Good day, Well my fig season has started.  How do I know?  Two things, for starters, we have consistent temp in the high 60s by day and mid 40s at night.  Oh yeah and the FREAKING POLLEN IS OUT!!!!   I just came off meds for a sinus infection 3wks ago.  A lot of folks in my office were sick and so did I!  Now I may have another infection brewing!  Oh, darn!   I get these infections 2, maybe 3 times a year....early Spring, early Fall and sometimes in between depending on the weather.

I have allergies.  I'm always outside doing something to my trees.  Two days ago, I started taking trees out of the garage and basement;  figs, jujubees, kumquats, limequats, grapes, pomegrantes, and a few other plants.  

As I was making the switch from inside to outside,  I left the garage door open.  The house Wrens started making a next in ONE POT and finished it in a few hours!  Man those jokers are fast!!!  I need to get some dirt this weekend but my flat bed trailer has a bad floor.  So, I spent about 2 hours replacing the plywood floor.  After cutting the base, securing the 4x8 plywood and water staining, my nose was dripping like a faucet!  I thought it was sweat but it wasn't.  I looked at my phone and it was 6:15 PM.  I ran inside to see the weather report and sure enough!  We are in pollen season!  That's why my nose was running!  Oh Crap!  I have allergies and completely forgot about pollen!  By the time I finished the trailer floor and came inside, I could barely breathe.  I was in BARNEY!!!!  I flushed my sinuses with a netty pot, took a zertec, took a pain reliever and jumped in the shower.   Hoping the hot steam would open my head...it didn't!  Then the sinus headache came.  Boy I was in pain.  Took the frozen peas and corn out of the fridge and placed them on my face and laid down.  The wife just laughed.  After they thawed, I tossed them out and tried the Flonase.  It helped a little.  I went to bed but could not breathe.  By now, it's midnight and I could not get to sleep.  I had to be at work by 9 and it was not looking good.  I tossed and turned in the bed till 2AM!!!!  Still could not breathe.  Got up, went to the living room, turned on the ceiling fan and laid on the sofa.  I passed out an hour later.  My fitbit went off at 6AM.  I got up and although I can breathe, my sinuses were constantly draining and I sound really bad.  

I went to work anyway but boy..... I was dragging!  When the pollen is in the air and with sinuses already draining, next comes the sneezing and headaches all over again again!  I love this time of year when the figs wake up but the pollen kills me every year.

So, if you don't have allergies---- be HAPPY!  For folks like me, this is really a tough time.  The good news is we have short periods of rain that come frequently to wash the pollen from the air.  I am hoping the rain comes every day but stay warm.

Dennis, I have allergies too, and they are not helping me get over the bronchitis I've had for 6 weeks now.  Allergies suck for sure.  I used to get shots every week, but the male Doctor was such a drama queen, I quit.  The schedule was changed with NO notice to patients, so we would all arrive for our shots but the door was locked.  After a 20 minute drive too many times, I just decided to keep my money and live with the allergies.  Never noticed the shots helping anyway.

Sinus infections are no fun at all.  Read up on 100% pure Oregano Oil.  Evidently it really helps allergies.  You make a tea from it, put a towel over your head and trap the steam and breathe it in for a while.  Supposed to work.  Worth a try.  I just reminded myself to try it.  I had forgotten about that method.  First I have to wait for my appointment with the pulmonary AKA lung doc for a proper diagnosis.  THEN, I'll self medicate with oregano oil.  I got mine on Amazon.  Read the reviews and be sure what you buy is 100%.  It's really strong, but it does work to cure many things.  I just forgot about it.  My little tip to you has helped my memory.......

Birds nests!  Another pain!  They nest in our umbrellas that are up in the rafters waiting for summer.  They quit nesting in our ceiling fans after we knocked down about 20 nests last year.  Stupid birds went up there and laid eggs with NO nest. SPLAT!! They haven't been back this year.

Get better!

Suzi

I hope you guys are feeling better soon. I'll sometimes get an allergic reaction this time of year too, but not always. Right now lots of things are in bloom here in SoCal including all the annual grasses, and I've been working outside a lot... but I'm hoping to avoid bad allergy problems.

I started my March ordeal, as well.  I get something that seems like a head cold, but quickly moves into my chest.  I cough and cough and cough.  There is a little phlegm, but mostly it is non-productive cough.  Some years (this one) it is accompanied by a severe shortness of breath.  I've been going through this since college.  When I lived in Houston, I would get it in the spring and fall, but eventually the fall episodes dissipated.  Lately it has been getting better, but this will not be a good year.

What I do not understand is it happens at the same time every year, so one might think it is an allergic reaction to pollen or something plant related.  The problem is it occurs regardless of where I am (Houston, New Jersey, Austin, and now Colorado). 

Thanks Suzi!  I will try that.  The Nettie pot works if you can do it before your sinuses completely close up!  That's the trick.  I know by my nose running is just my body trying to heal itself.  But folks at work think it's the flu and don't want you around!  And the rule of thumb at work is if you're sick, do not come to work-----stay home and work from home!  So, I could go home early and I probably will.  

My routine is to always always always wear a mask when I do yard work.  If I don't the exact same thing happens.  But yesterday, I wasn't doing yard work.  I was just inside my garage with the door up.   I live at the bottom of a hill and my lawn is usually wet until late Spring rolls around which is when I start mowing the lawn.  But my allergies are no joke!  Some folks just don't understand it.... they won't until they have it!  Then, they can relate!  And to make matters worse, I have asthma!  So, I really have to be careful.  I guess I need to start wearing a mask every time I go outside!  LOL!

As I get older, I'm learning more about my body.  For instance, I am allergic to many grasses, some veggies (spinach & cilantro), some fruits (cantaloupe), and some meats (chicken and all shellfish).  Years ago, I use to eat tons of spinach, cantaloupe, chicken, and shellfish and get sick not knowing what caused it.  Two years ago, I went to a natural doctor.  She analyzed my blood and that's where I learned about spinach, cantaloupe, shellfish and chicken.  Raw spinach is the worse though----it makes me very ill!  The grasses trigger my asthma and I'm usually ill for about 2 days.  If I cut the grass without a mask, I will be sick.  Just to keep from getting sick, when I cut the grass using either mower, or weed-eater, I have to coverup completely from head to toe no matter how hot it is outside.  And sometimes, take a teaspoon of some allergy medicine before starting.  It helps a lot.....but it raises my blood pressure and that's not good!

My allergies is one of the reason I want to relocate and retire in either Ca, Tx or Fl.  But I really don't think my wife will be willing to move.  Therefore I make the best of it!  I'm gonna try the 100% pure Oregano Oil.  thanks!

Dennis!  Thank God you aren't allergic to figs!!  :-)  Be sure you don't get the oregano oil at the grocery or health food store because most of those are watered down.  Read all the Amazon reviews.  I got sold on that stuff from the reviews.  It sucks when one medicine causes side effects like high blood pressure.  Oregano Oil has no known side effects.  Another allergy fighting thing is local raw honey.  The bees make the honey and you can build up a resistance over time to local pollens from local honey.  You have to get that at the farmers markets near you.  I have some, and drink it in a cup of tea daily.

Plenty of people in CA, TX and FL have allergies.  FLorida is full of mold, and all that citrus pollen.......  I just hope you feel better!

Suzi

Dennis,

I hear about honey from a number of sources so there may be something to it.  They sell pretty good local honey at the farmers market.  I've been doing it for a while and it seems to have helped some.  If you haven't seen a specialist for the sinus thing you may want to.  I started getting a lot of nasty infections and the doctor finally decided to use surgery to open my passages and help them drain.  While they were in there they did a correction of the septum since it was also causing issues.  It was not fun but it really helped reduce the number and severity of the infections.  If you ever need to go that route wait until winter because it takes 6-8 weeks for the internal passages to heal and the swelling to go down.  You would not want to be having allergy attacks while healing.  Also they were using a combo of steroids and antibiotics because the passages were swelling shut which was causing re-infection.

Yeap Suzi, I have a few allergies.  My wife and I have date night twice a month.  I'm a big fan of the Outback restaurant.  It's the only restaurant in the Charlotte area I can eat in and not get sick from their house salad!  Every other restaurant must spray heavy pesticides on their lettuce or something because I get nauseous every time I their salad.  But not at the Outback!  Also, every once in awhile, my wife and I will get their coconut shrimp with the orange marmalade dip.  Man I love that!  But every time I eat it, my throat swells up and gets very itchy.  Before I eat it, I have to eat 4 or 5 lemon slices.  Lemon is a natural antihistamine and keeps my allergies at bay.  But sometime, I forget to eat them, then I'm in Barney!  That shellfish is no joke!  Just touching raw or boiled shrimp will make my hand itch and start to break out.  I know....I'm weird!

Sharon, I have second thoughts about having surgery.  It's probably what I need but hmmmmmm.  Back in the 90s, I use to work as a contractor for the Department of Defense for the USAF.  My boss had sinus surgery.  He slipped into a comma for 16 days.  He finally woke up and was fine but to this day, he laughs about almost dying just by getting his nose cleaned!  I will look into the honey thing.

As for the honey, I have friends at the farmer's market that sell it.  They have several hives and that's their main business.   I will swing by there this week and get some.   

Dennis, if I'd have known about your boss, I probably wouldn't have had that surgery.  I forgot I even had it until Sharon brought it up!  My breathing is so much better, but the surgery was HELL!  I had polyps and a deviated septum.  Had to return to the hospital because the doc didn't pack it right and my nose wouldn't stop bleeding.  Next day, lacking blood I imagine I passed out while at the docs office for a recheck and they took me back to the hospital in an ambulance..... All this over a stupid nose!  Still have the allergies, and happy I had the surgery, but it was not a picnic!

Nice you have friends that sell local honey.  It's just so much better than the stuff at the grocery both for health and for flavor and taste.  Sort of like the difference in figs you grow and figs you buy.

You live in restaurant heaven, or close to it.  South Carolina and that low country cuisine is heaven to me... Shrimp and Grits..... oh my!  That must suck to be allergic to so many tasty things!  They don't do grits here and you have to order online to get the good stuff.  I remember breakfast on a boat restaurant there in Charleston.  Eggs, Grits and Oysters.  Yummmmmmmm!  It's a different way of cooking, and I feel lucky to have experienced it a couple times in my life.  Maybe in the future.  JD would love to visit Charleston.  He'd love to golf all over the Carolinas!

Get better!

Suzi

Get checked for cedar allergies before deciding on the Texas Hill Country. It did not bother me much, but it is an absolutely brutal force of nature for a lot of people.

Every April it hits me, no matter how I try to prevent it.  Usually ends up with a sinus infection too.

Surgery is a last resort.  Most of the people I've talked to have had relief at first but after 3-5 years it all comes back.  You should be on 3 nasal sprays:  A steroid - mometasone has proven the most potent of these, Ipratropium Bromide 0,06%, and Patanase which recently went generic.  Then for pills, don't wait until you start having problems to start taking the pills.  You're then behind and it's hard to catch up.  Zyrtec and singulair can be taken together and started 2 weeks before your season starts.  Benedryl is better for allergies than pseudoephedrine and wont raise your BP.  Watch for drowsiness with the benedryl.

Wow!  Thanks Suzi!  Now I know I will not be getting that surgery!  I'm pig headed and every now and then, I will eat some shrimp.  And home made stone ground grits with shrimp and red-eye gravy is hard to beat!  Sometimes we eat that for breakfast with waffles!  My wife can make a mean waffle!

 In the Southeast, we get hit with Pine tree and ragweed pollen.  When its bad, the cars will be covered with it everywhere.  And when it rains, the creeks and rivers have pollen floating on top!  

Yesterday I called my doctor's office requesting something besides Zertec.  They recommended I try Allegra-D.  I tried one in a sample pack.  I felt better until it wore off.  Time to make another run to the drug store!

Thanks Bob.  I have fluticasone nasal spray.  It's generic Flonase.  It smells just like roses!  I use it daily with Zyrtec.  But I think the pollen hit me pretty hard.  I like the Benedryl but it does makes me sleepy.

I plan to switch every couple of days from Flonase to Nasacort, both prescription strength and now over the counter. I could be wrong but I feel that your body adjusts to medicine if used for an extended period. I also take Advair 250. In Walmart you can purchase a 2 pk of Nasacort for $17.....240 sprays total. Both help out during the oak pollen fiasco here, both cars have turned a powdery green/yellow. Yuck!

Dennis, didn't mean to scare you away from surgery.  It did work for me, and I breathe easier these days, but it doesn't remove the allergies.  Just the stuff that blocks the mucus from exiting.....  Would I do the surgery again?  Maybe, but with a different doc!  LOL! 

Do that due diligence.  One thing about online reviews.  Happy people don't write reviews.  Unhappy people do.  Best to go check the doc yourself.  I knew I would have to have a certain unrelated surgery, and my doc recommended a doctor.  I asked him, "Have you been to her?"  "Nope."  Docs recommend friends.....  I had already looked at reviews and told him, "She is the worst!  Really bad reviews."  He smiled and said, "I never read reviews."  She is a good doc.  So, I went to her, and I love her!!  LOL!  So far.........

Suzi

Hi,

I agree about the surgery although I had a great doctor and all went well.
The odds are fairly good it will last longer than the 3-5 years but a fair number of people do need to do it again.  I think the odds were something like 20% of needing a repeat.
You have to sleep sitting up for about 3-4 day which is a bummer.  They tell you to spray with saline a lot and it really makes a difference when they remove the packing.
Prior to that I had a sinus infection for over 10 weeks and had gone through 3-4 courses of heavy duty antibiotics before they decide surgery was needed.  I ended up on oral steroids and antibiotics before it was cleaned up enough to do the surgery.
The ones to make friends with are the nurses.  They always know who the best doctors are.

Well the peach trees apple pear blackberry bushes blueberry oak trees etc are waking up no figs yet

Those damn sinuses. Just yesterday drove sometime with
the windows down and now I'm clogged.

Yeap, strep is very very dangerous !  It can move throughout your body and do damage elsewhere!  When my son was 6, he got a cold in October.  We thought his cold was over weeks later.   He seemed better, but he wasn't.   Then he had the running nose again in November, then the sore throat in December.  By later December he was constantly scratching his rectum.  It got so bad that he would scoot across the carpet crying trying to scratch!  I knew something was wrong!   It was the day before Christmas Eve.  I spent hours on the phone calling doctor offices in the Southern Illinois area.  I got nothing!  No one would answer because they had closed for the holiday.  I started calling Pediatric clinics in St Louis.  On the third one, I let the phone ring longer and there was no recording.  After the 8th ring a doctor answered the phone!  I was shocked!  I explained the issue and problem with my son.  He said, "Mr Johnson, your son has strep of the rectum."  "If he is scratching that badly, we've got to act fast."   He said, "Bring your son to me at the clinic now, but do not come to the front door of the clinic" " we are closed for the holiday and I'm just in trying to catch up", "just come around the back and knock on the door---I will let you in."  He said, "My staff are all on vacation so I will have to test your son in my office for strep."  He said, "Normal lab work could take days to get results back, but I have a lab in my clinic and can do the test myself."  He said, "there is no charge."  "I will know by 5PM if the test is positive.  If it is, I will make arrangements for you to pick up some medication.  The medication is fact acting so you will see a change in your son in a few hours."  

So, I drove son to St Louis and followed his directions.  He performed the test and did not charge me a thing!  When 5 o'clock came, he called  and said the test was positive.  He had already called my pharmacy and they had some meds ready to be picked up.  Within one hour my son was feeling better!  He called Christmas day to check up on my son.  I said, "He back to his old self again and we are so happy."  "Doctor, how can I pay you for saving my son?"  He said, "Mr. Johnson, just be a good citizen."  I said, "You can count on it!"  "Merry Christmas!"

He said, most doctors do not know how to treat strep but in little children if not fully diagnosed and treated in time it can kill.  He said we have to take colds and flus and allergies very seriously because they can turn into something dangerous like strep.  

So, Alan, watch those allergies!

Dennis that is a really nice story!  Thanks for sharing it.  We have these big winds now they call Santa Ana, and pollen is literally flying everywhere!  Everyone with allergies here is surely feeling it. 

What a nice doctor!

Suzi

DENNIS!!  I am so desperate!  The pulmonary doc told me there is nothing he can do other than an inhaler with steroids.  I cought a nasty virus and just have to wait it out!  So, the allergies are making everything worse.  Not taking this news lying down!!  In researching accupuncture and accupressure for allergies I found this amazing video.  Easy to do and FREE!

Suzi

Hope everyone feels better soon! Allergies and sinus issues can be downright miserable! On the upside, I'm starting to move my figs outside with the warmer temps. So very excited!!!