So, the last couple of days, when I've gone out to my car, the windshield has been so thick with dust and pollen, I've had to run the wipers with a few squirts of cleaner. Although we've had a number of high and very high pollen count days already this month, birch pollen has entered the mix in a big way just the last few days. And the onset of my symptoms has pretty much tracked the rise of birch pollen in the air.
I don't know I'm allergic to birch pollen. Never been tested for it. I get unpleasant sinuses at certain high pollen/dust times of the year, but they were never bad enough to go to an allergist.
So if it's swine flu... farewell. If it's not, I'm hitting Costco tomorrow and picking up an industrial strength bottle of Claritin. I already have the megabottle of Benadryl (Kirkland brand "Allergy Medicine") and use it as an occasional sleep aid (most non-prescription sleep aids like Tylenol Simply Sleep are just Benadryl with a different name). I'll get the megabottle of Claritin tomorrow.
And if the Benadryl knocks me out so much tonight that I don't hear the baby crying (I'm on baby call until 3 a.m.), apologies in advance to my wife.
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You know, I almost did my blog on Swine Flu, but I found out that's what all the cool kids were doing... Darn you, Greg!
This is a great site - this is the first time I've been here, but now I can say that I go to "Brain Handles" to "get my scam on"...
FYI - Costco has a generic version of Zyrtec now too, and I switched over from Claritin a year ago. The first few days feel like being on Benadryl, but like a vampire weaning off blood, you emerge from it harder, better, faster, stronger.
And with a lot fewer allergy symptoms.
@Mike: Yeah, took a Claritin and it did bupkis. OTOH, I had an interview and a 20+ mile drive each way to get to it. I couldn't afford to be Benadryl dopey. Went from the interview to pick up the kids.
When I got home, I was sure I had swine flu. I was probably a little extra freaked because of that story about the pediatrician over in Mill Creek who just thought she was having seasonal allergies and saw 22 patients before she developed a raging fever and ended up in the ER. I was so afraid I was going to have to call the people who interviewed me and say "looks like I may have exposed you to a deadly flu, hope it doesn't affect your decision."
I took a Sudafed (the real stuff you have to show your driver's license to get), a couple of ibuprofen, made sure I wasn't running a fever, and an hour later all was well with the world. For my money there ain't nothing more reliable during cold season and allergy season than Sudafed.