Taking a Breather

The past month has been rough. An infection in the sphenoid sinus is the worst. I thought it was bad when I had mono or even when I had my sinus surgery, but those felt minor in comparison. With the infection being so close to the brain, my balance was completely off. I was dizzy off and on for a few weeks. The constant feeling of being on a boat grew old fairly quickly.

Now a week after completing my antibiotics, I can honestly say I am starting to feel better. I am taking it day by day. Breath by breath. I am filled with gratitude in the joy of being able to breathe again.

My Morning Routine

Good morning! Or more often for me, what is going on?! I am not a morning person. Waking up is often a daunting and confusing process. Along with my grogginess, waking up typically means a stuffing nose and a congestion filled throat. I am striving to change that. Here are the steps I take to prepare my sinus for a day of good breathing.

First up, is the sinus rinse. This is a morning must. In a NeilMed bottle, I combine warmed distilled water, a NeilMed sinus rinse packet, and a dash of Alkalol. Then it’s time to blow, so I keep plenty of tissues on hand.

Another step I take before brushing my teeth is using Flonase. As much as I enjoy Omnaris, my medical insurance refuses to cover it. I actually enjoy Flonase a lot more than I expected to, honestly it may even be inching past Omnaris. Two squirts in each nostril of the Flonase every morning for me it is.

Finally, just before I put on my make-up I rub Ayr Gel in each nostril. It’s extremely important to ensure you have clean hands prior to using the gel to avoid introducing any bacteria to your sinus.

I’m now set to start my day.

What’s a Sphenoid?

More about the sphenoid and image from here.

Four years after having sinus surgery, I considered myself pretty well versed in all things nasal. Over the last few days, I learned that wasn’t so. It started almost two weeks ago now, just a cold I was sure I could kick. I even saw my primary doctor and she agreed, just a cold.

As the days went by, I wasn’t able to kick it. It was the one doing all kicking and it was only getting worse. What started out as a sore throat moved up into my sinus and caused headaches like I hadn’t felt in years. I felt extremely dizzy and like I was on a continuous boat ride. A visit with my ENT confirmed I had a sinus infection in my sphenoid. At first when he took a look inside my nose he said it wasn’t too bad, which I didn’t understand because of how I felt. It wasn’t until he looked all the way into the back of my sinus with a scope did he see the infection. The sphenoid sinuses are in the bones behind the nasal cavity.

I am currently on antibiotics and steroids to fight off the infection. Since I am still feeling pretty awful, I am avoiding doing too much research on the sphenoid. From what I have read so far, infections can lead to some scary stuff. For now, I am taking it one day at a time and looking ahead to better health and even more to learn.

Immunotherapy

After four weeks of allergy testing it, the recommendation was immunotherapy. A treatment that was completely new to me. Even though it involved needles and being shot up with my own allergens, I was intrigued.

Immunotherapy is designed to build up your immunity by receiving injections of a serum especially designed with your own allergens. It’s potentially a three year long process, starting with receiving two injections a week, then one a week, next one every other week, every three weeks, and finally once a month. You are shifted through each phase over the course of the first year. All the while the dose is gradually increased with each shot.

The first year was great for me. I felt amazing. However as the shot dosages increased and their frequency decreased my allergies went haywire and I was back to where I started. With 2012 being the worst year for allergens ever and no respite expected in 2013, it was time to rethink how I was getting my shots.

For the last few months, I have gone back to receiving a shot once every other week at a much lower dose. This plan has helped immensely and I am finally feeling the benefits of the shots again. The biggest lesson I’ve learned over the last couple years of immunotherapy is that you have to listen to your body. It’s okay to deviate from the original plan if it means relief.

Four Years

This is a week to celebrate. Sunday marked the fourth anniversary of my Endoscopic Sinus Surgery. It has been quite a battle to get to this day, but with each year I am getting stronger.

I woke up the morning of February 3, 2009 terrified. I knew that by the time I returned to my bed that evening, I would be forever changed. The hours after my surgery are foggy, but the memory that stands out the most is waking up after surgery. I was just coming to after being out for four hours; I could hear the nurses talking amongst themselves as they waited for me to wake. In the moments before I opened my eyes, relief washed over me. It was the best feeling to wake and know the months of anxiety since first learning I would need surgery if I ever wanted to breathe normally again were over. I had made it through.

I thought that was the best feeling possible. It was, until the next week. After my splints were out, I took my first real breath. Fresh air flowed through my sinuses and filled my lungs. Now that was the best feeling possible. And it was here to stay.

The Asthma Plan

When my allergist first suggested that I had asthma, I was confused. Allergies? Sinus issues? Those were becoming old hat. Asthma is uncharted territory. It has not been smooth sailing since the diagnosis, but I'm learning navigate and now I have a plan.

At my last appointment with allergist, I brought up my future with asthma. At the time of the appointment, I was taking a full dose (2 puffs) twice daily of a Qvar inhaler. A few months earlier I had a bad reaction to an inhaler with albuterol and my primary physician came to the conclusion that Qvar (it doesn't have albuterol) twice daily was appropriate for the near future.

After a month of this of this regimen, I do feel like a new person. Though the thought of inhaling this level of steroids daily indefinitely concerns me, which was what I told my allergist. His line of treatment falls closer aligned to what I value in a doctor. Medication shouldn't be a crutch. I want to treat the problem, not continuously mask the symptoms. Hence, the asthma plan.

Until the end of January, I continued the Qvar, but with a dosage reduction of one puff only at night. This month I will use a rescue inhaler as needed. The definition of a rescue inhaler versus the preventive kind like Qvar, is that they contain albuterol. An ingredient I am very apprehensive about due to my sensitivity. The rescue inhaler my allergist prescribed contains a form of albuterol designed to be more pure and less side effects. I feel relieved to have a plan and am excited for the outcome.

The Big A

In January of last year, I began to feel a pain in my chest like I never had before. My lungs constantly hurt. I went to the doctor and took an X-ray. Everything was normal. The pain would come and go. I was also dealing with a lot of stress at the time, so I chalked it up to that. That seemed to be the simplest explanation. I am embarrassed to admit. Last year was not my healthiest year. Colds were quite frequent and my allergy symptoms were all over the place. Yet when the other symptoms would subside, the ever present chest pain never really did.

I am grateful to an allergy shot gone awry in September. I had a terrible reaction that landed me back in the allergist office the morning after my shot. In my discussion with the allergist, the chest pain came up and so did a possible diagnosis I was not expecting, asthma. I received an inhaler on the spot and was told to see how it goes.

Upon my further research on asthma, the symptoms I had been experiencing for the bulk of the year finally made sense. I felt relief, and then the fear set in. Asthma is scary stuff. Like I did with my allergies, I am game to learn how to manage it.

My Allergy Arsenal

In order to help keep my allergies at bay there are several must have products I keep in my allergy arsenal. I have gone through lots of trial and error to find the best combination that what works for me. Here is my arsenal, the best weapons I have found in the fight for allergy relief.

1. Alkalol - As much as I rely on my Sinus Rinse, it is incomplete without a splash of Alkalol. Only add a little bit at first. If you add too much it burns. Add a little and a little more the next time to find the right amount for you. It’s very refreshing!

2. Sinus Rinse by NeilMed - I use the nasal irrigator two times a day. I rinse first thing in the morning and before bed. It has become so ingrained in my daily routine, not rinsing would be as bad as not brushing my teeth.

3. Omnaris - The best nasal spray I have used. It’s gentle, yet gets the job done by greatly reducing swelling in the sinus. I do one squirt in each nostril every morning. To achieve the best results you have the blow in and spray at the same time. That definitely takes some practice.

4. Ayr Saline Nasal Gel - At first the thought of rubbing gel in my nostrils was a gross concept, but the relief it brings is far from it. Be warned the relief does not last all day. It’s best to use in conjunction with rinsing or bedtime. As it feels great after a rinse and is very soothing for sleep.

5. Allegra - This is the holy grail of allergy medicine. Some say there are drawbacks like, it takes a week to get used to and you must take it at the same time every day. Also, you can’t drink juice for a couple hours before or after taking it. But for me the benefits out way any of the cons. No drowsiness, only relief.

As much as these products help, some days there is no relief. I find the more I maintain my routine the hard days become fewer.

The Road to Allergies, Part Two

During my appointments with the ENT, I was diagnosed with allergic rhinitis. To top off this diagnosis, I had a severely deviated septum and enlarged turbinates. In a nutshell, no matter what I did for my allergies, I would never truly breathe right due to the structure of my sinuses. Surgery would be the only way to fix this. I was desperate to breathe again and game to do whatever it took.

A year after my endoscopic sinus surgery, I was fully healed and ready to take on the needed pricking to find out what I was allergic to. After a month of testing, I finally had my answers. I had gone into the testing thinking I was allergic to everything edible. For years, I was convinced I was allergic to eggs, when I actually I have a sensitivity to corn. No egg allergies to be found. Plus to top it off I learned, that I should just give up now and move into a bubble. If you can breathe in it, I am allergic to it.

Which leads me to today, I am now two years into immunotherapy, a possibly three year long process. During the first stage, I received two injections a week. I then moved to one injection a week. Next it was every other week and finally one a month. As it has turned out one month wasn’t working out very well for me and now I am back to one every other week. Each injection means a shot in each arm, during every visit. Oh, allergies what I do for you.

The road to discovering my allergies was long and bumpy. I have finally found away to keep the allergy symptoms at bay, for the most part. With this knowledge has come discipline, lots of it and new routines, even more of those. It’s with this blog that I plan to share the rest of the journey with you!

The Road To Allergies, Part One

For a long time allergies were something that happened to other people. Pounding headaches, monthly sinus infections, and swollen hands? Those weren’t allergies, I didn’t have any. It was during my senior year of college and my month long headache that I began to truly wonder what was going on. I had given up on my university’s health center. My patience for being offered acne medication or birth control, when I walked in with a sore throat had worn thin. Like millions in America, I grew up without health insurance. This lack of insurance didn’t exactly inspire a search for a diagnosis. The constant parade of stomach aches, swollen sinuses, and itchy limbs, were all treatable symptoms. So, for times like these it was CVS for me. On one of my visits, I walked away with some generic allergy pill. Honestly, I didn’t pay much attention; all I knew was that once I took it my headache was gone!

Upon graduation I scored my first full time job with benefits, health insurance at last! During my first visit with my new primary care physician, I brought up my possible allergies. All I got back was:

My gut wasn’t sold on these tips, but since I was scared to go through with the actual allergy testing I decided to work with what I got. What I ended up getting was more allergic reactions. A year and a half later I landed myself in urgent care. I wasn’t experiencing fully fledged anaphylaxis, but close enough for the doctor to yell at me for not having seen a proper allergist.

The urgent care doctor referred me to a new primary care physician. At this point I was getting sick every few weeks. It felt like my nose had ceased to work. I was not taking in any air through my nostrils, I was falling asleep nightly while watching television on the couch, and only the jaws of life would have been able to remove the scarf I kept around my neck to fend the cold away from my constantly sore throat. This new primary care physician did the best thing any medical professional had done for me up to that point, he referred me to an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor that would be instrumental in changing my life.

I Am On A Mission

Dear allergies, there is no eloquent way to say how I truly feel about you. So, I’ve decided to keep it simple. You suck.

See, my affair with allergies is a torrid one. I so badly want to quit it, but no matter what I try there has been no end. Allergies and I have taken breaks every now and again. Just when I think I can breathe easier, there they are. Whether it’s a raging headache, a painfully stuffy nose, oh and of course the unforgettable itchy hives, I know they’ve returned.

I’ve had surgery to weaken the effects. I’ve given up my favorite foods. And I’ve allowed my arms to become pin cushions. Yet it hasn’t been enough. My allergies have officially reduced me to a walking time bomb of reactions. I hate it, and I’ve had enough. Two years ago, I began immunotherapy. As described by my ENT, it may be my last hope to ever know true relief. Suffering at the hand of allergies is getting a bit ridiculous, and I know I am not the only one.

With every injection, reaction, and day ruined by allergies I hope to learn and pass on what it takes to be rid of the annoyance known as allergies. Because I am on a mission to make the pairing of allergies and suffering a thing of the past, I am learning to love every day with allergies.