Allergy Attack Update

Well, I never seem to follow up on things around here and some people seem to think I’m just a whiner as a result.

Anyway, here I am on day two of my Prednisone. My mother called me this morning as I was getting ready for work all panicky about my symptoms. (When I lived at home with the nurse, I was never sick enough to stay home…now that we live a country apart, she seems to take my medical mishaps more seriously. ) Anyway, she wants me to call the doctor and tell her that the medicine isn’t working — this was before I took the second dose. I appreciate her concern and it makes me warm and fuzzy but I think I should at least see today out.

So, the state of things is that last night I had extremely bad sinus pressure — there was no way to get comfortable and it felt like my forehead and cheeks were filling with concrete. I didn’t cough much during the night but I did have to take a benedryl in the middle of the night in an attempt to do something about the sinus pressure.

This morning I woke with less sinus pressure and a really stuffy/runny nose. My lips, nose and mouth were still itchy but the throat and ears had pretty much stopped. There was sneezing and some coughing but the coughs aren’t all coming from my chest any more. I felt queasy and wondered if I was going to throw up and even if that would stop me from going to work — particularly since I feel like home is making me sick.

I came to work and felt completely miserable. I took my 2nd dose of Prednisone with breakfast but that didn’t seem to help much and the sinus pressure came back with a vengence. Around 10am, I walked down to the drug store to drop off a prescription and buy some more Benedryl since I left mine at home. I took a dose when I got back to my desk.

For a while I started feeling much better around lunch. Still have the itchy mouth and occassional itchy nose and sneezing. The sinus pressure had gone away for a while, but it appears to be returning. I’ll probably take another dose of Benedryl before I go to class tonight (I will have to be extra careful cutting the glass).

I got a notice from my apartment complex that the work on the parking lot was not completed last week due to the rain. Apparently they need to seal it and repaint the lines. They’ll do this tomorrow and it will supposedly be done by tomorrow evening. N2 wants me to shut all my windows despite the fact that I have no A/C and the second floor gets wicked hot even with the cross breeze. I’m secretly hoping that sealing the tar will help relieve some of this nastiness.

Interestingly enough, one of the reported side effects of Prednisone is that it’s supposed to make you wicked hungry. My doctor doubled my dose of Effexor to 150mg, which I started today and Effexor has a side effect of appetite reduction. I’m curious which one will win. Yesterday, the lower dosage of Effexor won as I hardly ate anything (though none of what I ate was what you’d call a healthy choice) and I lost 2lbs overnight. It might have been water gain from the picnic on Monday though.

By the way, both drugs supposedly cause people to be more energetic. I’m hoping to get my apartment clean this weekend.

One of the really weird things about this allergy attack is that the nose without the screw is very sore today from blowing it but the nose screw one isn’t as tender as it has been.

tags: wellness

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