DStilled

Allergies and Ego

April 18, 2008 on 2:39 am | In Blog |

“Allergic reactions occur to environmental substances known as allergens; these reactions are acquired, predictable and rapid. Strictly, allergy is one of four forms of hypersensitivity. It is characterized by excessive activation of certain white blood cells called mast cells and basophils by a type of antibody, known as IgE, resulting in an extreme inflammatory response.”

Thanks Wikipedia.

So I’ve been allergic to stuff my whole life. Mostly it’s normal things like pet dander, ragweed, dust, seafood, and all of my reactions have been epidermic. I developed hives that would move around my body and itch like crazy. If for whatever reason, mold or smoke was exceptionally bad I might sneeze but this was rare. So in sixth grade I saw an allergist and he told me the 60 things I was allergic to. I took Benadryl for the longest time but its affect lessened over the years. Then I cycled on Zyrtec, Claritin, and Allegra all trying to find what worked best for me. Turns out the most expensive of the three was indeed the best. It killed my indoor, outdoor, and food allergies all the while lasting the longest. They all claim to be 24 hour drugs but that is an average. For me Zyrtec lasted the longest at about 22. So Zyrtec it was. And we paid for it. The insurance kept paying less and less of the asking price so it kept going up and up for us. By the time I was out of college the price was stupid. So I went back to Claritin, but not the “real” stuff but the Kroger kind. It worked just as well as normal Claritin and was MUCH MUCH cheaper. So I’ve been taking that for about a year now and about a week ago it hit me. I sneeze hugely about every 10-20 minutes. I have a nearly constant runny nose, my right eye itches (this NEVER happened before), but no hives. I don’t understand what my body is trying to tell me but I assumed it was that the generic Claritin wasn’t cutting it anymore. Obviously this also coincides with the beginning of warm weather, lots of blooming, and having the windows open a lot. So I went to Kroger tonight and bought some authentic, good-stuff Zyrtec (FINALLY without a prescription and prescription prices!). I hope it starts working soon because I lived with this my whole life and I hate to see it actually get worse.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America does a study on the worst allergy places to live every year and this year’s Loser is Lexington, Ky. So I guess it’s good I moved away to only number 21! William, I apparently was quoting last year’s numbers. If you look at the “Rank Last Year” column there’s not too much consistency with this year’s so I wonder if this thing changes all the time and really it’s relative or cyclical. After all, what I’m allergic to in Lexington, I may have gotten used to but moving to Louisville actually is worse for me. The same could go for someone moving from pollen-infested Augusta, GA, to sunny San Diego and having new allergies kick in. So I wouldn’t put too much stock in this other than knowing more people in the last year had allergy issues in Lexington than anywhere else in the country. (Either that or we just have more allergy doctors!)

Cole Pence, an old friend sent me a text the other day asking if I had seen the recent movie Revolver. I said no and I hadn’t even heard of it (because it wasn’t released in the US). He said it was awesome and right up my alley. So I just watched it and he was pretty close to right. A bit heavy on the cussing for my taste but the plot was great. Guy Ritchie wrote and directed the flick and I haven’t been impressed with the intricacies of a plot in a while. Aspects of the film aren’t original but the way they are woven is both stylistically and intellectually stimulating. I think I understand it all but a couple of the “answers” could go one way or another. I really won’t give anything away because I believe most movies, especially ones like this, need to be seen without foreknowledge of anything in the film. Just know is rated R for a reason, but not gratuitous. It’s still wiggin’ me out a bit it was so thick. Perhaps my dreams tonight will reveal something in the movie I didn’t catch. Afterwards, I watched drank chocolate milk, ate a homemade frisco melt, and watched Space Jam.