To breathe, per chance to sleep...

My apologies to William Shakespeare for bastardizing his words for my blog title today but breathing is on my mind. As is sleeping.

I have seasonal allergies so in the Spring and Autumn my nose is either the flood gates of hell or the Garrison Dam. I am always somewhere between being able to breathe but constantly blowing my runny nose or being a mouth breather who can't sleep at night. I have the one nostril clear, the other stopped up syndrome all night long and nothing I take seems to work for very long. Right now, I have taken both a Benadryl and a Sudafed and my nose (and head) are still stuffed up! It feels like someone is sucking all of the oxygen out of the atmosphere and I'm not getting my fair share. Subsequently, I am tired. Dog tired! I opted to leave work early, taking four hours of paid vacation time, just so I could come home and try to get some rest!

When I'm not battling my nose and sinuses, I am rubbing my eyes which feel very much like two tiny porcupines have been placed into my eye sockets when I wasn't looking. They're itchy! I dream about taking them out and soaking them in something to get the itch to stop! They, like my sinuses, are in a constant battle between being dry as a bone or running uncontrollably which make it looks like I'm crying about something all the time.

I suppose I could go see an allergist but I know that this will last only until the weather gets cold and then it all rights itself again. Until spring. But even then, summer comes and its all okay again. I'm not one for taking a lot of medications anyway. I take the odd Ibuprofen when my gamey knee acts up, Tylenol if I get a fever (rarely) and, if I get a cold, I'll break out the Nyquil. Being a woman of a certain age, I do take daily vitamins with iron, Vitamin D (because I am D deficient) and one tablet of fish oil each day (good for the bones, joints and brains, doncha know!). The last prescription medication I took was a Flexeral when my back went out and I was having muscle spasms. That was a while ago now. So, basically I'm a healthy broad! So, I'll suffer the stuffy/runny nose and the itchy eyes and know it will go away eventually.

Right now though, I'm going to take a nap!