Allergies!

About five years ago, I started noticing that around October, I started developing some weird chronic colds. The symptoms were mild. At first, the worst symptoms I would have were runny nose and itchy watery eyes in the morning when I first woke up. Around March or April, the symptoms would simply go away, to the point that I thought I was cured, until October hit again and it started all over again. To anyone who’s had allergies, it must be pretty obvious by now that I am not the only one with this problem. However, I had always thought that allergies were constant—I thought that you were born with them and that you died with them. I later learned that allergies can be dormant, and develop in your adolescence or early adulthood. When I was a kid, I would watch these television shows where some kid would sneeze in a hilarious way due to some common allergenic. I used to think that it may be even fun to be allergic to something. It might be even something interesting to tell at your next dinner party. “Oh, I can’t really wear duckbill platypus scarves, I’m allergic!”
When I had had enough of the “weird colds” I would get clockwork every year, I decided to get tested for allergies. I headed down to an immunologist and he proceeded to test for allergies. The test is done in the following way:

Either your arm or your back is covered in drops of different allergenic substances. Each drop is placed at a distance so as to not contaminate the other one. The physician places a different amount; according to the test he is given. In my case, there were about thirty drops. Then, he proceeds to prickle the skin under each drop, in order to allow a tiny amount of the substance into the skin. Then you wait. Not too long. I think it was about ten minutes—tops. Then, the doctor clears the skin and watches the reaction of each drop. The more your skin reacts to the substance, the more allergic you are to it.

When the doctor did this to me, he gazed upon my skin as if he was studying an alien. Then he looked at me in the eyes and said: “I think it will be easier to tell you what you are NOT allergic too”. Of the thirty substances, I was not allergic to two or three. (Thank goodness, I am not allergic to penicillin). The doctor wrote me a list, and it went something like this:

Pollen

Dust mites

Seafood

Fish

Dogs

Cats

Trees of the bla bla bla family

Shrubs of the bla bla bla family

etc
Ok, now for the cure. The doctor had me inject myself, first three times, then twice a week. This is what is called allergy vaccination. It uses the same method as the vaccine. You inject a small amount of the allergic substance into your body, until your body supposedly tolerates it. I did this for about two years and saw NO IMPROVEMENT. That’s when I decided to bail on this treatment. I later tried with another treatment that uses drops under your tongue, but that didn’t help either. So here I am, battling with allergies once again. Every year, when the winter comes around, I buy a bulk supply of Benadryl (generic), and I basically get on a Benadryl high from beginning to end. Plus, it helps me sleep at night.
Tonight, I have it even worse. Tonight, I have the flu. Since I have such a reactive immune system, I don’t usually get colds. But when I do, you can bet your last dollar that they will be tough. I noticed that my usual over dosage of Benadryl was not doing the trick, so I went and looked into my parent’s medicine cabinet. I was looking for Nyquil, but couldn’t find any. I finally found a medicine called Actifed. Actifed is very similar to Sudafed, and it contains pseudoephedrine. I was a bit shocked to see that one of my parents had bought pseudoephedrine... but then I noticed that they bought it in Vietnam during their last visit. Pseudoephedrine is really hard to get nowadays. Since it is easily synthesized into Meth, it is considered a Type I drug. In Mexico, you can’t really get pseudoephedrine unless it is in a cocktail of other anti-histamines. In the US, you cannot buy pseudoephedrine over the counter. So here I am, wondering if I should take the pseudoephedrine pill and just be done with it. I did. I’ll never take pseudoephedrine again. First off, it gave me a paradoxical effect. I became extremely anxious and active. I started sweating; I became nauseated and extremely thirsty. I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t manage to do it. The worst part is, it did not take away the flu symptoms. I’m still here, with a runny nose, a sinus headache, coughing and with an itchy throat—except now I am also nervous, agitated, and completely sleepless. Thank you ACTIFED! I decided to write this entry to see if I would get a little sleepy, but it didn’t help at all... maybe if I start counting sheep.