Plan for the day: Go downtown to get a calendar from B&N and a drink from Starbucks.
Woke up with eye pain.
Took herbal allergy pills to reduce pressure in head from allergens.
Wait for pain to go away.
Pain is exhausting – Pills kick in and I fall back asleep.
Wake up second time after 1:00 p.m. – no eye pain – bad sinus allergies.
Discover wonderful husband is cleaning the cockatiel cage so I don’t get exposed to allergens – Woke up before he finished that and took the trash out – Oops! – Am now exposed to allergens.
Take half a Benadryl to suppress histamine reaction from allergens. It’s a Benadryl for Breakfast kind of day.
Sneezing, sinus pressure, runny nose – wait for Benadryl to kick in.
Eventually, sinuses clear, body temp drops, and I’m hungry – All signs that Benadryl kicked in.
Float the fuck away on a cloud of fuzziness.
Wonderful husband orders food – including gluten-free loaded tater tots for me.
Instagram my tater tots – because I’m fucking high!
Somehow remembered to take the “stomach acid pill” I need to take while eating because, apparently, I don’t make enough on my own.
Wait, did I put the liquid vitamin D into a drink yet… or no? Decide to put some into what I’m drinking now anyway. More fearful of what happens if I DO NOT take any than if I take too much.
Spend hours listening to podcasts, organizing photos, and playing “match-3″ kid games online. Stupidly hoping I’ll win the battle against sleep and actually make it out the door today.
Hours later – Big sneeze attack. Benadryl has worn off. I have won the battle against sleep, but am still exhausted
Decide that I’m sober enough to drive to the local Starbucks – but not the one downtown. Zero chance of making it to Barnes & Noble today. It’s nearly 7:00 p.m.
The time is: Sneezing and runny nose again. It must be almost 8:00 – my daily dose of Zyrtec has worn off. I take it with the hot gingerbread tea I got from Starbucks rather than seek out a glass of water
Ok, almost feeling a little bit better now, except my stomach has decided to hate me. Is this due to: (a) too much Vitamin D? (b) overproduction of histamine all damn day that is now sitting in my stomach and not getting digested? ( C ) could I be allergic to the tea? (d) Doesn’t matter what the answer is – my health issues perplex doctors
Eat more food. Don’t care what. Remember to take the “stomach acid pill” again. After finishing food, realize I forget to take the herbal anti-inflammatory I was supposed to take a couple of times today.
Frantically crank out a few blogs for work while I am well enough to do it. Cannot image what I would do if I didn’t work from home and make my own hours.
Take shower. Glance in mirror while getting dressed and discover a big, pink, blot on my skin that definitely wasn’t there before!
Google every fucking allergen and then some. Read TONS of blogs trying to sort out what happened. Last time I turned pink in one spot, it was due to a skin reaction to contact with an essential oil that contained fir. Used that one plenty of times before -and one day – my body decided it can’t tell the difference between fir and pine (which I’m horribly allergic to) anymore.
Wonderful husband helps me play the “What the fuck am I allergic to now?” game. Goes over the whole day with me. Helps me figure out potential cross-reactions, allergen exposures.
After an hour or so, finally sort out that the allergen that made some of my skin turn pink is coconut. I used body wash soap that I hardly every use. Google some more – three different ingredients in this soap ARE COCONUT. This is the first time I’ve had a skin reaction to coconut.
Go through the kitchen cabinets and get rid of food that contains coconut. I used to be able to handle small amounts of coconut oil in foods that had been cooked or baked. Not anymore I can’t.
Take half a Benadryl to calm down the skin rash before it turns into hives – I’m back to the beginning.
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