Monday, March 23, 2009

In the Spring, a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of...

By Jamie Hill

Ragweed? With apologies to Lord Alfred Tennyson, this was originally supposed to be a romantic post about Springtime, and all the mush that goes with it. Unfortunately, ever since the thermometer hit 80 degrees (F) I've been suffering with a case of watery eyes and runny nose. Not a cold, although it could be since we've had 30 degree weather one day and 80 the next, but the dreaded 'a' word: allergies.














As a kid, I had the usual minor symptoms, but nothing like my two sisters who suffered from Asthma and Hayfever, and required shots and inhalers to manage. I got by with over the counter meds until I was probably ten or so, and started noticing every time I was around a cat my eyes watered profusely. Hence, the trip to the allergy clinic in another town, which at first seemed like a cool way to miss a day of school. Was I ever wrong about that.

Hopefully, clinical allergy testing methods have improved over the last number of years. In the olden days, I sat with a medical gown held up to my chest, open in the rear to expose my soon to be tortured back. In theory, the tests involved injecting various allergens under my skin to see which ones I reacted too. In reality, the practitioner stuck a needle sideways under my skin and pulled it straight up...pop. And then she did it again. A whole row down my back.

Then came the cool, soothing marker which she used to put dots down the next row of my back. Then the needle...pop, pop, pop. Repeat for several rows. I was in tears by the time she finished. The results didn't thrill me to pieces, either.

I had a few allergies. Cats (wah!) but not dogs, thankfully. (My mother would have had to choose between me and her tiny toy poodle.) Cows (not a problem, hamburger was fine), horses (love them in theory but never spent any time with them), ragweed and....are you ready for this? Dust. That's right, dust. Every day my mom dusted my room (God bless her) and we tried a series of different pills to see which helped. It was a crapshoot, really, and I finally ended up with something like Sudafed that came over the counter. As long as I avoided the animals and my mother cleaned everyplace I went before I went there, I was good.

Fortunately for mom, my sisters and I grew out of the allergies. My sister with asthma has occasional flare ups, the the rest of us can control whatever seasonal problems we have fairly easily.

Until this year.

I haven't beeh hit with symptoms like these in ages. My eyes itch and burn, and water like crazy for no reason. My nose runs inexplicably and at the most inopportune moments. I burned through a pack of Sudafed the first week and switched to DayQuil and Sudafed alternately the second week. Nada. Someone suggested I might try Claritin, and I mentioned to my husband that I'd have to get some the next time I went to the store.

He immediately got up, grabbed his keys and left. He came back with Claritin, which has been my salvation, and a smile. Now that's love.

Oh hey, this is a romantic blog post afterall!
---------------------------------------------

Just a quick reminder, The first book in my new series from TEB debuts today. Switching Seth is book one in the Rose & Thorn Society Series. These books will be stand alone titles with the same backdrop, the BDSM club Rose & Thorn Society.

Welcome to the Rose & Thorn Society, where the scent of submission is sweet.

Find Switching Seth here. Enjoy!

22 comments:

  1. Hi Jamie!

    You'd love Augusta. There are these trees with clusters of tiny white flowers that distrubute pollen air borne in such vast quantities bees are unneccessary. The polloen is so thick it covers the cars and the ground like yellow volcanic ash, and everybody is sneezing like crazy. The thing is, when you think about it - pollen is sex. That's what spring is all about. But some of it is really messy.

    Garce

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have allergies bad. I use zyrtec for mine. I tried Claritin before and when I use it my eyes still itch. Switching Seth sounds great! I found the post from ebookchatters group.

    amysmith98 @ yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Garce,

    I sneezed just reading your comment. Guess it could be worse, eh?

    Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amy,

    Thanks for the tip about Zyrtec. My eyes still itch, (even though it is better than before.) I will definitely check it out!

    Take care!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Snot bubbles! Yuck! LOL!

    I left a comment on the Total Ebounds blog, but I just wanted to stop and say that Switching Seth sounds like a "must-read."

    jeannestjames(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think most of us are getting allergies. Switching Seth looks like it would be a good read.

    Thanks to Spice Readers for letting me know about your blog.


    jrobe10689@ aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I heard about you on this blog from Books We Love Spice Readers Group.

    I feel for you with your allergies growing up. Both my daughters have allergies and my youngest also has asthma. It got so bad that she has to have a nebulizer at what ever house she is living in and when she hit 18, she moved to Nevada so she could breath. She still takes her medications but in 5 years she has not been hospitalized for breathing related difficulties while living in Nevada.

    The Rose & Thorn Society sounds like a fascinating place. I can't wait to read Switching Seth.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi, Jamie!

    Did you plan to talk about allergies when you proposed this topic?

    Hope that you can find some relief. And at least you got in a bit of good news about your release.

    Warmly,
    Lisabet

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Jeanne,

    Yeah, I couldn't resist the baby snot bubble picture. There were actually lots of sneeze pictures to choose from online, imagine that. LOL

    Hugs,

    Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Chris,

    Thanks for stopping by. Interesting to see so many commenters coming from the Spice group...one of my babies...heh heh heh

    Hope your allergies are under control!

    Hugs,

    Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi orelukjp0,

    Glad to hear your daughter's asthma is under control. Not sure I'd want to move to Nevada, oh, wait, that's near Las Vegas, isn't it? LOL I might.

    Have a great day!

    Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Lisabet,

    Nope, in the first paragraph of this post I mentioned it was originally scheduled to be a romantic piece about Spring and love...guess the baby snot bubble distracted you. LOL

    Hope your vacation is fun!

    Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ahem,

    As the only person in the world who has no allergies, I feel REALLY outnumbered here. Jeeze, no wonder the woods are deserted this time of year. Great for outdoor fun and games ya know. Oh, you wouldn't would you... ducking!

    Seriously, allergies can be horrible, I do realize this. Both of my kids have mild hay fever in the warm months. My husbands family all have some kinds of allergies. I was just one very lucky girl. I did have an allergy while growing up, but it's gone and I'm pretty glad about it.

    Jamie, when you come to visit, are you telling me I have to dust my house? What about my poor cat? She's old, does that make a difference?

    Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hey Jude,

    If dust bothered me anymore I'd be dead, so don't worry about that! As for the cat, as long as I don't pet her I should be good. She does know she has to give up her bed to me, right?

    *bites nails*
    *G*

    Hugs,

    Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  15. ALLEGRA is my best friend. And, I hate Scotch Broom way more than Ragweed. I have year round allergies so my sinus's never get a chance to dry out - but that is probably par with the course of living in the Seattle area. :)

    Can't wait to read "Switching Seth".

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Jacki,

    I haven't tried Allegra but it's another possibility to add to my list, LOL

    Never heard of Scotch Broom- which is probably a good thing!

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  17. I have terrible allergies to cheat grass. Unfortunately, we are surrounded on both sides of our house by it. Whenever the wind blows, I start coughing and sneezing. Ugh!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Jamie,
    The bubble blowing baby is the best. lol What a great way to get a point across. Hope your allergies are better. Can't wait to read Switching Seth.
    Carol L.

    ReplyDelete
  19. LuAnn,

    Guess there's not much you can do except find some meds and hope they help! (Stay inside?) Nah...

    Good luck with your allergy season!

    Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Carol,

    I loved the baby snot bubble myself. Not so much in person, but the picture was great.

    Hope you enjoy Seth and thanks for stopping by!

    Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hi Jamie,

    Switching Seth looks fantastic!

    Poor thing with all the allergies. I think they tend to sprout up later in the year over here - Summer tends to be the worse for allergy suffers for some reason.

    Hope you're feeling a bit better.

    Kim Dare.

    ReplyDelete
  22. You have my sympathies. I have had allergies once. I still don't know to this day what I reacted to, but I had a miserable drive home from across the state with one eye watering the entire way. I couldn't see out of that eye by the time I was home.

    And isn't it wonderful what husbands will do for you when you don't feel well?

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.