Tuesday, August 27, 2019

And Just Like That

     ...I'm sick again.  Or something.  Allergies, I suppose.  Sinus is mildly back despite the OTC nostrum, which has side effects: I almost hit a car this morning.  Coming right towards me though an intersection, too, third in a well-spaced row while I waited to turn left, nose well out into the cross street, one car through, two, started to turn--

     Slammed my brakes when I realized I was about to turn right into car number three, which I had not noticed.

     My timing was off at four-ways; I saw pedestrians in time, but not as early as usual.  And I was a bit dizzy.

     Dizziness got worse at work, as did the scary kind of dozing off, where you wake up with your head moving towards the desk--

     An hour and a half after lunch, I realized it was getting worse by the minute and that if I didn't leave for home soon, I was going to be a menace to others and myself in traffic.

     Let's see-- if I don't take the allergy remedy, my sinus run and run and run, and I have headaches that aren't tamed by the usual remedies; if I do take the pills, I'm only barely present.

     It's time to do some research.  If one allergy medication isn't working, there are others.

3 comments:

Merle said...

Yes, you need to get this resolved before something very bad happens!

Will said...

Sometimes, cutting the dosage of the med works to lower the side effects, while still doing something useful. Bit of a balancing act. Tends to be some hysteresis in this process, both how the body reacts to less of the drug, and bleedoff of any that remains in your system. You may end up playing with the dosage times as well, as you attempt to fine tune things.

Doesn't always work, but worth attempting. A pill cutter helps.

Before my sister moved out of state, she was flushing perhaps six times a day. I set her up with a modification to her Waterpic that added a 1/16" barb in place of the normal plastic nozzle. Then I added about 4 to 6" of model airplane fuel line, with the end smoothed by heating it. (just cutting it is too sharp for sinus comfort) This setup allows one to ensure you are reaching all areas that may be plugged up. To some extent, you are doing waterjet drilling, as you work to get the tip to the far reaches of your sinuses. I found that warming the water helps this process. My experience was that trying to flush just from the nose end of the sinus passages was sub-optimal, which is why I ended up with this setup. Getting behind a plug, and driving the mass toward the nose exit works so much better.

After cutting the plastic nozzle near the base to get the thickest material to work with, I drilled and tapped it to the 10-32 thread of the brass barb.

BTW, Conair/Interplak made a small battery powered travel version of a waterpik that you could keep in your desk at work. Model #WJ3CS

Anonymous said...

Try Allergy shots aka immune therapy. You get tested and the technician mixes up a concoction of what you are allergic to and inject it under the skin to build your immune system. Works pretty well. get larger and larger doses but less frequently.