I have a little drug cocktail now. It’s a combination of Flonase, Allegra, and the generic version of something called Duratuss. There’s no generic version of Allegra or Flonase, so it costs about $50 (after insurance) for the three for about a two-month supply. But it’s wonderful. Pharmaceuticals rock my world. I can – for the first time I think in my entire life – breathe. If you don’t have allergies you cannot possibly understand. This time of year is almost as bad as the spring – so much pollen, so many “things” floating around the skies. I used to be reduced to a detestable mouth-breather, but with this little combination of drugs I can live a normal life.
I really wish I could explain it to you. I’m not saying I was in some tragic, pathetic condition, and I’m not trying to compare my situation with those that I know suffer from far worse, but not being able to breathe easily is an enormous handicap. Boxes of tissue, rolls of toilet paper, constant sniffling and a wet, dog-like nose, dry mouth, coughing and hacking every morning (even without cigarettes), headaches, cold sores, cracked skin, itchy eyes … and now all of that is gone. It’s like I’m an entirely different person. Those silly commercials you see, they’re right. Only, even with their twenty-second mini-dramas highlighting individuals reveling in the joy of being freed from the bonds of nasal incapacitation, they cannot convey the true experience of it. It is amazing.
Please know that if I didn’t have health insurance I know I couldn’t afford these drugs, and I ache for my little sister because I know she suffers the same conditions and doesn’t have health insurance. I wish there was something I could do for her. Maybe I can send her my supply … I’ll have to think about the ramifications of that. I don’t know if she’d take them, for one thing – they’re obviously prescription drugs and they wouldn’t be in her name. I’m sure there’s all kinds of legal issues involved in doing something like that. But I’m telling you – this is the sort of thing that changes your life.
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Maybe you should move to SF. Ever since I moved here from FL I have been able to breathe through my nose, even during the spring. It’s very nice.
I used to have allergies. Then I went to the dr. and got a shot once a week for a year and then once a month for two years after that. No more allergies (except for mold, which is very hard to get rid of). It’s time consuming but worth it because now I don’t have to take any medications and I was on three like you are now. Just a thought.
Another gift from Dad’s gene pool, eh? Sorry about that! I’ve come to believe that allergies are nature’s way of telling you when you are quite young that “its not a perfect world out there, bunky”