Living Better, Maybe, through Chemistry

A cold front is coming through, so it’s very windy right now, but it’s often windy where we live. In fact, the early settlers in this region recognized that winds would blow almost unimpeded through this valley between the cliffs by calling it “Hell’s Bellows.” We didn’t know about that very apt name until early this summer, over 12 years after we bought our property, but it certainly applies. Had we known would we have changed our minds about purchasing our land? I doubt it.

Anyway, we had a robust monsoon season this year. Thanks to the abundant rain, we have now abundant growth of every noxious and not-so-noxious flowering plant that can survive in clay and/or sand. And now the winds. The result? My allergies are in full miserable bloom. My brain is functioning on half blood and half snot, sometimes more snot than blood. Not a pretty picture is it? Well, it doesn’t feel so great from this side either. And the blood supplied to my brain is chock full of antihistamines – double-dose (or more) loratidine and round the clock chlorphenirimine, with alaway thrown in for my eyes and patanase for my nose. I can’t take any decongestants anymore – my heart acts up – so I have to depend on antihistamines. And I’m so darned sensitive to medications that I can’t take the “powerful” antihistamines like cetirizine. I can’t use steroids because of the side effects. So I take what I can take, and function as well as I can function. Luckily it is fairly cool right now so we can keep the windows closed in the house at night. I wear a filter mask and wrap around sunglasses if I walk the dogs or I’m hanging laundry on the back porch. I get some interesting looks if neighbors drive by. If I can even get to sleep, being as “zooed” as I am on drugs, I have to be propped up so my nose drains rather than clogs.

I’m really hoping for an early frost - my husband isn’t, but I am. He will have to cover the cold-sensitive plants in his garden if there’s a threat of frost. I will celebrate the death of those pollen-generating plants, and breathe free and easy, until next year.