allergies

Dealing with allergies.

| cheriarmour

I live in a city where allergies are really prevalent.  We’ve got Loblolly Pines, we’ve got oaks, we’ve got all this green stuff that just makes your life really mis in the spring.  And there’s not a whole lot you can do about it…

via wakemedvoices.orgOr is there?!  ::plays mysterious music::

So, I’m no doctor, but I’ve been dealing with allergies for long enough that I’ve found ways to effectively deal with the issue.

1.  Just because you’re outside all the time (especially my walkers/runners), doesn’t mean you have to shut yourself inside.  But after you come it, make a beeline (GET IT?! Bees?! Pollen!) for the shower, and rinse any of that stuff off of yourself.

2.  Wear contacts?  Change them OFTEN.  I wear those dailies, and I (admittedly) do not always change them as often as I should.  But this is the season for you (and me!) to be taking those contacts out at the recommended intervals.  If you are a glasses wearer, it’s a good time to flush your eyes (and the glass) with a drop.  I’ve used both OTC, and something my eye doctor prescribed to me.

3.  It’s time to get your neti pot out.  I know it seems disgusting, but it feels great for a few reasons.

  • For one, you kind of rinse the physical dust, dirt, and pollen from your sinuses.
  • For two, I feel like it helps reduce some of the inflammation in your sinuses.
  • And for three, it feels AMAZING on a sore throat if you can get the angle right and get some of the warm water to come through the throat.

via DealSeekingMom.com

4.  Figure out an allergy medication that works for you.  For me, it’s Zyrtec.  Which is expensive, but it doesn’t make me drowsy, and it handles my itchy eyeballs, sore throat, sinus swelling, and general foggy feeling.  Start taking those meds EARLY.  BEFORE you notice everything blooming.

5.  It’s warm.  It’s tempting to drive around with the windows open and leave all the windows in the house open.  But if you’re suffering, it’s time to seal those suckers shut until the stuff stops blooming.

Those are my tippies for a more comfortable spring experience.

How do you combat allergies?

Zyrtec.

| cheriarmour

Remember when I told you that Zyrtec was one of my weekly obsessions? I wasn’t lying, on Friday, after spending a miserable Thursday at work. I was not kidding at all.

Toward the end of the day, when my throat was feeling extra horrible, I wanted to kick a hole in the wall, but I resisted the urge. Barely.

So, on Friday morning, when I woke up feeling like less of a monster, and more like Cheri, I did the natural thing. I tweeted @Zyrtec to tell them that their product was really fly, and was surprised to see how responsive they were!

Screen Shot 2014-04-12 at 12.26.35 AMI followed them…

Screen Shot 2014-04-12 at 12.20.34 AMAnd I called them.

They were really great. They wanted to collect some info from me about my age, my usage of Zyrtec, and then they popped a few coupons in the mail for me.

If you didn’t know it already, it’s true.  I am still obsessed with Zyrtec, and they rock. And they didn’t pay me to say this, even though I would be totally down with it if they did decided to throw me some bennies and free product to talk about their miracle drug.

 

I brought my neti pot to work.

| cheriarmour

You may feel as though I’m a very glamorous woman, seeing as how I spent the better half of yesterday and today filming for an ESPN show that primarily airs in Latin American Nations, however, that is not the case, and after spending the better half of yesterday outside with that yellow pollen stuff floating around, I officially feel awful.

No congestion just yet, but my throat is on fire, and I want to die a little bit.  All of this is going on three days until Rock ‘n’ Roll Raleigh.  Ah well.

So anyhoo, when I’m feeling terrible, I pack up my plastic Neti Pot.

imgresAnd I pack the little saline packet that comes with it, pack an extra water bottle (so it’s clean water that I’m using), and head to the secret bathroom on the third floor to get to work.

I flush a few times a day when my throat is really sore, in hopes that I can at least get some of the yellow powder out of my nasal cavities, and because the warm water feels amazing on the back of my throat.  Fun fact: someone once walked in on me and looked disgusted with me, but jokes on her, cause it made my throat feel amazing and now I will never share my pot with her.

I’m not a doctor, but I”m convinced that this this totally heals.

Anyone else neti? Know what I’m talking about?

 

#Runnerprobs

| cheriarmour

I hear Facebook is hashtagging it now, so let’s so how the title of this post holds up.

Bee Sting

Look closely at my collarbone. See that little area of irritation? That, my dear runner friends is a runnerprob I’d never encountered.

LeeAnn Rimes, that sassy little minx, was playing on the iPod, and I must’ve run directly into the little sucker, because all of a sudden, I was hit, and I had to run home with my collarbone stinging because sweat kept dripping into it.  Whew!  Drama.  Folks, the moral of the story is, carry your Epipen around, you never know when you’ll be hit with dat beestang.