Antihistamines FTW!

I check the weather reflexively every morning online after I get up. Although it's generally been getting progressively nicer outside now that spring is here, Midwest weather can sometimes be unpredictable to the point of exasperation. I've enjoyed a handful of outdoor runs already but one never knows when a shower will pop up, or when some crazy 25+ MPH gale will blow me off the freaking road. So it's best to be prepared.

While I'm appreciative of the warmer temperatures and overall pleasant weather, one thing I do not look forward to every spring is the return of my allergies. I knew it was time to hit the antihistamine counter at the grocery store a month or so ago, when I woke up with red, itchy eyes, a clogged nose and nonstop sneezing. A quick visit online earlier this week served as concrete scientific evidence of the war I wage every day within my sinuses:

medium, high, very high, very high :(

I developed allergies sometime in my mid-twenties, about a year after I became lactose-intolerant (a topic which could serve as the subject for its own post entirely). After going a couple of decades allergy-free, I never really thought I'd get allergic rhinitis, or hay fever, which is what happens when

... your immune system views harmless inhaled pollen or other allergens as dangerous substances invading your body. Your system overreacts, flooding your bloodstream with chemicals like histamine and leukotrienes, which inflame the lining of your nasal passages, your sinuses and eyelids, and also set in motion other symptoms associated with hay fever, such as sneezing.

Yay for me.

My allergies usually last a few months, well into the summer. They seem to have been aggravated over the past couple of years that I've been in the Midwest, though. So hopefully they'll subside in duration and/or intensity after I relocate back to the West Coast. But for now I'm just glad this is one immune disorder with a simple, quick fix.

Time to pop another pill. Antihistamines FTW!