Apr 26, 2013

A Whole New World... of Allergies

Guys. I'm dying.

Ok, not really. My body is just throwing a temper tantrum. Holy allergies, Batman.

I was kind of a sickly child. I was the kid who always had to carry her inhaler around in case of an asthma attack (spoiler alert: still do). I was the kid who got allergy shots.

In case you don't know, the idea behind allergy shots (and other forms of allergy treatment) is that your body slowly gets acclimated to the thing(s) you are allergic to, so it doesn't freak out and throw a hissy fit every time it encounters the allergen in nature.

It's my understanding that this happens to a certain extent naturally if you are frequently exposed to an allergen... like the ones that occur in the environment you live in.

One thing you don't think about when you up and move to a different continent is that you are immersing yourself in a completely different ecosystem from the one you left. That means there are a WHOLE BUNCH OF NEW THINGS for your body to be allergic to!

My god, my allergies are going absolutely bonkers. It's not even just the normal "watery eyes and sneezes." One day I'll be fine, the next day I'll have a full-on allergy attack, completed with stuffed sinuses, a repulsive cough, and a faucet nose. Oh, and because I have asthma, that adds an extra level of fun to the occasion. Yeah, I'm real treat to be around.

So I'll feel on the brink of death for about 3 days, then suddenly, POOF! I'll snap out of it. Wait 2 weeks, wash, rinse, repeat.  I'm calling them allergy tantrums.

I'm in the middle of an allergy tantrum now. I almost called in sick to work today because I'd barely slept and my asthma was so bad.  But then I took a bunch of medicine, started trembling and bouncing off the walls (a fun side effect of combining asthma meds with Korean decongestants containing caffeine), and thought, "HEY, I HAVE A GREAT IDEA! I'M GOING TO GO TEACH SOME CHILDREN SOME ENGLISH!"

Bright side: Coteacher convinced school to give me the afternoon off so I could go home and pull myself together. Hello, early weekend.

Don't do drugs, kids.


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