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So, for the past week or two I've had a stuffed-up nose, lots of sneezing, etc., but none of the other cold symptoms I would associate with it--sore throat, cough, etc. And it just keeps going on.
Finally I've come to the painful conclusion that I've sprouted allergies. It's the right time of year for it, tons of pollen in the air from randy birch trees(probably because of the general shortage of female trees in the city). And the symptoms are right for allergic rhinitis, or "hay fever" as it is whimsically called. Vancouver, at least, is apparently having a season of ludicrously high pollen counts, and I suppose it's not impossible that Edmonton could be affected, too.
The biggest reason I'm having a hard time accepting it is that I have not, as far as I can remember, ever had an allergy before. My brother had several of them growing up--feather pillows, many aerosol spray-can products, strawberries, walnuts--but I never did. I've always heard the story that you can acquire more allergies as time goes on(and there's that episode of "House" with the nun), and now I'm forced to believe it.
It's been rainy for most of today, and my symptoms have eased off a little--perhaps the air has cleared a bit? Otherwise we're going to have to stock up on Claritin or something.
I was reading an article today that postulated that one reason allergies are on the rise is that we've eliminated these parasitic gutworms, and now some researchers thing that they were actually symbiotes who helped our immune system to work properly. I preferred the theory that our immune systems go haywire after being understimulated by our increasingly hygienic environments, but since our house is fairly unhygienic, that doesn't seem as likely anymore. Still, I'm not gonna be swallowing no gutworms, thank you very much.
Finally I've come to the painful conclusion that I've sprouted allergies. It's the right time of year for it, tons of pollen in the air from randy birch trees(probably because of the general shortage of female trees in the city). And the symptoms are right for allergic rhinitis, or "hay fever" as it is whimsically called. Vancouver, at least, is apparently having a season of ludicrously high pollen counts, and I suppose it's not impossible that Edmonton could be affected, too.
The biggest reason I'm having a hard time accepting it is that I have not, as far as I can remember, ever had an allergy before. My brother had several of them growing up--feather pillows, many aerosol spray-can products, strawberries, walnuts--but I never did. I've always heard the story that you can acquire more allergies as time goes on(and there's that episode of "House" with the nun), and now I'm forced to believe it.
It's been rainy for most of today, and my symptoms have eased off a little--perhaps the air has cleared a bit? Otherwise we're going to have to stock up on Claritin or something.
I was reading an article today that postulated that one reason allergies are on the rise is that we've eliminated these parasitic gutworms, and now some researchers thing that they were actually symbiotes who helped our immune system to work properly. I preferred the theory that our immune systems go haywire after being understimulated by our increasingly hygienic environments, but since our house is fairly unhygienic, that doesn't seem as likely anymore. Still, I'm not gonna be swallowing no gutworms, thank you very much.
