I've lived in some areas of the US. that are renowned for pollen (for instance Georgia where you have to brush the yellow pine pollen off your car in the morning so you can see out the windshield!) however I have been fortunate to never really having a problem with allergies...that is until now!
About three days ago both my husband and I started to sneeze, sniffle, and generally wheeze. These hillsides of blooming orchards, hedgerows of white hawthorne, lanes of queen's annes' lace, front yards full of lilacs, and field upon field of who knows what is killing me! Poor MacBeth (my black scottish terrier) comes running out of the fields looking nuclear - there is so much pollen on him he glows!
On top of this I did a really stupid thing. Hearing me sniffling the woman at the organic farm stand suggested I try some of the unfiltered local vegetable oil. She said it would help me build up an immunity to the new pollens. Sounded good. When I got home I tasted the oil. Tasted good. So I poured some on my salad thinking I was helping my body defeat the allergies. A few minutes later I could feel my throat closing and was having troupble breathing. Not good. Fortunately we had lots of Benadryl on hand. A few of those, drank lots of warm water and wore steamy towels around my neck and I am still here to write about it...what an idiot I can be!
About three days ago both my husband and I started to sneeze, sniffle, and generally wheeze. These hillsides of blooming orchards, hedgerows of white hawthorne, lanes of queen's annes' lace, front yards full of lilacs, and field upon field of who knows what is killing me! Poor MacBeth (my black scottish terrier) comes running out of the fields looking nuclear - there is so much pollen on him he glows!
On top of this I did a really stupid thing. Hearing me sniffling the woman at the organic farm stand suggested I try some of the unfiltered local vegetable oil. She said it would help me build up an immunity to the new pollens. Sounded good. When I got home I tasted the oil. Tasted good. So I poured some on my salad thinking I was helping my body defeat the allergies. A few minutes later I could feel my throat closing and was having troupble breathing. Not good. Fortunately we had lots of Benadryl on hand. A few of those, drank lots of warm water and wore steamy towels around my neck and I am still here to write about it...what an idiot I can be!I know some of you will say that the field in the photo above is not supposed to cause allergies. My only arguement to that is a) the amount of rape grown in our area has increased 5x since the studies were done b) a major reason given for it not causing allergies was the seed is too heavy to be blown far by the wind...I wonder if they really checked the wind streagth coming off our hills and if they considered the effect of a small blcak terrier running through the plants (it took a bathtub full of Dawn detergent to get the sticky stuff off of him.... (by the way ours is the hill on the far right in the photo which was taken from halfway up Breedon Hill.)
Enough whining (or sniffling)...on to fabric and fun stuff. The photo on the top is the second basket with my quilting group. This will be the first bit of applique for them. The photo on the left is of another block (hidden star I think) that we will do. I'm not sure if I like this one very much but I don't dislike it enough to make it over in different fabrics! Besidesit may be one of those blocks that looks better when joined up with the others in the sampler quilt.
8 comments:
I think the pollen is bad this year because we had had warm weather so early - I was sneezing and sniffling yesterday but I do get hayfever. I like the hiden stars block - it would look good with green for the stars and pink for the outside triangles - like a flower. Might just have to give that a try.
I hear your pain. I hate allergy season -- though I have sinus issues all year, allergy season just pushes them over the top. Hang in there. It lasts longer than a cold, but will go away eventually :-)
It's funny, we were in GA in March for a visit and my allergies didn't bother me even with the yellow coating everywhere but the last week they've been acting up here in MN. I must be used to the GA pollen after living there 4+ years.
I think every year the pollen and all the allergies get worse. My husband developed allergies in his 30's - and the allergist said anyone can develop them at any time. I know mine are usually pretty much gone by now - mine are mainly from dust mites - but this year they are still bad.
My allergies are bad here too. Sigh. I'd have tried the oil as well. I've also heard that local honey is supposed to help adapt to the pollens, but I've never tried it. Hope you feel better soon!
We have friends who live at Ross-on-Wye (another gorgeous place not too far from you that you should visit by the way) and her life is an absolute misery when the Oil Seed Rape is in bloom - she has to have all the windows closed at home and daren't put the blower on in the car for those few weeks when the fields all glow bright yellow - I hope you can cope til the flowering season is over
I remember a bazillion years ago ... a friend offered me some bee pollen, thinking it would help my immune system. Being the rocket scientist that I am, I gobbled the stuff down. Hubby came to my shop and found me in a horrible state! When he asked what I had done and I repeated the story, he was furious! I am allergic to bees! He thought it was a new way of trying to kill myself! OOOppps ...
The whole of the countrtyside seems to be full of rape fields at the moment - they are a bit difficult to miss being bright yellow.
I've tried taking local honey late last year - I think I may have tried it too late so I'll give it another go this year. Hope you don't have another adverse reaction.
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