Allergies bite big time

Every year from about the middle of August until the first really great HARD freeze is when I have massive allergic reactions to rag weed.  Every year I think that I will be spared and I won't be sneezing constantly and so almost every year I do nothing about these oncoming allergies until the bulk of them hit.  I was told several years ago that I should start taking the allergy medicine at the beginning of August so that when the madness hits it won't be so very bad and I will be mostly controlled.

Well even with this knowledge that I get so very sick, I didn't start taking my Allegra until two weeks ago when I started sneezing.  Then the craziness hit me this weekend.  On Thursday the 23rd I felt kinda sick and knew I needed my prescription nose spray for that seems to be the only thing combined with Allegra that keeps me from sneezing constantly.  However I didn't have an prescription nose spray left from the prior year so I bought an over-the-counter nose spray (big mistake).

I have been so very sick this weekend that I hardly slept and my race didn't go well, (in my opinion).  I sneezed so much my nose was raw.  Running was super difficult and every step was hard.  By mile 13 my muscles were so tight that I was in so much pain.   I ended up going to quick care on Sunday, but that wasn’t the brightest idea. The PA (physicians assistant) who saw me was super clueless.

She said that she would give me something stronger than Allegra in a prescription and I would dry up.   She took a look at all the medicines I was taking, (I pulled them out of my purse for her to see).  She looked right at my Allegra pill and said she would prescribe something stronger.   Well there isn’t anything stronger than Allegra, nothing at all so she was dumb or MISINFORMED (as I found out later in the morning).

Anyway, not knowing there wasn't anything stronger when she was telling me had my hopes super high, as I've been on Allegra for 15 years and even though it works, it doesn't work alone and I get tired of shooting nose spray up my nose and feeling it drip down my throat, so my hopes for a stronger oral pill were up way high.

She then tells me she will write a scrip for a saline nose spray, a super high dose nose spray, an eye drop and some allergy pill to take at night along with Allegra that will help me sleep, dry me up and help me feel tons better.  Again she had my hopes up super high.

I then leave the Quick Care clinic feeling pretty good about what had just happened and feeling like within a few days I would FINALLY sleep and feel better.

I get to Walgreens only to be told that the scrip the PA wrote for the main allergy pill was Allegra D, the same over the counter med that I was already buying.  The pharmacist said that Allegra D was the strongest pill out there and she didn't know why I would be told that there was something better.  Then she said that since Allegra D was over the counter I would have to pay for it.  I asked the pharmacist WHY would I be told that I would get stronger medicine in a prescription form when there is NONE. AND why would the PA prescribe Allegra when she CAN’T. Allegra is ONLY over the counter now, so NO insurance will touch it or cover it. It can only be bought over the counter. So stupid. So I would have to fork out $40 every time I need the Allegra (for 30 days) and then buy more. That is when I think I lost it when I was told this.

I was so frustrated at Walgreens when I picked up my scripts that I cried and cried and couldn’t get myself under control at all, it was a sad site.  I was irritated that I was so emotional and still couldn't stop whimpering to pull it together to talk.  When I finally did talk to the pharmacist, I blurted out something like this:  I'm just so tired and so weak.  I haven't slept in 3 days.  I need a stronger drug.  How pathetic is that?
THEN to top it off, the pharmacist told me that one of my scripts was called over the HY-Vee pharmacy by mistake and they filled it, so Walgreens had to call them to reverse it, and reverse it with insurance so that Walgreens could then fill it and charge my insurance.  It would be about a 20 minute wait for all that.  I just sat over in the waiting area in a chair and sobbed.

Feeling bad for me yet because it gets worse.

Then I leave Walgreens with my meds, only to realize when I'm halfway home that I don't have all the medicines.  So I drive back to see why and they had forgotten to give them all to me.  GRRRRRRRR

The one I was missing was the night time drug that would help me sleep and dry me up.  This was to be the best one out of all 5 scrips.

So when I finally get home, an hour later, I was pretty confident that I would feel better later on.  I took my Allegra, squirted nose spray in the sore nostrils, rubbed Vicks under my nose, put the eye drops in the eyes, drank water, put tissues by the bed and went to sleep.  Feeling guilty that I was missing church, but glad to get a nap with a quiet house and meds in my system.

I woke up feeling better and hoped I would feel better all day.  When it was time for bed I took my new bedtime allergy pill and laid down to sleep.

I was knocked out, I did dry up, however it dried me up so much that I got a horrible sinus backup and my teeth, all my teeth were in severe pain, massive head pain, massive floating feeling, massive dizziness, so bad that I couldn’t drive to teach my class and I was just plain sick this morning. I barely could walk to the bathroom. I could barely see. I hurt so bad.  I felt dizzy, nauseous, weird and I knew something wasn't right.

I managed to call the Rec center where I teach Body Sculpt on Mondays.  I said in a message that I was so sick, dizzy and didn't feel good from some medicine I took the night before that I couldn't walk and shouldn't drive.  I said I was sorry and I'd try to teach on Wednesday of that week.  Then I hung up and went back to bed.  When I heard Jason stirring I told him that I was so sick and something was wrong and to let me sleep till the last possible second that I could which would be 7:10a.m.  that I needed every minute until I had to go to work.  My head felt heavy and everything was blurry.

When 7:10a.m. came around I tried to get up, but my body just hurt, everything was heavy and sore.  I just couldn't move, it was weird.  I wanted to just sleep the entire day.

Over the next 10 minutes I managed to get dressed and make my way downstairs to leave for work.  My youngest son looked at me and said, "Mom are you okay?" I told him I just didn't feel good and wasn't sure how I was going to drive to work.  He said, "You should stay home then because you don't look good."

I should have stayed home, but knew I didn't have any personal days, vacation time or anything to spare and had to tough it out.
I’m not sure how I made it to work today. I am hurting so bad and I’m so out of it. When I stopped at a couple stop lights I put my emergency brake on, in fear that my foot would slip off if I fell asleep at the light.

Once I put my head back and actually felt myself drifting off.  That was so scary.  I knew I shouldn't be driving.  I felt like I was floating and it was weird. I shouldn’t have driven, it scared me to death. I will never take that allergy bedtime drug ever again, it did something to me that is bad, really bad. My teeth hurt so bad and my head is pounding.
Soon as I got here I bought a coke and I took 3 ibuprofen and only in the last few minutes am I starting to find any relief at all. I hurt so dang bad everywhere, it’s like I have the actual flu. My body is weak and my head and neck hurt. My teeth hurt, my eyes are burning, my throat hurts and I still feel heavy like I’m floating. I think if I laid my head down I’d actually fall asleep at my desk. I’m trying to stay upright.  I want to lay down and sleep all day.   Not kidding. This is not fun. I can’t run yet because I can hardly walk.

I have learned my lesson with medicine and that is to never take something that a doctor says will knock me out because it did and I could have died or hurt someone else while driving.