Joe bought me a ticket so I could come along. I'm hoping that the moist Hawaiian air will cure me, at least for the week we're there. Our preparations for this trip deserve their own post. We're taking our laptop, so I'll try to write again while Joe is at his tradeshow.