Thursday, September 23, 2010

allergies? i sort of hope so...

so today . . . i am a bit loopy.

i know, some of you think i am always a bit loopy, but i am serious! i have been so busy that i didn't recognize the signs of my allergies sneaking up on me. last night they finally jumped from behind the bushes they had been hiding in and ruthlessly attacked me.

i do NOT want to be sick again. i've been ok all summer, but have been a little apprehensive about what was going to happen once i exposed myself to all the germs a classroom full of four- and five-year olds bring. so i choose to believe that i am NOT getting sick--i am just dealing with allergies...

and so, last night when my allergies finally showed their evil side, i fought back. i rinsed my sinuses--yes, we are back to that again. as much as i hate doing it, i think it helps. i took an allergy pill--although my doctor says it takes a few days for those to really kick in, and i don't have a few days! i would sort of like to be able to breathe through the clogged sinuses and see from the watery eyes RIGHT NOW!! so i also took a sudafed... and not just any sudafed, but the super, duper, guaranteed to make you feel better one. i still couldn't breathe, so i raided the medicine cabinet and found some afrin. i am not a fan of nose sprays, but i was desperate. i snorted the maximum dosage up a nose too congested to breathe, and hoped for the best while not really expecting much.

after 10 minutes, i suddenly realized i was not having to use my mouth to get air into my body--my nose was actually doing it's job, unimpeded by mucous. (mucous--could there be a more descriptive word for the gunk that tries to take over one's sinuses? onomatopoeia at it's finest! which, in itself, is a pretty fun word to say...)

i was starting to feel goooood. i knew i was going to hit the sheets and have a wonderful night of drugged sleep! but i didn't. i laid there for two hours trying to sleep! there was no reason for me to not sleep!! i was tired, i was drugged, i was breathing just fine... but it just wasn't happening.

and then my alarm went off. i still felt drugged, but at least i was still able to breathe clearly. i thought this was a good sign. i was even thinking that i wouldn't have to take any sudafed today. i would be upright--i would just blow my nose and everything would be fine! this cheery thought lasted until i got out of bed and stood up and helplessly felt my blasted sinuses begin to clog up once again.

ok, sudafed was going to be necessary. i took one, tucked another one in my pocket, and rushed off to work--because, you know, that is what i do! i blew my nose a few times and reached an uneasy truce with my sinuses. i tried not to think about it, and instead started my day at work...

i might have been fine if i worked in a cubicle. but when you teach four and five year olds, you kind of have to be on your game or they will take over! i tried to focus. i tried to write lesson plans. i tried to stay awake. all i wanted to do was take a nap! i finally told ms. claudia, my assistant, that if she found me staring off into space, she should jostle me to make sure i was alive. fortunately things didn't progress that far, but i did have to deal with that loopy, spacey, out-of-body feeling all day that sometimes comes with certain medications...

i'm pretty sure it is the sudafed that is causing this reaction. and now i am also pretty sure that maybe this loopy feeling one gets is why i have to fill out all that paperwork to purchase it.

i think maybe it is a good thing that tomorrow is friday...

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